Hoyer Remarks at "Make It In America: What's Next?" Field Hearing
LARGO, MD – Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) today hosted a "Make It In America: What's Next?" field hearing in Largo, Maryland. Make It In America is a jobs plan Congressman Hoyer has been leading in Congress for five years with 16 bills signed into law. The hearing featured testimony from local business and innovation leaders, manufacturers, educators and labor to get insight on how the Make It In America jobs plan should be updated to reflect today's economic landscape. The hearing was the third in a series of "Make It In America: What's Next?" hearings designed to get information and feedback as Congressman Hoyer works to update this jobs plan. Below are Congressman Hoyer's opening remarks as prepared for delivery:
"Good morning, and thank you for being here for this field hearing.
"I'm pleased to be welcoming guest experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and labor representatives today from across our area who will be speaking to the challenges our economy is facing in 2015 – and will face over the next several years – as well as the new economic opportunities ahead of us.
"The purpose of this hearing is to look at ways to update and adapt the make it in America jobs plan to reflect those challenges and those opportunities and position our district, our state, and our country to compete for good jobs and economic growth.
"I've been proud to lead the Make It In America plan in Congress these past five years.
"We've achieved a number of bipartisan successes with 16 Make It In America bills having being enacted into law.
"These include reauthorization of the America Competes Act in 2011, passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and legislation to help clear the backlog of patent applications and reform the filing process for innovators.
"But the economy today is different from when we first launched Make It In America.
"With our economic recovery having made significant gains, with our manufacturing sector much stronger, and with the new challenges of wage stagnation and income inequality, I'm leading House Democrats in an effort to take the Make It In America plan into its next phase.
"While our plan has focused primarily on expanding our manufacturing base, we are now looking beyond traditional manufacturing to see how technology and innovation can launch and grow entirely new sectors and transform existing ones.
"We've held the first two of a series of hearings on Capitol Hill entitled: "Make It In America: What's Next?," where we've heard from Members of Congress and from guest experts sharing their insights and new ideas.
"Today, I'm excited to bring that series home to Maryland's Fifth District, and we are joined by nine distinguished experts, divided into three panels.
"The first will explore Maryland research and innovation, delving into such topics as start-up development, support for research, and technology deployment.
"The second focuses on training for the future, with a discussion about apprenticeship training, workforce preparation, and career pipelines.
"The third, on next generation Maryland products, will feature local business leaders who are already hard at work engaged in the kind of innovative entrepreneurship that the Make It In America plan seeks to expand.
"I will be taking the ideas generated here today back to Congress to share with my colleagues and to incorporate into the development of the updated Make It In America plan.
"I hope you will now join me in welcoming our first panel."