Sen. Blumenthal touts federal bill that would ramp-up manufacturing training program funding

Sen. Richard Blumenthal and the president of Bristol manufacturer Arthur G. Russell Co. touted possible public/private partnerships in manufacturing training programs at an event supporting the federal Endless Frontier bill.

The bipartisan bill currently in the U.S. Senate would, among other features, quadruple funding for the federal Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a public-private partnership focused on helping small and medium-sized manufacturers increase their competitiveness on the global stage. 

If passed, the MEP would receive $2.4 billion in funding from the 2022 fiscal year — which begins July 1 — to fiscal 2026. That’s in addition to $52 billion for research and development in making U.S. manufacturing more competitive globally and $10 billion to create regional technology research hubs.

“It will provide tens of billions of dollars to make american manufacturing more competitive with China and protect our intellectual property,” Blumenthal said.

At the event A.G. Russell President Mark Burzynski said he thinks public/private partnership programs for manufacturing industry training have been very successful in states like Florida and North Carolina, and that Connecticut should expand such programs here. 

“The public/private partnership model is what’s [been successful], and we’re willing to participate in that,” Burzynski said.

State and private industry officials in Connecticut have long fretted a declining workforce in Connecticut’s manufacturing industry, which employs more than 150,000 people statewide.

A 2020 survey by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) found that 11% of the state’s manufacturing workforce is expected to retire between 2021 and 2024. At the same time, the industry isn’t seeing nearly that amount of younger workers entering the industry.