John Larson: “I appreciate the chairman not opposing me, and I appreciate and I understand his unwillingness to debate what Mr. Frink…”

“I appreciate the chairman not opposing me, and I appreciate and I understand his unwillingness to debate what Mr. Frink has been able to accomplish in his position to date. The hard truth is that we have not been able to accomplish much, and the reason is, I think as everyone knows, it has become intuitively obvious to the National Coalition for the Advancement of Manufacturing, that he is located within the bowels of an administration and given no budget and no resources to carry out a goal that all of us agree needs to be accomplished. So that is why we take and reorient existing resources to accomplish that goal; so there is no new bureaucracy that is created, it is just reoriented and refocused in a manner that will provide a voice, with resources and a budget, to speak out on behalf of manufacturers. This bill is not of my creation. It comes out of the mouths of those people who are directly impacted: the small manufacturers all across the State of Connecticut and this great Nation of ours. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) who understands these issues and understands what is happening in our State of Connecticut with regard to manufacturing. Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Chairman, as stated, 3 million Americans employed in manufacturing lost jobs in the last 4 years, 110,000 this year; total manufacturing losses in the State of Connecticut, 57,000.…”