During Wednesday’s Senate Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing, Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) spoke about the effect of offshoring manufacturing.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, everybody, I guess right as soon as I became the chair, everybody left.
00:05So, I mean, maybe they know a whole lot more than I know.
00:09But, you know, Kelly, thanks, well, thank y'all for staying.
00:16I mean, thank you so much and everything.
00:18But, I guess I've got to recognize myself now for a few minutes.
00:22And so, you know, and if, Kelly, if you'll allow me again to call you Kelly.
00:29Please, Senator. Yes.
00:30Absolutely.
00:32Adore the job you're doing.
00:33You're doing fantastic work.
00:35And God knows this country needs manufacturing to come back to the United States.
00:42I mean, when it really boils right down to it, my little state of West Virginia is all about small business
00:50and all about opportunities and especially about manufacturing.
00:53And so, it is so, so, so important.
00:57But I've got to tell you this story real quick.
01:02Think of forestry just for a minute.
01:06Think of our trees and what they give to all of us.
01:12In West Virginia, our hardwoods in only West Virginia clean up an equivalency of 21 coal-fired power plants a year.
01:21You know, if I could be a little bit corny, I would say we need to go give our trees a pat on the bark because they do so much for us, it is unflat believable.
01:35But now, all of our industry just went away.
01:40All of our, for the most part, all of the cabinetry or the flooring or the furniture is gone.
01:48And just think what we do.
01:50Now, let me just be as quick as I can be.
01:53But think what we do.
01:54We cut a tree in West Virginia.
01:56We cut a third of our growth in West Virginia.
01:58The trees are growing three times faster than we're cutting.
02:01And then what happens is they fall on the ground.
02:04And then a small-grade fire goes through our forest, and all of this carbon that's frozen in this right here right now, it's frozen in this, all of it goes right into the atmosphere.
02:18What do we do?
02:18We cut a tree.
02:20We dry kill it.
02:21We put it on a truck.
02:23Emissions go.
02:24We haul it to the port.
02:26We put it on a boat.
02:28Emissions go.
02:29We take it to Vietnam.
02:30We make something out of it.
02:32Back on a truck.
02:33Back on a boat.
02:34Back on another truck.
02:35And it ends up in Macy's.
02:38The whole time, we're losing our jobs or we've lost our jobs.
02:45We're creating more and more and more of a problem because when we make it, this stays right here.
02:53It is amazing.
02:55And with that, Kelly, I would say just to you, this is almost a repeat of over and over and
03:02over what's happened to America.
03:05We've spun around 14 times, and all of our jobs are gone.
03:09All of our manufacturing is gone.
03:11We can't make anything now, and we're really upside down.
03:16Give me your thoughts.
03:19Senator, thank you for your advocacy of Made in America.
03:22I frankly was somewhat surprised to hear your colleagues advocate for why should we make things in America?
03:30Why can't we make them offshore?
03:31I think you explained elegantly that we have the natural resources.
03:36We have the productive capability.
03:39We can do this again here, and that's what the Made in America Manufacturing Finances Act is about.
03:44It's about growing our capabilities in America.
03:47We've seen articles where we no longer make fasteners in this country, nuts and bolts and screws.
03:52Those are the things that built America.
03:54We have to get back to that.
03:55I'm so grateful that President Trump believes in American industry and the American worker,
04:01because we can do that.
04:02I've walked hundreds of factory floors.
04:04I have seen what's going on, and these incredibly skilled workers are grateful that this president
04:10believes in them and American industry.
04:12So I just thank you for fighting for that.
04:14And at the SBA, not only are we working on expanding the loan size,
04:18but we're also connecting manufacturers to local small businesses so that small businesses know
04:23there are one million suppliers in this country through our Make Onshore and Great Again portal
04:28that they can access to ensure that they are never again dependent on the Chinese Communist Party
04:35for their manufacturing needs.
04:36Well, I would just end by saying to all of you that are here,
04:47Kelly didn't need to do this for us.
04:50Our president really didn't need to do this for us.
04:54There's been so many folks, and I'm sure there's senators here the same.
04:57There's so many folks that have stepped up, but we've got to absolutely follow through now,
05:05because we're in a mess.
05:08We've lost a lot, a lot of opportunity.
05:10And with all that being said, now is the time.
05:13Now is our time.
05:15Our time to bring stuff back to the greatest absolute workforce and manufacturing folks on the planet.
05:22And so I thank you.
05:25Thank you, Senator.