DEWINE RECOGNIZED FOR SUPPORT OF MANUFACTURERS

The following information was released by the Office of Ohio Senator Mike DeWine:

U.S. Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) today received the Award for Manufacturing Legislative Excellence from the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in a ceremony at the Ashland Performance Materials plant in Dublin. The award recognizes Senator DeWine for his support of a pro-growth, pro-manufacturing, and pro-worker policy agenda. I am honored to receive this award from NAM and I thank them for their efforts on behalf of our nation's manufacturers, said Senator DeWine. The importance of manufacturing to Ohio simply cannot be overstated and we must do all we can to promote it. We have to be aggressive both in growing manufacturing opportunities in the U.S. and in defending those that already flourish here. I will continue to look for ways to help Ohio's manufacturers expand and grow and will continue to push our foreign competitors to play by the rules because this is a game we can and must win.

Senator DeWine has a long history of supporting manufacturers and workers. Senator DeWine introduced the Continuing Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), which directs revenues collected through fines for unfair trade practices back to the U.S. companies that were hurt by those practices. Passed in 2001, the CDSOA has given over $315 million back to forty-four companies operating in Ohio. Senator DeWine also supports better coordination of manufacturing policies at the federal level. In 2003, he co-sponsored legislation that established the position of Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing in the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Assistant Secretary, which was created by executive order in 2004, represents and advocates for the interests of the manufacturing sector, aids in the development of policies that promote its expansion, and reviews policies that may adversely impact it. More recently, Senator DeWine spearheaded an effort to keep the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, which provides low-cost consulting services and business improvement assistance to thousands of small manufacturers across the United States, fully funded in 2004, 2005, and 2006.