Bush Cuts Manufacturing Aid Program

John Wolz

The Bush Administration proposed at 63% cut in federal funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership program. The proposed FY2005 budget would fund MEP at $39 million, which is 63% below FY2003 and previous years� funding. The program is designed to help small manufacturers become more efficient and competitive. Since the last employment peak in June 2000 the U.S. has lost 2.9 million manufacturing jobs.
�The way things have been going for us manufacturers lately, I thought there was no way Bush could cut MEP again,� Spring Engineering president Tim Tindall commented. �I guess that just shows how much we manufacturing folks know about the way they do things in Washington.�
MEP is a program promoting �lean� manufacturing and is funded equally by federal, state and individual companies. MEP was named to the 100 �best resources for small business� by BizBest magazine in 2004.
Rob Harris, managing director of the Industrial Fasteners Institute, described �cutting funding while talking about how focused the Administration is on manufacturing, is talking out of both sides of their mouth.�
Mike Coast, president of the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, credited Gov. Jennifer Granholm for supporting a statewide program which �will continue to be here in some shape or form to do what we can to help Michigan manufacturers.� \ �2004 FastenerNews.com