WASHINGTON (April 10, 2014) — The Senate Commerce Committee has passed S. 1468, the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2013.
The bill isdesigned to strengthen the Obama administration's efforts to create regional manufacturing hubs across the U.S.
In an April 9 news release, the committee released a list of 139 institutional supporters of the bill, including corporations, associations, organizations and academic institutions.
The list of supporters include Goodyear, Dow Chemical Co., Eastman Chemical Co., DuPont Co., Volkswagen, Honda, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, PolymerOhio Inc. and 35 universities.
S. 1468 would create a network of regional hubs that would solve common manufacturing problems for businesses and researchers in that field, according to Senate Commerce.
The Obama administration has already established the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) within the Commerce Department to create the regional hubs, the committee said. The first hub, in Youngstown, Ohio, is already operational. Further hubs have been announced for Detroit; Chicago; and Youngstown.
Senate Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., urged the full Senate to vote quickly to pass the bill.
“Today's action means we're one step closer toward increasing our support for American innovation and manufacturing,” Sen. Rockefeller said in the press release. “We must continue to invest in programs that help transform the brilliant scientific discoveries currently taking place in university laboratories into real-world applications on the factory floor.”
H.R. 2996, a sister bill in the House of Representatives, has 65 co-sponsors. The bill is before the House Science Subcommittee on Research and Technology.