Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor revealed a three-prong job legislation proposal Friday at a news conference held at the Little Rock Port.
The plan, dubbed the American-Made Strong legislation, includes proposals to limit tax breaks for companies that move operations overseas. It also would increase tax incentives for companies to move or return to the United States and require that government-funded infrastructure projects use American-made materials.
The announcement was made at Custom Metals, a subsidiary of the Little Rock-based steel company Lexicon Inc., and included endorsements from port authority and Arkansas Department of Economic Development officials.
Pryor, the two-term incumbent, is facing a challenge from Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton in a nationally watched race. Pryor said Friday that he and his staff have been developing the legislative package for months and that manufacturing and job creation have been a focus of his 12 years in office.
"I've been focused on manufacturing for a long time, way before election year ever rolled around," he said. "It's something I really believe in, and it's something that I know Arkansas can capitalize on."
One piece of the legislative package, the Bring Jobs Home Act, already has been introduced in the Senate with 24 Democratic and no Republican co-sponsors as of Friday. That bill would include a tax credit for up to 20 percent of the cost for companies to relocate to the U.S. and a program that would issue competitive grants to rural states that would help recruit companies.
Pryor said Friday that he plans to file the other two pieces of legislation next week.
One would require federally funded infrastructure to use American-made steel, iron, wood products, cement and manufactured goods. It would also extend the Build America Bonds Program, which helps states and cities issue low-cost bonds for public projects.
The second bill would create a standardized labeling program for products made or assembled in the U.S. That bill also would allow small startup companies to keep a $10,000 tax-free savings account and give a 25 percent tax credit to venture fund and other investors that give startup money to certain business areas.
Pryor said he hopes all of the bills will gain bipartisan support by the end of the year. But with just five months to go and part of that taken up by the August recess, winter holidays and the November election, top Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has referred to the legislation as campaign rhetoric and said it's likely to fail.
Cotton's campaign pushed back against the legislation Friday. In an emailed statement, Cotton spokesman David Ray wrote, "It's going to take more than putting stickers on products to create jobs in America."
Grant Tennille, executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the agency worked with Pryor on the legislation and defended the timing.
"As a guy who sits across the table form companies trying to get back into the United States, I can tell you that there are tools in this package that are really going to help. I don't care what time of year it is ... it doesn't matter to me," he said.
Metro on 07/26/2014