News

Manufacturing industry is the cornerstone of America
By U.S. Senator Marco Rubio
October 7, 2019
Orlando Sentinel
 
At a recent visit to an American auto factory, one of the workers told me that though he didn’t come from a family of auto workers, he hoped his sons would follow in his footsteps in the industry. He said it felt good to be a part of creating something and watching the finished product roll off the line.
 
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Manufacturing industries are the cornerstone of America. By expanding the parts of our economy that make things — manufacturing, construction, agriculture — we make good on our end of the deal.
 
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Manufacturing provides much greater opportunity for technological advances and building workers’ skills. Think of the American achievements that revolutionized our world, like the airplane, the Apollo missions, or nuclear energy.
 
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At this point, we’re familiar with the economic disaster of a community losing its manufacturing base. Just as the economy as a whole can’t grow from everyone lending money to each other, a community will not be prosperous if everyone simply buys coffee from each other. Someone has to create the value that everything else is based on. The notion that a recently laid-off metalworker can simply download an app, jump into a new gig, and then resume the same quality of life she once enjoyed — in wages and benefits, but also in the amount of time she’s able to spend with family — is ridiculous.
 
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We are not meeting the promise that we make to workers. Americans deserve an economy driven by abundant, dignified work — jobs that offer good wages and benefits, encourage skill development, and enable us to be devoted family members and productive members of our communities. Policymakers must recognize that we can no longer be passive observers in this project.
 
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