Detroit, Chicago to join in manufacturing initiative
WASHINGTON— PresidentBarack Obama plans to announce Tuesday the opening of two new manufacturing institutes in the Chicago and Detroit areas as part of a larger plan to use public- private partnerships to advance his agenda despite opposition from Republicans in Congress.
Several federal agencies will join with companies and universities to run the institutes, which will be devoted to bridging the gap between applied research and product development, according to an administration official familiar with the plans.
Each institute will function as a “teaching factory,” the official said, and will provide training for workers while also helping companies get the expertise and equipment they need to offer new products and manufacturing processes.
The federal government will devote $ 70 million to each of the two institutes, adding to the more than $ 140 million promised by private sector leaders involved with each project, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the plans before the official announcement this week.
The initiative follows Obama’s new playbook for dealing with a deadlocked Congress unlikely to enact many elements of his economic plan, detail soon proposal.
So far this year, the president’s strategy has made heavy use of the bully pulpit and of his ability, as chief executive of the federal government, to work more closely with private interests.
Republicans have respondedby pointing to their own solutions for job growth, which incorporate strategies like tax reform and trade expansion. which in his he will budget
WhiteHouse officials are skeptical that GOP leaders will see eye to eye with Obama on much of his agenda. So on Tuesday, Obama plans to unveil his latest effort to boost manufacturing and attract highquality jobs — without the help of Congress.
The Chicago and Detroit sites will bring the total number of institutes to four.
The administration set up a pilot site in Youngstown, Ohio, in 2012, and a few weeks ago announced an electronics manufacturing institute in Raleigh, N. C.
Obama has also pledged to launch competitions for four more institutes in the coming year in hopes of setting eight institutes in motion without action by Congress.
Obama’s broader plan calls for a national network of up to 45 institutes, but a program of that scope would require Congress to appropriate new resources.