2018 Spending Bill is good for CT Manufacturers

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Senator Chris Murphy at manufacturing plant in Cheshire

Omnibus Spending Bill has positive effects on CT Manufacturing

As a member of a legislative council on Manufacturing, Ari Santiago, President/CEO of IT Direct, recently received this update from Senator Chris Murphy’s office on some of the positive effects of the new spending bill on Manufacturing in Connecticut. We thought you might like to read it too!

Good morning,

You may have heard that Congress voted on a $1.3 trillion spending bill last week. Senator Murphy supported this bill and wanted me to update you on what this means for Connecticut’s manufacturers, please feel free to share with your respective groups.

We were relieved to see that Senator Murphy and his colleagues were able to secure $140,000,000 for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), which funds CONNSTEP and $15,000,000 for the 7 existing National Network for Manufacturing Innovation centers, which focus on advanced manufacturing and have Connecticut based partners like CCAT and UCONN.

The bill also had significant investments in Connecticut’s defense manufacturing sector which is great for the prime contractors on these programs, but equally good for their supply chains.  These investments are:

  • $225 million increase for Virginia Class Submarine Advanced Procurement Industrial Base Expansion (in addition to the already-scheduled Submarine production at Electric Boat)
  • $62 million increase for UH-60M production line modifications at Sikorsky
  • $250 million increase for 2 additional CH-53K (Heavy Lift) aircraft for the Marine Corps at Sikorsky
  • 18 more F-35 Aircraft than what we were going to originally build

On the workforce side, the bill makes significant investments in manufacturing workforce to assure that the above investments in defense manufacturing can be completed with a skilled workforce.  Those investments include $145 million to support apprenticeship programs.  We are also pleased to announce that in the coming days the federal Department of Labor will make a grant to the Connecticut Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship Training – in the amount of  $1,271,654.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of manufacturing investments made in this enormous bill, but some of the highlights we thought you’d be interested in.  Let us know if you have an questions, we’re always here to listen to our manufacturers.

Best,

Zach Dendas

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy

For more on the bill’s effects on Connecticut, read more on Murphy’s website here.

Senator Murphy celebrates a Connecticut Manfacturer every Monday. Take a look here to read about the companies that have been highlighted over the 3 1/2 years of “Murphy’s Monday Manufacturers“