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Natural gas producer Range Resources aims to better the environment with its new, unique habitat enhancement commitment. On land that once hosted sites related to natural gas development, Range Resources’ Habitat Enhancement program is working to help animal pollinators in southwestern Pennsylvania like Monarch butterflies and honey bees by covering final reclamation sites with plants that are essential for them to thrive.

“We try to be good stewards in our community by supporting projects like these,” said Jeremy Matinko, Range’s Environmental Compliance Manager. “Habitat enhancement provides something the public can see and benefit from.”

After surface operations have ended at a site, Pennsylvania regulations require the site to be restored to its original state. Range has pledged to exceed those expectations in post-drilling restoration, creating habitats that are more hospitable to wildlife than the previous environment. This project has involved planting thousands of Milkweed seeds, a plant that is vital to the survival of monarch butterflies because it provides a food source for caterpillars, and a seed mix that includes grass and wild flowers that support honey bees and other helpful insects. Beyond bringing pollinators back to southwestern Pennsylvania, the company is also creating aquatic features that can become homes for reptiles, amphibians and waterfowl.

According to the , about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce, but as a result of climate change and human living practices, the habitats of these pollinators have been on the decline. Range Resources’ project aims to reverse that trend. Already, the impact of the program can be seen through the growth of a variety of pollinator plant species and the presence of butterflies, bees and other pollinators across these sites. And while Range Resources is currently implementing the program only on final reclamation sites, it hopes to expand their efforts to include post-drilling restoration.

“Manufacturers across the country are taking proactive and creative steps to improve the environment and enhance their communities,” said 51�Թ��� Director of Energy and Resources Policy Laura Berkey-Ames. “The work that Range Resources is doing to build and improve natural habitats in Pennsylvania is an exciting part of that effort. We’re looking forward to seeing continued results as this project grows.”

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. That was the message at a hearing last week for a bill aimed at increasing transparency by requiring federal agencies to give advanced notice of regulations. The bill, approved by voice vote with bipartisan support by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, will move on now to consideration by the full Senate.

Under the Early Participations in Regulations Act, businesses and the public would have more notice of proposed major rules, giving federal agencies more time to collect public comments. Agencies would have to publish advanced notice of proposed rulemaking at least 90 days before the official rulemaking notice. Major rules are considered to be those that have costs or benefits to the economy in the amount of $100 million or more in a calendar year.

Currently, by the time a notice of proposed rulemaking is released, federal agencies have typically already decided what kind of rule will be issued. The proposed bill would give the public more time to be involved on the front end, forcing agencies to collect public comments before proposing concrete regulatory terms, giving affected parties a chance to offer ideas on how to achieve a regulatory goal that the agency may not have considered. If the bill is enacted, among other things, final rules will benefit from a more robust consideration of the public’s feedback and will be more likely to hold up in court.

“An advanced notice requirement would help surface potential roadblocks or find smarter regulatory approaches at an earlier stage before the agency has invested an inordinate amount of time into its chosen path,” said Patrick Hedren, 51�Թ���’s Vice President for Labor, Legal and Regulatory Policy. “This is just a basic transparency and good governance measure meant to force agencies to solicit regulatory ideas from the public that they might otherwise not have considered.”

This bill is one that the 51�Թ��� has long supported in previous Congresses, and it continues to support this legislation in its current form.

“We’re thrilled to see Senators Lankford and Sinema engage on bipartisan good governance measures like this one that improve the way the federal government seeks input from manufacturers and the public,” Hedren said.

Robotic packaging manufacturer JLS Automation received some distinguished visitors earlier this month when Vice President Mike Pence, Labor Secretary Alex Acosta and three members of Congress toured its manufacturing facility in York, Pennsylvania along with JLS CEO Craig Souser, 51�Թ��� President and CEO Jay Timmons and local manufacturing leaders. The event focused on advancing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which would promote trade between the three countries and is currently being considered in Congress.

At the event, Vice President Pence spoke about the importance of the deal for manufacturers in the United States, noting that Pennsylvania already exports more than $14 billion in goods and services to Canada and Mexico. The vice president also highlighted the impact this deal would have on the more than 2 million American manufacturing jobs that depend on exports to Canada and Mexico—including 42,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, as outlined in the 51�Թ���’s own USMCA state fact sheet.  One in four Pennsylvania manufacturing firms export to North American partners, as the fact sheet further states, and more than 80 percent of them are small and medium-sized businesses.

