House Small Business Committee hears reshoring pitch but members spar over tariffs and workforce gaps
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
At a House Small Business Committee hearing titled “Made in the USA,” witnesses and members agreed small manufacturers are central to reshoring but clashed over tariff policy, workforce shortages and permitting delays. Witnesses urged targeted tax and permitting reforms and more stable trade rules to spur domestic investment.
Chairman Williams convened the House Small Business Committee for a hearing titled “Made in the USA: How Main Street is revitalizing domestic manufacturing,” saying domestic manufacturing is “critical to our economic strength, national security and job creation.” He opened with a broad defense of the administration’s reshoring agenda and introduced the witnesses who laid out competing views on tariffs, workforce and regulatory burdens.
Charles Crane, managing vice president for policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, told the committee federal regulatory costs impose substantial burdens on the industry. “For small manufacturers, it's about $50,000 per employee per year,” Crane said, arguing that regulatory and permitting reform is essential to converting tax incentives into new factories and jobs.
Harry Moser of the ReShoring Initiative described a long-term reshoring trend. “We tracked reshoring from about 11,000 jobs in 2010 to roughly 240,000 per year last year,” Moser said, adding that roughly half of those returning jobs benefit small firms. He urged wider use of total-cost-of-ownership analyses and workforce training to sustain the trend.
Small-business witnesses described how tariff unpredictability and rising input costs have complicated planning. Shirley Modlin, co-owner of 3D Design & Manufacturing, said tariffs on aluminum, steel and specialized tooling have made pricing and forecasting “very difficult” for a 15-person firm. Kurt Voss of AmeriLux said tariffs had mixed effects: in some cases overseas suppliers absorbed increases; in others tariffs raised costs and prompted calls for narrow exemptions.
Members pressed witnesses on specific policy tools. Republicans highlighted permanent tax provisions and immediate expensing enacted this year as stimulants for investment; Democrats cited recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing month-to-month manufacturing job declines and warned that small firms have not recovered proportionally. Several members asked whether capital equipment should be exempted from tariffs to avoid penalizing companies that must import specialized machines to build U.S. plants.
Witnesses generally backed policy stability and targeted measures: Crane emphasized predictable trade and regulatory frameworks, Moser said tariffs should not apply to capital equipment used to reshore production, and witnesses across the panel urged expanded apprenticeships, community-college partnerships and more accessible SBA programs so small manufacturers can hire and retain skilled workers.
The committee took no formal action. Chairman Williams closed by giving members five legislative days to submit additional materials; the hearing was adjourned without a vote.