Become a Cosponsor of the Retain Act, H.R. 1185

Cosponsors: Matt Cartwright, Marcy Kaptur, James McGovern, Bill Pascrell, Mark Pocan, Tim Ryan, Louise Slaughter

Supported by: American Small Manufacturers Coalition (ASMC)

Dear Colleague,

Offshoring, the practice of moving production to foreign locales while continuing to sell goods to the U.S. market, is a pervasive feature of the U.S. economy today. Market pressures drive businesses to seek reduced production costs, often in places where
standards of living and protections for workers and the environment are more lax than in the United States. Hundreds of American corporations are shipping thousands of jobs to foreign countries every year. Shifting of jobs occurs in all industry sectors including
manufacturing, services, supply chains, and all others. 

More than one in three workers who are displaced remains unemployed, and many of those who are lucky enough to find jobs take major pay cuts. Many former manufacturing workers who were displaced a decade ago because of manufacturing that went offshore took
training courses and found jobs in the information technology sector. They are now facing the unenviable situation of having their second career disappear overseas.

In the two years after the Wall Street meltdown triggered the Great Recession, large American corporations slashed U.S. payrolls by a net of 500,000 jobs. At the same time, they hired 729,000 workers overseas. As globalization transforms the world economy,
in fact, many U.S.-based companies are shifting the balance of their workforces overseas.  With more than 50 percent of big U.S. firms implementing offshoring strategies, there is no job security for most Americans. Yet, many of these companies and corporations
receive hard-earned tax-payers’ dollars through contracts and grants from the U.S. government; and through their offshoring actions, hurt the economy and the workers. Companies that receive federal contracts paid for with taxpayer funds should keep their operations
in the United States. That is common sense. Rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas with lucrative contracts sets a bad precedent that will only work to further erode our American manufacturing base, and the families it sustains.

The RETAIN Act, modifies the United States Code for civilian and defense contracts by adding a preference for contractors that promise to retain jobs in the United States. To be eligible for the preference, an applicant for a federal contract must submit
a certification that confirms the contractor and its subcontractors will not relocate jobs from the United States to foreign countries during the period of performance of the contract and will use products substantially manufactured in the United States and
services provided in the United States under the contract.

Please join us to ensure we retain our jobs here in America and maintain the standard of living of our workers. 

If you have any questions, please contact Jason Bahmer at jason.bahmer@mail.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Tim Ryan                                                                               

Member of Congress