Without a free trade agreement, Pennsylvania’s exports to North American free trade partners could face more than $1.5 billion in tariffs.

“It’s absolutely essential we get the USMCA passed by the Congress, and passed by the Congress this summer,” said Vice President Pence. “It’ll finally give American workers and farmers a level playing field that we need to be able to compete and win.”

The 51�Թ��� has been vocal in its support of the USMCA, standing up for manufacturers like JLS Automation across the country that rely on trade in order to keep their businesses running.

“When we talk about growing international trade, we’re talking about something very, very local: strengthening our communities and supporting our families,” said Jay Timmons, 51�Թ��� President and CEO. “That’s why JLS and manufacturers across the United States and the more than 12.8 million men and women who make things in America are calling on Congress to ratify the USMCA – and the sooner the better!”

At the event, JLS Automation CEO Craig Souser emphasized the importance of the Canadian market to his business—a family-run operation his father, Joseph L. Souser, founded—and urged lawmakers to pass the deal.

“We need to see our lawmakers in Washington help to expand our ability to penetrate this market with modern trade policies and pass the USMCA,” said Souser. “The administration has kept its promise to negotiate a new North American trade deal. So it’s time for the Congress and the Senate to do its part so that we can focus on what we do best: make world-class machines.”

A House of Representatives committee recently held a hearing on a bill designed to drive breakthrough innovations to tackle climate change—a priority that has the strong support of the 51�Թ��� and manufacturing businesses across the country.

The Clean Industrial Technology Act (CITA) would set up a Transformational Industrial Technology Program at the U.S. Department of Energy, and would drive new technologies aimed at increasing the technological and economic competitiveness of manufacturing in the United States. The program would also find pathways to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and create a technical assistance program to help local communities and states evaluate and incentivize the adoption of technologies that reduce industrial greenhouse gases. The legislative hearing on the CITA was held by the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. In the Senate, the 51�Թ��� has been working closely with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on similar legislation.

“Manufacturers have always been about solutions,” said Rachel Jones, Senior Director of Energy and Resources Policy at the 51�Թ���. “We need real-world technologies to address our global climate problem, and legislation like the CITA provides a common sense opportunity to move our efforts forward. This bill takes a clear-eyed look at the unique challenges that different energy-intensive industries face as we all work toward ensuring a safer and more prosperous future.”

Manufacturers across the country are deeply involved in sustainability programs, leading the way for other industries in protecting our environment. Most manufacturing companies have already pioneered new technologies and implemented meaningful programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With more than 12 million men and women employed by the industry in every state in the country, manufacturing businesses have a unique perspective on the challenges of our shared path forward and have consistently worked with Congress to promote bills like the CITA.

“Providing incentives for U.S. businesses, schools and laboratories to bring game-changing technologies into the commercial sector isn’t just good policy; it’s common sense,” said Jones. “Cooperative partnerships between industry, government and academia benefit all three sectors and the country as a whole.”

Manufacturers contributed 18 percent more value to the American economy over the past decade while reducing the carbon footprint of their products by 21 percent—demonstrating that productivity and sustainability are compatible with each other—and keeping the industry’s promise to promote sustainable solutions.

“Manufacturers are committed to reducing greenhouse gases and addressing climate change while preserving our global competitiveness,” said Jones. “This legislation is a great example of how we are working with policymakers to turn aspirations into reality in order to protect our environment and improve our world. Manufacturers applaud the House Science Committee and Sen. Whitehouse for their leadership.”

Jason Gustine has always enjoyed learning how things are made. As an area manager at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Topeka, Kansas, he taps into his lifelong interest while making use of the people skills and the processes he learned in the military.

“I was worried it would be a culture shock, and I wasn’t going to fit in,” said Gustine. “But going into a manufacturing facility, it fits exactly with the military mindset. That was the biggest surprise—how easy that transition was.”

Military service runs in Gustine’s family. His father is a former helicopter pilot who served in Vietnam, and Gustine was determined to follow in his father’s footsteps. He joined the U.S. Army in January 2008 and served 11 years in the military—as a mechanic, a Blackhawk crew chief, a standardization instructor and eventually a leader in quality control, making sure helicopters were safe to fly.

When he was beginning the transition out of military service, Gustine joined up with the , which aims to connect manufacturers with highly qualified candidates and offer transitioning service members manufacturing-related training and support, creating a pipeline between the military and manufacturing. Through the program in Fort Riley, Kansas, he realized that manufacturing was a perfect next step for him.

