To the Editor:

Having worked at my family’s manufacturing business, I know how important this industry is to the economic success of our country. Last month, the manufacturing industry lost 15,000 jobs. We need to create pro-growth policies that allow our entrepreneurial spirit to thrive and make America more competitive with its counterparts abroad.

House of Representatives Bill 5865, the “American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2012,” would require the president to create an American Manufacturing Competitiveness Board to develop a national competitiveness strategy for the industry, issue a report on the state of American manufacturing as well as provide an analysis of the nation’s manufacturing sector.

I was a co-sponsor of this bipartisan legislation, and voted in support of it this week. The legislation passed the House 339 to 77, with nearly equal support among Democrats and Republicans.

A similar bill passed the House 378-49 in 2010, but was never called for a vote by the Senate.

The United States is home to the world’s largest manufacturing economy. There is a unique opportunity here for the manufacturing industry to lead our economic recovery.

U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie

R-2nd District