Testimony of Yvette Pena Lopes to the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade
On March 21, 2013, Yvette Pena Lopes, the BlueGreen Alliance's Deputy Director, testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives on manufacturing.
The American manufacturing sector forms a cornerstone of our national economy, providing nearly 12 million good-paying jobs for middle-class families across the country. Yet, the economic downturn and years of shifting production took a significant toll on U.S. manufacturers and their workers. An estimated 5.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost over the last decade. America has begun to change this, adding back more than 500,000 manufacturing jobs since the beginning of 2010, but much more needs to be done to bring these jobs back and ensure that American manufacturing—and the steel industry in particular—are drivers of America’s 21st century clean economy.