CLEVELAND, OH –
Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
hosted a virtual roundtable with leaders from the Ohio State Building Trades &
Construction Trades Council to discuss the bipartisan
Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act and the job opportunities the
investment will create for workers in the skilled trades across Ohio. The
historic,
bipartisan infrastructure
law
includes Brown’s
Bridge Investment Act, which will
put
Ohioans to work repairing, replacing and upgrading outdated infrastructure
throughout the state. It also includes Brown’s
Build America Buy
America Act, and will ensure American labor, iron, and steel are
used for these publicly funded projects. Brown
recently announced that the Ohio
Department of Transportation received nearly $100 million in bridge formula
funding, and will receive nearly $500 million in bridge formula funding over
the next five years.
“The
infrastructure bill is an Ohio building trades jobs bill. Between the
bipartisan infrastructure package and the Intel investment, we are bringing
thousands of union construction jobs to our state – jobs that cannot be sent
overseas. I will always fight for your members,” said Brown at the
roundtable.
The
Ohio State Building Trades & Construction Trades Council provides members
with education and training to better their skills and maintain productive and
safe working environments. The Ohio State Building Trades & Construction
Trades Council represents 14 member councils made up of 144 affiliated unions,
representing 100,000 workers and 10,500 apprentices throughout the state.
“The
Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council wishes to thank Senator
Brown for all his hard work to pass the Infrastructure Bill including his
outreach and collaboration with the affiliates at today’s statewide virtual
meeting that he hosted,” said Mike Knisley, Executive Secretary – Treasurer
Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council. “Better roads, bridges, railroads, public transit,
water systems and internet connectivity will energize the United States’
economy and help us be more industrially competitive in the world marketplace.
This work will generate thousands of new union construction jobs for the
building trade’s skilled craftspeople all the while creating pathways to
outstanding careers for those in our world class apprenticeship programs.”
During the roundtable, Brown and Building Trades leaders discussed
the
announcement that Intel is
building a $20 billion semiconductor plant in New Albany which is expected to
create 10,000 jobs, including 7,000 union construction jobs.
The plant will establish a long-term, reliable
source of semiconductors, which are essential to U.S. economic competitiveness
and national security. It also will support critical Ohio industries, like
the auto industry and high-tech manufacturing. Brown worked with local and state leaders and
other members of Ohio’s Congressional delegation to ensure that Intel chose
Ohio for what will be its most advanced manufacturing facility in the world.
This project will help reverse decades of offshoring of American manufacturing
and American jobs. Currently 75 percent of chip manufacturing capacity is
overseas
– mainly in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China, but with
this facility, chips will become a major Ohio export.
Brown
has worked for decades to build an economy that encourages investment in the
United States, especially the expansion of domestic manufacturing. To spur
domestic semiconductor production, Brown supported the creation of the CHIPS
for America programs and helped write the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act,
which would provide $52 billion for the CHIPS Act.
Brown
fought to include the Bridge Investment Act and the Build
America Buy America Act in the larger bipartisan infrastructure law.
The
Bridge Investment Act
will ensure Ohioans are safer, will create and support
jobs in communities, and will
make local economies more competitive. More than
3,200 bridges across Ohio are in need of repairs and according to a report from
the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, more than 1,300 of
those are classified as structurally deficient.
The
Build America Buy America Act will apply the strongest Buy
America rules to all taxpayer-funded infrastructure and public works projects.
Currently, Buy America rules have not been fully implemented with respect to
all federal programs that provide grants for infrastructure construction. When
Chinese
- or Russian-made steel and other products are used instead of
American products, it steals jobs from U.S. workers, and often costs taxpayers
more.
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