Polls Lead Dems to Focus on Manufacturing Push

by Jonathan Allen

The catalyst for the manufacturing agenda is a survey by Democratic pollster Mark Mellman and Republican pollster Whit Ayres. Not surprisingly, the poll shows that Americans want a more robust plan for reviving the domestic manufacturing sector, worry about the strength of competitors such as China and approve of policies that require the government to buy American-made goods. Call it the 75 percent-plus doctrine: Eighty-seven percent favor having a “national manufacturing strategy,” 77 percent say that “jobs being shipped overseas” is among the issues they worry about most or worry about a great deal, and 92 percent have a somewhat or very favorable impression of goods made in America. At least in concept, some Republicans endorse the broader idea of a manufacturing agenda. Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thad McCotter of Michigan used Twitter to endorse the poll in June after getting a full presentation on it. The late-April poll, surveying 1,000 likely voters and conducted for the Alliance for American Manufacturing, doesn’t ask respondents to make choices among investments in manufacturing, tax breaks for businesses, penalties for American companies that operate overseas or spending on the nation’s other domestic and international priorities. Nor does it address any of the bills Democrats plan to bring to the floor. But it provides a framework for Democratic leaders who want to use the House floor to provide politically easy votes for lawmakers from manufacturing states. The jobs bills may also give rank-and-file lawmakers a break from a brutally partisan session, so they can show the public they are addressing the job crisis. The poll driving the Democratic agenda has a pretty clear conclusion: Americans, particularly in key swing districts, like the idea of “made in the USA.” The top concern among independents, folks 50 and older, people with no college education and those deemed “working class” was that “we have lost too many manufacturing jobs in this country.” Democrats are trying to get everyone on message with this agenda – there’s a webinar planned for Thursday for congressional employees in district offices across the country, according to a senior Democratic aide.  “We knew our poll was a potential game changer – it validated the views of members of Congress who were hearing this message back home. That’s why we wanted to get the poll into as many hands as possible – Democratic and Republican – and we are thrilled that House Democrats are putting together an agenda for manufacturing, [which] we hope will receive broad, bipartisan support,” said Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

It’s not clear if any of the ideas will actually become law. But the back story does provide a window into a part of the legislative process that wasn’t included in the old “Schoolhouse Rock” story of how a bill becomes a law: polling. The presentation was first made to Hoyer’s aides in late June. The majority leader had already been working with a group of members on jobs, and his aides gathered them for a second presentation. From there, it became the focus of a Democratic Caucus meeting just before the July Fourth recess. Pelosi armed lawmakers with talking points on the jobs issue before they went home for the break. By the time Pelosi and other Democratic leaders met with Obama at the White House last week, she was ready to go public with the plan. It moved so fast that Democratic aides were scrambling until Tuesday night to figure out how to package it and present it to the public. Among the proposals: Illinois Rep. Phil Hare’s $5 billion in tax credits for domestic manufacturers that produce items used in alternative energy projects, a bill by Illinois Rep. Daniel Lipinski that would require the administration to study and report on the state of the manufacturing sector every four years and a measure by Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton to require foreign manufacturers that do business with the U.S. to keep an employee stationed here so that he or she can be served with court papers. Sutton declined POLITICO’s request for an interview on her bill. One bill has already hit the floor: On Monday, the House unanimously passed a bill, written by Reps. Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) and Todd Platts (R-Pa.), that encourages partnerships and regional alliances among industry, unions and worker-training organizations. Pelosi was ready with her talking points after the noncontroversial bill easily passed the House. “Today, the House passed the SECTORS Act to create and save good-paying American jobs and to restore the words ‘made in America,’ helping to lay the foundation for growth now and in the years to come,” Pelosi said.


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