Have you heard about the new plan going through Congress that’s meant to close the skills gap, strengthen the manufacturing workforce, and encourage growth of the manufacturing sector here in the U.S.?

Most people haven’t, which is why we thought we’d take some time today to explain the that’s currently working its way through Congress.

The Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative is a collection of 40 bills designed to strengthen the manufacturing sector. Although it was introduced by Democrats in the senate, many of the bills already have bipartisan support, and the entire initiative is really starting to pick up steam.

, the package of bills has four organizing principles:

• Strengthening America’s 21st century workforce
• Opening markets abroad
• Creating the conditions necessary for growth
• Expanding access to capital

One interesting aspect of the Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative is the educational side of the collection of bills. Even the government realizes today that the skills gap is a serious problem, and a few of the bills included in this initiative are meant to help close that.

One bill, , “would allocate $8 billion to facilitate training between two-year institutions and businesses.” That’s the type of training we talk about in our discussions of trade school and community college programs here in Nebraska, and more funding for exploring new educational opportunities would be a great thing.

This plan is still a ways from being passed (and even further from being put into effect), but it represents the fact that even the government is on board with the growth of manufacturing. And that couldn’t come at a better time–

The people (like us) see the need for continued investment in manufacturing, and now, the government agrees.

While we usually stay out of politics, we couldn’t help but write a brief introduction to this exciting legislation. It’s great when we can all come together for a cause that helps everybody, and that’s certainly the case with the Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative. We’ll check in with more updates as the legislation continues to work its course through Congress.

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