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72 hours of sleet and lobbying success
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03/06/07 04:09 PM ET
When hundreds of manufacturers from across the country traveled to Washington last month to make personal visits to Capitol Hill, a winter storm greeted them.
Sleet, snow and ice shut down the city just as members of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) arrived for our biennial congressional-outreach program, “72 Hours to Educate and Celebrate.”
What to do? Cancel or reschedule the more than 100 Hill meetings? Watch C-SPAN until the streets cleared? Drink coffee and make phone calls instead?
Hardly. Manufacturers are skilled adapters, and winter’s wrath only invigorated NAM’s members. After all, we now had a captive audience: Congress was stuck in town, too.
America’s manufacturers therefore continued on with their schedules, hearing from national leaders such as Vice President Dick Cheney and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who gave important addresses on the manufacturing economy.
And the several hundred registrants for the NAM program completed 110 visits to congressional offices, the vast majority with their respective member of Congress.
Like most D.C.-headquartered national trade associations, the NAM’s staff can be counted on to lobby on issues with professionalism, skill and intelligence. But for passion and real-world experience, our power comes from beyond the Beltway.
With dedication and energy, the businessmen and women who belong to the NAM made their personal contacts with members and their staffs, successfully communicating manufacturing’s message about four priority issues:
The critical importance of a comprehensive national energy strategy.
The need for a permanent and strengthened R&D tax credit;
The benefit of the Extending Permanent Trade Promotion Authority to encourage new trade agreements that lower foreign barriers to U.S. manufacturing exports;
The opposition to H.R. 800, the “card-check” legislation that would eliminate secret-ballot union elections.
As for card check, given the number of cosponsors signed onto H.R. 800, we had no illusions about preventing passage of the astoundingly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. Nevertheless, manufacturers still wanted members of Congress to understand the depth of their opposition to legislation that abrogates a basic democratic principle, that of the secret ballot.
Our dedicated activism did have an impact.
Cheney, in a breakfast address to NAM members, for the first time expressed the Bush administration’s firm intention to veto the card-check bill. That statement and the NAM’s lobbying shaped subsequent House debate and have helped energize Senate opposition to the measure.
On energy, an NAM audience welcomed Majority Whip Clyburn’s discussion of cellulosic ethanol, nuclear power and clean-coal technology — the kind of diverse energy profile this country requires to keep its manufacturing sector competitive.
Manufacturers heard from a number of other lawmakers throughout the 72 hours of events, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who spoke at a Women in Manufacturing Breakfast. These appearances provided much-appreciated opportunities to exchange ideas.
Still, the most valuable part of 72 Hours to Educate and Celebrate occurred in the one-on-one and small-group sessions with the members of Congress.
“Truly exceptional” is how one NAM member described his congressional visits. Steve Lethert, controller of Wood’s Powr-Grip Co., traveled from Laurel, Mont., to talk about the research tax credit, competition from Asia and the coming energy crunch — all critical concerns for this small manufacturer of vacuum-lifting equipment.
His experience demonstrates the real benefit of being there in person. The NAM outreach was the first time Lethert had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), who spent a generous half-hour talking issues. Despite being a small-sized manufacturer, Powr-Grip makes profitable use of the R&D tax credit, Lethert said, a point he was able to elaborate upon in person.
Following a good meeting with the staff of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the senator made a point of stopping by, as well. The Panamanian ambassador was in the office, introductions were made, and now Powr-Grip is on a list of companies for which the senator hopes to arrange a Central American trade mission.
Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) staffers were also helpful, making the time on the Hill “beneficial and worthwhile,” Lethert reported.
Lethert’s activities also capture how 72 Hours to Educate and Celebrate carried a strong bipartisan emphasis. Energy, trade and research and development are all issues that cross party lines, and Democrats and Republicans alike expressed real interest in working with the NAM. We’ll take them up on it, you can be sure.
