| 11.19.03 Manufacturing
Assistance Cut By Congress Congressional appropriators have decided to hollow out the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), the main federal program serving America’s small manufacturers. The news came despite the effort of more than 300 members of Congress who supported a $110 million campaign to influence the Commerce, Justice, State Subcommittee. As of January 2001, the United States has lost more than 2.5 million manufacturing jobs. Only $39.6 million has been provided by Congress for the MEP in FY2004, a 63 percent cut from the current funding level. In 2002, Congress provided MEP with $106.6 million. The massive cut in MEP funding came during the debate over the final Omnibus bill that provides $700 billion for 12 different federal departments. No further action will be taken on the Omnibus bill until after the Thanksgiving holiday. Funding levels are unknown for the Advanced Technology Program, Economic Development Administration, and other programs of interest to the tech-based economic development community. MEP assists small manufacturers and helps boost their productivity, employment, sales and investment in modernization of America’s manufacturing sector. As a federal-state-private partnership, MEP supports a national network of more than 60 centers with 400 locations nationwide. More than 1,800 professionals work at these nonprofit centers to help manufactures adopt and use the latest and more efficient business practices, technologies and processes. |