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NAM: Calling national attention to West Coast ports slowdown

During week two of the State of Manufacturing Tour, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons delivered manufacturers’ strategy for securing manufacturing and economic growth during several stops in Olympia and Spokane, Wash., working in partnership with the Association of Washington Business and Greater Spokane Incorporated, and in Colorado, with support from the Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry (CACI).

Testifying in Olympia before the Washington Senate Commerce & Labor Committee on February 9, Timmons called national attention to how the West Coast ports dispute is hurting manufacturing in the Northwest and throughout the country and urged the Administration to step up.

“The other Washington has to act, of course—the Administration must increase pressure on the parties to resolve the slowdown,” Timmons told state lawmakers. “The President must be willing to do whatever it takes to keep any shutdown from occurring—and we urge the President to consider legal means if the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association negotiations continue to deteriorate and do not come to a timely resolution,” he testified. “We need more than monitoring from this Administration….The stakes are too high to watch this go by.”

Roll Call and Politico Pro (subscription required) noted Timmons’ remarks in their national coverage, and he spoke out again on Fox Business News. NAM Director of Transportation and Infrastructure Policy Robyn Boerstling echoed Timmons’ comments about the urgency of finding a solution in interviews withReuters, Roll Call and CBS-TV Los Angeles, as CNBC, The Hill and others continued to cite researchcosponsored by the NAM about the long-term damage of a 10-day shutdown.

Timmons also pressed Washington State lawmakers to “try to ensure that coal export facilities aren’t killed by regulatory failure or politics,” shining a national spotlight on this important issue in Politico Pro(subscription required) and Roll Call.

Moving on to Spokane, Timmons addressed 150 manufacturing, community and education/workforce leaders at Spokane Valley Tech, a new, cutting-edge career technical high school in Washington State. He delivered the critical message that manufacturers need a workforce for the new-generation economy.

Noting that we have a severe shortage of human talent in the United States, Timmons said, “It’s great to see Spokane Valley Tech creating the future of education, with a new, dynamic learning environment for high school students to gain technical skills and experience in growing industries. Programs like this one will move not just Washington but our country in the right direction.” Read more on Shopfloor.org.

Following two days of visits in Washington State with a broad range of manufacturers, state policymakers, students and the media, Timmons took the manufacturing tour to Colorado, where he called on Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper to join our opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s “unwise and unworkable ozone standard” and spoke out on the importance of an open Internet and cybersecurity.

In his State of Manufacturing address cohosted by Ball Corporation and Centennial Bolt, with support from CACI, Timmons said, “Given the staggering success technology has helped drive across all manufacturing sectors, it makes no sense for President Obama to reverse course and now apply an antiquated command-and-control regulatory framework to the currently open Internet. He’s trying to fix something that simply isn’t broken. So let’s all agree on keeping what works: the free flow of data, services and ideas online while creating a climate that supports private investment in broadband networks.”

NAM Executive Committee members Scott Morrison of Ball Corporation and Mark Cordova of Centennial Bolt joined Timmons at his address at Ball Corporation.

Next week, Timmons takes the State of Manufacturing Tour to Houston, Tex., and Montgomery, Ala.Join us in person and on social media—Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram—using #StateofMFGand #MFGisUS.

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