A former three-term governor of Michigan, John Engler is president and chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers, the largest industrial trade association in the United States.
Sleet, snow and ice shut down the city just as members of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) arrived for our biennial congressional-outreach program, “72 Hours to Educate and Celebrate.”
What to do? Cancel or reschedule the more than 100 Hill meetings? Watch C-SPAN until the streets cleared? Drink coffee and make phone calls instead?
Hardly. Manufacturers are skilled adapters, and winter’s wrath only invigorated NAM’s members. After all, we now had a captive audience: Congress was stuck in town, too.
America’s manufacturers therefore continued on with their schedules, hearing from national leaders such as Vice President Dick Cheney and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), who gave important addresses on the manufacturing economy.
And the several hundred registrants for the NAM program completed 110 visits to congressional offices, the vast majority with their respective member of Congress.
Like most D.C.-headquartered national trade associations, the NAM’s staff can be counted on to lobby on issues with professionalism, skill and intelligence. But for passion and real-world experience, our power comes from beyond the Beltway.
With dedication and energy, the businessmen and women who belong to the NAM made their personal contacts with members and their staffs, successfully communicating manufacturing’s message about four priority issues:
The critical importance of a comprehensive national energy strategy.
The need for a permanent and strengthened R&D tax credit;
The benefit of the Extending Permanent Trade Promotion Authority to encourage new trade agreements that lower foreign barriers to U.S. manufacturing exports;
The opposition to H.R. 800, the “card-check” legislation that would eliminate secret-ballot union elections.
As for card check, given the number of cosponsors signed onto H.R. 800, we had no illusions about preventing passage of the astoundingly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. Nevertheless, manufacturers still wanted members of Congress to understand the depth of their opposition to legislation that abrogates a basic democratic principle, that of the secret ballot.
Our dedicated activism did have an impact.
Cheney, in a breakfast address to NAM members, for the first time expressed the Bush administration’s firm intention to veto the card-check bill. That statement and the NAM’s lobbying shaped subsequent House debate and have helped energize Senate opposition to the measure.
On energy, an NAM audience welcomed Majority Whip Clyburn’s discussion of cellulosic ethanol, nuclear power and clean-coal technology — the kind of diverse energy profile this country requires to keep its manufacturing sector competitive.
Manufacturers heard from a number of other lawmakers throughout the 72 hours of events, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Reps. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.) and Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who spoke at a Women in Manufacturing Breakfast. These appearances provided much-appreciated opportunities to exchange ideas.
Still, the most valuable part of 72 Hours to Educate and Celebrate occurred in the one-on-one and small-group sessions with the members of Congress.
“Truly exceptional” is how one NAM member described his congressional visits. Steve Lethert, controller of Wood’s Powr-Grip Co., traveled from Laurel, Mont., to talk about the research tax credit, competition from Asia and the coming energy crunch — all critical concerns for this small manufacturer of vacuum-lifting equipment.
His experience demonstrates the real benefit of being there in person. The NAM outreach was the first time Lethert had the opportunity to meet with Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), who spent a generous half-hour talking issues. Despite being a small-sized manufacturer, Powr-Grip makes profitable use of the R&D tax credit, Lethert said, a point he was able to elaborate upon in person.
Following a good meeting with the staff of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the senator made a point of stopping by, as well. The Panamanian ambassador was in the office, introductions were made, and now Powr-Grip is on a list of companies for which the senator hopes to arrange a Central American trade mission.
Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) staffers were also helpful, making the time on the Hill “beneficial and worthwhile,” Lethert reported.
Lethert’s activities also capture how 72 Hours to Educate and Celebrate carried a strong bipartisan emphasis. Energy, trade and research and development are all issues that cross party lines, and Democrats and Republicans alike expressed real interest in working with the NAM. We’ll take them up on it, you can be sure.
A former three-term governor of Michigan, John Engler is president and chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers, the largest industrial trade association in the United States.
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