“It fit into my wheelhouse,” he said. “A lot of it was maintenance and mechanics, which I’d been doing my whole life. Making sure that the product they’re sending out is the right quality. And every Friday, we would go tour a different facility. That’s what opened my eyes to what manufacturing had to offer.”

He credits the Heroes MAKE America program with helping to smooth the transition out of the military.

“Getting out of the military is a very stressful time,” he said. “I had all these skills—I had worked on helicopters for 10 years—but I didn’t really know how that was going to transition to the civilian world.”

Gustine has been impressed with the way manufacturing has integrated high-tech processes into daily operations without lessening the need for skilled employees, and the industry continues to emphasize the need for new workers.

“People have this idea that it’s all automated now, which is not true at all,” he said. “As manufacturing goes more autonomous, there are more skilled positions available.”

Gustine is enthusiastic about what manufacturing has to offer and encourages other service members to consider the wide range of available roles.

“The manufacturing field is so big—you can do everything from making tires in Topeka to building cars in Ohio,” Gustine said. “Whatever you want to do, you can find your niche or find your spot. It opened my eyes to how much manufacturing there is in the United States. Find out where you want to go, and the sky is the limit in manufacturing.”

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Ketchie, a 71-year-old family-owned machine shop based in Concord, N.C., is thriving, thanks to the benefits of tax reform.

Company president Courtney Ketchie Silver is quick to note that tax reform made a transformative impact on its business.

“Because of tax reform, our customers are expanding,” Silver explained. “They’re investing in new equipment, they’re expanding their shopfloors. There’s a general level of confidence, and that’s resulting in increased demand for Ketchie’s products.”

In fact, 2018 turned out to be Ketchie’s best year yet in its seven-decade history. 2018 sales increased a whopping 25 percent year over year.

“Because of this huge demand, Ketchie was able to make a number of capital investments,” Silver said. Overall, Ketchie pumped nearly $500,000 into capital equipment last year, which will help the company continue to meet demand for years to come.

The increased investment led to a hiring boom as well. In 2018, Ketchie expanded its workforce by 20 percent, with all new hiring taking place on the shopfloor rather than in the back office. That sort of single-year growth “has never happened before,” explained Silver. “Employees are excited to see the company grow.”

Existing employees are also benefitting through pay raises and quarterly bonuses. In order to continue to develop their employees, the company has worked with the local community college and has been the recipient of grant funding from the state of North Carolina. Ketchie has also joined the North Carolina Manufacturing Institute to promote manufacturing and help match individuals and employers in the area.

“As we’ve seen for the past year and a half since its enactment, tax reform is giving businesses the ability to reinvest in and expand their operations, and manufacturers are leading the way in this effort,” said Chris Netram, 51�Թ��� vice president of tax and domestic economic policy, said. “Manufacturers have reported record levels of optimism for nine consecutive quarters in our Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey, and, through increased spending and investment, that optimism is helping fuel our entire economy.”

“It’s such a change from 2008, 2009,” agreed Silver, referring to 2019’s booming economic climate. “For the first time since then, people are confident. And their actions are following that confidence. Overall, I have a positive outlook for the year.”

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce held a legislative hearing on proposed improvements to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), including one bill applauded by manufacturers across the country. H.R. 3169, known as the FASTER Act, would codify and strengthen the “fast-track” recall program, making it easier for companies to issue a voluntary recall if they determine that one of their products is unsafe.

Instituted by the CPSC nearly 25 years ago, the existing fast-track program is intended to provide companies with the ability to quickly recall a product if necessary, eliminating procedural steps like the CPSC staff’s technical evaluation of a product to determine if a defect exists that could harm consumers. That procedure, called a preliminary determination, can take several months. By streamlining the time-consuming review, manufacturers can quickly ensure the safety of consumers when they have already determined that a recall is necessary.

However, the fast track program has frequently been slowed down by bureaucratic Commission obstacles that have delayed even voluntary recalls by months.

“The CPSC’s fast-track program, once an award-winning agency program allowing for swift voluntary recalls, has become hampered by bureaucratic disagreements over non-substantive concerns, such as the wording of press releases and other hold-ups that create unnecessary hurdles to ensuring the safety of products on the market,” said Graham Owens, 51�Թ��� Director of Legal and Regulatory Policy. “In other words, the program’s signature quality—that of being fast—seems to have been recalled itself.”

