Wrap Up: President Trump and Congress Will Revive America’s Manufacturing Industry, Bring Jobs Back Home - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability

WASHINGTON— Today, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing titled “Made in the USA: Igniting the Industrial Renaissance of the United States.” During the hearing, expert witnesses discussed the importance of advancing solutions that revive America’s manufacturing industry, empower the U.S. workforce, and decrease our reliance on supply chains controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and other hostile foreign actors. Members stressed that China’s position as the current world leader in manufacturing poses economic, military, and national security threats to the United States. To ignite an American industrial renaissance and protect the U.S. workforce, members concluded that Congress must work alongside the Trump Administration to decrease unnecessary regulatory burdens and streamline permitting processes.

Key Takeaways:

For decades, the U.S. federal government has endorsed cheap foreign labor, burdensome regulations, and a broken permitting system—resulting in the downfall of America’s manufacturing industry.

Subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison (R-Mo.): “Instead of embracing new technologies or innovating in the manufacturing industry, we sold off our manufacturing birthright. A vast amount of what once was American manufacturing was shipped off to become foreign manufacturing. In the end, we lost most of our manufacturing base. And that was not just because U.S. leaders supported globalization. It was also because we overregulated existing manufacturing and imposed enormous obstacles to the permitting of new manufacturing.”

Chris Power, Chief Executive Officer, Hadrian: “Over the past 40 years, America traded industrial power for short-term financial efficiency. We offshored production, disinvested in our physical infrastructure, and allowed core manufacturing capabilities and supply chains to atrophy. The consequences are stark: not enough factories, not enough skilled workers, and not enough capacity to meet national demands in an era when deterrence and resilience depend on our ability to produce at scale.”

China took control of critical supply chains and the Trump Administration is now advancing solutions that prioritize domestic manufacturing opportunities, empower America’s workforce, and bring production back to the United States.

Austin Bishop, Chief Executive Officer, New American Industrial Alliance: “The United States depends heavily on China for critical minerals, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, ships, and advanced manufacturing inputs. These supply chains could collapse overnight in the event of conflict or even heightened tensions. We must be clear-eyed: economic dependency is strategic vulnerability. If we cannot produce the essentials of modern life within our borders, we are not truly sovereign.”

Congress is working alongside the Trump Administration to address root causes of America’s manufacturing decline and ensure our future is built right here in the United States.

Member Highlights:

Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) discussed how burdensome regulations, especially in domestic energy production, have stifled the development of manufacturing facilities in the United States.

Rep. Burlison: “Can we have some insight into supply chains? Especially the situation with our energy infrastructure. Can you describe the process for a company when they determine to locate a manufacturing facility? And how electricity costs play into that?”

Mr. Power: “Energy costs and especially regulations play a huge role in these decisions and where we put factories in the United States. Compared to China our energy costs are 10 to 20 times more…It is incredibly important to minimize these burdens.”

Representative Clay Higgins (R-La.) stressed that America has become reliant on supply chains controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Rep. Higgins: “What happens to the sovereignty of a nation when it loses its industrial base? Do you concur that the sovereignty of a nation disintegrates?”

Mr. Bishop: “Yes. You can’t have one without the other.”

Rep. Higgins: “Do we really want a cheaper product on the shelf that’s been subsidized by communism and produced with child labor and slave labor? This is what the Trump Administration and conservatives in Congress are pushing back against. We seek to establish the truth that cheap products produced in abhorrent conditions on foreign soil subsidized by communism and produced by child labor and slave labor…I’m 63 years old I’ve watched our industrial base disintegrate in my lifetime. I am prayerful that we can fix this thing in this Congress at least change the trajectory of trade imbalance.”

Representative Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) emphasized that revitalizing the manufacturing industry in the United States is a top economic and national security priority.

Rep. Donalds: “The United States at the end at the end of World War Two produced about 40% of the world’s manufacturing capacity. Today depending on who you ask maybe it is around 15% maybe lower. We need to change that. I think it’s important for the Committee to recognize that while the goal overall is to bring manufacturing back to the United States either onshore or near shore, one thing is crystal clear: we have not been minding the consequences when it comes to trade policy and its enforcement.”