4 May 2005
Dear Representative Boehlert: I am writing on behalf of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA) to express our support for H.R.250, the Manufacturing Technology Competitiveness Act of 2005. This legislation would give a much needed boost to strengthen this country's competitiveness in the manufacturing sciences and technology. We strongly support the goal of this bill to amend the National Institute of Standards and Technology Act (NIST Act) to establish: (1) a pilot program of collaborative manufacturing research grants; (2) manufacturing sciences research fellowships; (3) manufacturing extension center competitive grants; and (4) standards education grants to develop higher education curricula on the role of standards in engineering, business, science, and economics. These programs are vitally important to ensure the U.S. stays competitive in the manufacturing technology in an increasingly global marketplace. The bill also reauthorizes and strengthens the Manufacturing Extension Program (MEP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The MEP has a proven track record of promoting innovation and economic growth. The MEP has helped over 150,000 small and mid-size businesses to grow, modernize, and improve productivity. The MEP program is instrumental to re-vitalizing the manufacturing industry and to creating and keeping jobs in the U.S. Given the significant benefit it provides to American innovation, economic prosperity and job creation, strengthening the MEP at this time would be the right thing to do. We understand the difficult decisions that Congress must make in a very constrained budget environment. However, we believe that manufacturing science and technology have long been neglected in this country. This bill is a step in the right direction to address the outsourcing of American manufacturing base. We strongly encourage you to support this important legislation. IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 220,000 technology professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org. The IEEE-USA staff contact in the Washington, DC office is Bill Williams at (202) 785-8331 or bill.williams@ieee.org. Sincerely, Gerard A. Alphonse (Sample – Similar
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2005
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