BUFFALO, NY — Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand visited the UAW Region 9 hall to announce her bicameral legislation, the End Outsourcing Act. The bill would protect jobs in the United States by denying tax benefits to companies that try to deduct the cost of sending jobs overseas. It would prevent outsourcing companies from bidding on federal contracts or grants, without disclosing their outsourcing practices.
Additionally, the legislation would create a new tax benefit to help companies bring jobs back to America, and would require companies that have outsourced jobs within a five year period to pay back federal tax incentives and grants from facilities closed due to outsourcing. The announcement comes as hundreds of New Yorkers have lost good paying jobs to outsourcing, most commonly in manufacturing.
“It’s time to stop helping companies that ship jobs overseas, and reward those bringing jobs back home,” said Senator Gillibrand. “For far too long, companies have been allowed to use tax incentives to move facilities overseas for cheap labor, leaving hundreds of New Yorkers — and millions of Americans — struggling without jobs. I’m proud that my End Outsourcing Act would eliminate tax benefits for outsourcers and impose significant penalties on companies that outsource, while also providing incentives for companies that invest in the United States. No one should fear losing their job because their company doesn’t want to invest in American labor. This legislation will be a key step to bringing jobs back to the United States and employing workers across New York State.”
“The End of Outsourcing Act that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has put forward is legislation that middle class workers, organized labor and manufacturing, but most importantly working families in WNY support. It holds wealthy multi-national companies accountable to pay their fair share of taxes and encourages them to continue creating jobs that will strengthen and enrich our communities with good pay and benefits. This bill will make it harder for corporations to use cheap foreign labor, abusing foreign labor laws, and putting those workers’ safety and health at risk. Support and advancement of this bill is essential to the continuation of building a stable middle class and ensuring working families have the ability to provide for our families.” – Buffalo Labor Council President, Denise Abbott
In recent decades, the United States has experienced a shift away from domestic manufacturing to low-cost, low-wage countries as companies aim to cut costs and increase profit. Meanwhile, the loss of manufacturing jobs has devastated families and communities in states across the country. The End Outsourcing Act is designed to reverse this trend and ensure that federal contracts funded by taxpayers support companies that employ American workers.
The legislation will address the growing outsourcing crisis in several ways. First, the End Outsourcing Act will prohibit companies who outsource from using federal tax incentives like tax breaks and federal contracts. In addition, the bill will offer a 20 percent tax credit for companies to bring jobs back to the United States; the tax credit will help pay for permits fees, leases, and general moving costs of relocating a new facility or new jobs into the country. Finally, federal agencies will require companies to make mandatory disclosures — on applications for grants, loans, or loan guarantees — if they have outsourced jobs within the last three years.
For decades, Western New York communities have struggled as large companies like Ingersoll Rand have moved their facilities overseas and left hundreds of New Yorkers jobless. Just since the early 2000s, over 100,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in upstate New York, nearly a quarter of those jobs were lost in Buffalo.
The End Outsourcing Act is cosponsored in the Senate by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Gary Peters and will be introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI-02). The legislation has also received the endorsement of several labor unions, including: the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, United Steelworkers, Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the American Federation of Labor.