Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, told Newsmax on Friday that Congress must "get off their backsides" and pass a bill to extend the 2017 tax cuts that start to expire this year.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to resurrect the U.S. manufacturing industry through his use of wide-ranging tariffs on imports, but Timmons said on Newsmax's "National Report" that in order to promote investment and job growth in the U.S. manufacturing industry, "you need several pieces of a strategy to fall into place," including the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which has several provisions set to expire between 2025 and 2028 unless extended by Congress.
He noted that Trump addressed the organization's board meeting during his election campaign last year, where he "talked about the importance of renewing those 2017 tax reforms," describing them as "rocket fuel" for the manufacturing industry.
"It was rocket fuel," Timmons said, adding, "We had record investment and job creation in this country and the manufacturing sector after those reforms took place."
He continued, "Now they're going to expire this year if Congress does not, frankly, get off their backsides and get busy on this legislation."
Timmons also praised the administration's "regulatory reform," saying, "the president and his administration have really prioritized rebalancing our regulations in this country. They're costing manufacturers $350 billion a year. That's $50,000 per employee per year in compliance costs. We can't compete with the rest of the world if we're … making mistakes on our own and driving up costs."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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