Time for candidates to address manufacturing

Americans have now sat through four presidential debates – three among Republican candidates, one among Democratic candidates. Over a dozen presidential candidates and debate moderators have spent a collective nine hours and have spoken over 96,000 words debating candidates’ vision of America’s future.

And yet, manufacturing has only really been mentioned but a handful of times – in passing, by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during September’s Republican debate on CNN, and three times during last week’s CNBC debate, by Republican candidates Ben Carson and Donald Trump.

{mosads}None of the other candidates considered “contenders” by the national media have touched on manufacturing, and none of the moderators, so far, have bothered to ask about it.

So as the political world travels to Milwaukee for tonight’s Republican presidential debate, it’s time to put manufacturing – and manufacturing issues – at the front and center of the presidential election.

There’s no better place than Wisconsin to make sure voters understand how those candidates who aspire to the presidency would support manufacturing if elected. Manufacturing employs almost 475,000 Wisconsinites per year, and manufacturing in our state accounts for about a fifth of Wisconsin’s economic output.

Manufacturing is at the center of our state’s economy and our culture, and the same is true for dozens of other states across America’s heartland. So how can it be that those candidates who are seeking our vote have spent so little time talking about this industry, the backbone of the American economy?

The Republican debate in Milwaukee – and a subsequent Democratic debate scheduled for February, also in Milwaukee – offer the perfect venue for candidates to describe their vision for supporting our manufacturing future. Instead of focusing on sound bites that will fuel the next cable news cycle, moderators and candidates should focus on understanding how candidates will fuel manufacturing growth.

What does that mean? Manufacturers and their employees are especially eager to hear from candidates on several core issues that also matter to millions of other Americans.

Manufacturers want to know, for instance, how our next president plans to revitalize and expand America’s crumbling infrastructure. Our roads and bridges, our pipelines and our utility systems aren’t just suffering from neglect and disrepair – they’re not ready to handle a growing population with evolving needs that simply don’t match the needs of previous generations, when this infrastructure was built. What strategies will our next president have to keep America competitive and restore our infrastructure as the envy of the world?

How will our next president also work to build a workforce equipped with the skills manufacturers need? In so many communities, manufacturers struggle to recruit workers with the skills they need to fill 21st Century jobs. Contrary to some stereotypes, manufacturing jobs are the kind of high-wage, high-tech careers that many candidates praise on the campaign trail. We need to hear from our next president about how he or she will help develop the next-generation workforce America needs.

Lastly, any candidate who wishes to be president should explain how they’ll keep manufacturers globally competitive by breaking down trade barriers and reforming taxes to support domestic manufacturing production. Trade supports almost 74,000 manufacturing jobs per year in Wisconsin, according to the Business Roundtable, with $2.5 billion in exports of agricultural and construction machinery per year topping the list.

Manufacturers also deserve more than rhetoric when it comes to taxes. Instead of platitudes and vague promises of tax reform, candidates should detail how they’ll keep businesses competitive, and more importantly, why it’s such an important priority.

Any number of presidential candidates in the current field are capable of delivering credible answers on these issues. But, so far, they haven’t.

Tonight’s debate offers the perfect venue for Republican presidential candidates to address this glaring deficiency. Let’s hope they’re as eager to answer some important questions as we are to hear some answers.

Slater is president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.