This week, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced the “Putting American Autoworkers First Act.”
Rubio offered his reasons for the proposal, which will “stop automakers from receiving federal tax credits, grants, and loans if they offshore auto manufacturing from the United States,” and he pointed to the recent United Auto Workers strike.
“Last month, American autoworkers secured big wins through negotiations with the ‘Big Three’ automakers. Automakers have historically threatened to offshore manufacturing jobs and production to cut costs, even while they receive generous benefits from the American tax code designed to keep our auto industry strong,” Rubio’s office noted.
“Despite the recent negotiations resulting in big wins for autoworkers, automakers still have the upper hand. They can still undermine these deals by offshoring production to countries with cheaper labor. This legislation would create a strong incentive for automakers to keep jobs right here in America and allow workers to share in the profits that they helped create,” said Rubio.
The bill would “prohibit automakers that benefit from 12 different federal programs from offshoring the production, manufacturing, or final assembly of any of their products for 10 years and penalize noncompliant automakers.”
U.S. Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, are co-sponsoring the bill which was sent to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. So far, there is no companion bill in the U.S. House.
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