Rep Murphy Applauds President’s Manufacturing Plan

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Chris Murphy applauded President Obama’s launch of the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP), which will join industry, universities, and the federal government to invest in the emerging technologies that will create high quality manufacturing jobs and enhance the nation’s global competitiveness.

“Our ability to manufacture high quality goods is the key to our state and country’s economic future,” Rep Murphy said in a release. “If we are going to be a leader in an increasingly competitive global environment, we need to invest in American manufacturers and create jobs here at home.”

Rep Murphy is the chair of the Buy American Caucus in Congress. He started the caucus to address the alarming trend of outsourcing manufacturing capacity to foreign countries. Murphy recently visited the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), and has just concluded a broad survey of manufacturers, the results of which will be released soon.

The President proposed an initial $500 million investment to jumpstart this initiative, which will come from both existing federal programs and new investments that will require approval from Congress. A major focus of the initiative will be defense industries, which will likely yield results for Connecticut’s defense rich manufacturing sector.

“By bringing stakeholders together and using the purchasing power of the Defense Department and rest of the federal government, we can help create the environment that will lead to targeted investments, technological advances, and to new manufacturing,” Rep Murphy added.