Hoyer Tours UPS Facilities, Delivers Remarks on Make It In America Plan
LANDOVER, MD – This morning Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) toured UPS's Landover packaging center and their state-of-the-art job training facility. Hoyer met with and addressed approximately 300 UPS drivers and package handlers, many of whom are constituents. He discussed how House Democrats' Make It In America plan will create jobs, strengthen our economy, and restore the American dream. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
"I am so glad to be here with all of you to tour this wonderful facility and meet some of the hardworking men and women who keep it running. I'm incredibly proud to represent many of you in Congress.
"I also want to take a moment to thank you for all of the time and energy you gave to help some of our community's charitable organizations, including the Special Olympics, the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, and the Boys and Girls Clubs.
"In addition to touring the packaging center, one of the reasons I was eager to visit with you today is to talk to you briefly about an initiative in Congress called Make It In America.
"The recession hit a lot of Americans hard, especially those already struggling to make ends meet. The Make It In America plan is House Democrats' answer to the challenges we face in unemployment and economic recovery, and I have been proud to take the lead on it.
"Make It In America will help create jobs right away and strengthen our economic competitiveness over the long-term. It does so by employing a combination of tax incentives for businesses and investments in education, infrastructure, and the research and development that fuel American innovation.
"Now, Make It In America has two meanings. First, we need to help more of our people "make it" in this country. That is, we need to restore the promise of the American dream for the millions of people who are out of work or are struggling to make ends meet. To do so, we need to "make things" in America – help businesses design and build their products here and sell them at home and around the world.
"Today, I'm going to modify Make It In America just a bit and add a new meaning. Make It In America can also mean "move it in America." That's where you come in.
"Our plan will help more businesses create their products here and sell domestically and overseas. That will mean more packages for UPS to move around the country and across the world. You have a central role to play in boosting our economy and helping get more Americans back to work.
"Make It In America contains many good, bipartisan ideas, ranging from an infrastructure bank to advanced energy research funding, to investments in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy. By advanced energy, of course, I mean the kind of technology powering UPS's new alternative fuel vehicles, which I had the opportunity to see a few minutes ago.
"One of the central components of Make It In America is strengthening our education system, in particular, preparing more of our students in math and science, and helping encourage them to start thinking earlier about their careers. As great as UPS's "Integrad" training center is, we want to reduce the amount of training businesses have to do by making sure our graduates are already prepared for the tasks required of them in 21st century jobs.
"Make It In America, though, is about more than just a plan for jobs and the economy.
It's about the American dream. The American dream is a contract between generations – that we will take the investments our parents made in America for us and reinvest the dividends in the America we are making for our children.
"People are worried about being able to deliver to their children the same opportunities they received growing up. Make It In America will help us restore the promise of the American dream by enabling us to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build our foreign competitors for the next generation. President Obama introduced his own plan, the American Jobs Act, in September. Along with Make It In America, it has the potential to put Americans back to work right away.
"Sadly, Republicans in Congress have refused to consider it. The one exception has been a small piece of the President's plan to encourage businesses to hire veterans. I'm glad Republicans were able to work with us on that. I am also gratified to know that UPS is doing its share to recruit veterans, who are some of our nation's most productive, skilled, and reliable people, as employees and franchise owners.
"I am confident that, if we can turn Make It In America into a reality, we can get millions of Americans back to work and help businesses give all of you at ups the chance to do what you do best: move it in America!
"Thank you, and good luck out there today."