Max Baucus: “I rise today to support S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act of 1994. Not long ago, American manufactured products…”

“I rise today to support S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act of 1994. Not long ago, American manufactured products dominated world markets. Our goods were synonymous with quality and technological leadership. But over the past few decades we grew complacent. Others improved upon our ideas and our products. By the middle of the 1980's, our basic industries had clearly slipped into decline. Goods from Germany and Japan replaced American products here at home and around the world. Since then, our industries have done a great deal to raise their productivity and the quality of their products. We in Government have worked hard to reduce the budget deficit and thus give American firms a larger and cheaper pool of capital. But we can, and we must, do more to strengthen our manufacturing base. The President's report on the economy finds that for every billion dollars in increased manufacturing sales, we create more than 69,000 high skill, high wage jobs. And conversely, of course, when we let manufacturing decline, we let jobs and international leadership slip away. So while we have made progress in the past 10 years, we cannot take our situation for granted. We must continue to look into the future; to support the basic research that will let our industries operate most efficiently and develop the best products. When Government and industry work in partnership, we succeed.”