The bill Congress is considering would make the agency-created fast-track program permanent, while also clearly laying out how the process should work to prevent red tape from creeping back in. Meanwhile, the Commission would still have the power to make companies go through the long-form recall process on a case-by-case basis if it determines the expedited process was insufficient, ensuring that the Commission continues to hold regulatory authority.

“The FASTER Act would alleviate bureaucratic and non-substantive red tape by codifying the fast-track program into law—and by preventing the commission from delaying the posting of public notices of recall plans,” said Owens. “These simple steps would immediately speed up voluntary recalls to the benefit of consumers, manufacturers, and even the Commission itself.”

After fighting for many years to fix these administrative delays, manufacturers are hopeful that Congress will finally update the fast-track process.

“This hearing is a great start toward ensuring manufacturers are able to voluntarily recall products in an efficient and effective manner,” said Owens. “The FASTER Act, if passed, would improve the agency’s effectiveness in discharging its critical mission, and we commend the Subcommittee for focusing on common sense reforms. Manufacturers stand ready to work with Congress and the CPSC to achieve this laudable goal.”

As a production scheduler for Mars, Incorporated, Thomas Schlieper has a hand in sending sweet treats all over the world.

In some ways, it’s very different from his former career. As a teenager, Schlieper joined the Army National Guard because it offered benefits like tuition assistance and scholarships that would help him go to college. When he finished school, he worked in his hometown and eventually decided to go into active service in the U.S. Army. That career spanned two decades and helped lead him to the manufacturing job he enjoys today.

While Schlieper served as an Army senior supply specialist, he enrolled in the , which aims to connect manufacturers with highly qualified candidates and offer transitioning service members manufacturing-related training and support, thus creating a pipeline between the military and manufacturing. Through this U.S. Department of Defense-approved program, he toured the Mars production facility in Topeka, Kansas. Mars recognized his logistics experience and offered him a production scheduler position, which he accepted in February 2019.

“I served 20 years as a logistics guy,” he said. “Ordering supplies, making sure soldiers in the Army had what they needed. The leadership skills I learned in the Army helped me adapt to this new role.”

Schlieper recalls the stress he felt during his first day on the job at Mars, when he wondered whether he was up to the challenges of his new role—and the moment when it all clicked.

“My first couple days there, after I did the orientation, I was overwhelmed,” he said. “I thought, am I getting over my head? I was just a soldier, and now I’m something different.”

He was shadowing another employee when he suddenly realized that the system he would be using as a production scheduler at Mars was exactly the same system he used every day when ordering supplies and managing logistics in the Army.

“I looked at the system, and I was totally relieved,” said Schlieper. “All that stress went away, and I was like, I know this. I can do this.”

Today, Schlieper is deeply immersed in his new industry. He feels it’s a good fit for former members of the military, who will have an easier learning curve as a result of their training.

“Before I retired, some people I knew thought manufacturing jobs were jobs nobody wanted,” he says. “But that’s really not the case. It’s completely different. It’s a whole new world.”

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This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Dream and Promise Act. The legislation, which was introduced in March, offers a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children—collectively known as Dreamers—as well as immigrants under humanitarian protections, known as Temporary Protected Status.

Manufacturers in the United States have long been outspoken supporters of pragmatic, comprehensive immigration policies—and with a proposal for a pathway to citizenship for these immigrant populations under consideration in Congress, manufacturing leaders are pushing again for bipartisan comprehensive reform.

“Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status participants have become an integral part of our society and our workforce,” said 51�Թ��� President and CEO Jay Timmons in a letter to Congress. “They have the potential to offer so much more to our country if they can continue their pursuit of the American Dream.”

Manufacturers point to the importance of immigrants to the workforce, particularly in the manufacturing sector, which faces a significant skills gap. And they note that inconsistent administrative actions and unpredictable court decisions have created ongoing uncertainty and posed a serious challenge for these immigrants and businesses in need of new employees.

“Our workplaces reach their fullest potential and our communities and country are strongest when our nation’s immigration policy is clear and compassionate, and addresses economic, workforce and security needs,” said Timmons. “But today, our immigration system is failing to achieve those goals.”

In February, the 51�Թ��� released its own immigration and border security proposal. The 16-page document, entitled “A Way Forward,” is a wide-ranging plan that includes border security and a permanent and compassionate solution for populations facing uncertainty, like the Dreamers. The plan includes priorities from both Democrats and Republicans and is designed to be pragmatic, comprehensive and achievable.

“If we act, we will have given those who deserve it a chance to be a productive and contributing part of our country,” said Timmons. “And we will have upheld the values that make this nation of immigrants exceptional: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.”