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Ryan Establishes Bipartisan Congressional 'Maker' Caucus
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, is joining with Reps. Steve Stivers, R-15 Ohio, Mark Takano, D-41 Calif., and Mick Mulvaney, R-5 S.C.., to establish the Congressional Maker Caucus.
The goal is to promote America’s growing “maker” economy, including the use of new technologies such as additive manufacturing with the potential for revolutionizing American manufacturing and lowering barriers to entrepreneurship, Ryan said.
“Experts tell us that the economy of making things is five times larger than the digital economy and the Maker Caucus will help us advance the right policies to keep our manufacturing sector thriving,” Ryan said in a prepared statement. “I am happy to join my colleagues -- Congressmen Stivers, Takano and Mulvaney -- in working on behalf of these new industries that will transform the way we make things in the United States as well as bring in large number of new entrepreneurs into the process.”
Through the use of maker technologies such as desktop 3-D printers, CNC machines and consumer-grade laser cutting machines, businesses can explore new product lines, add employees, and attract new customers, while do-it-yourself entrepreneurs will have more opportunity to find their niche in the manufacturing sector and build new businesses, Ryan states. The caucus will provide “a greater voice in Congress to those individual and companies who are a part of this growing movement.”
Maker technologies such as 3-D printers are already being used to build custom dental fittings and crowns; custom prosthetics; and electrical circuits. Bio 3-D printers can print a layer of a patient’s own cells which can grow to organs; bladders and kidneys have already been demonstrated in labs, he noted.
President Obama praised Ryan earlier this week (READ STORY) for his role in developing America Makes, formerly known as the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, and the first of the president’s advanced manufacturing hubs. Located downtown, America Makes focuses on additive manufacturing technologies.
“I am excited to be a part of the new Maker Caucus,” said Rep. Stivers. “It is important that Congress recognize, support and help grow the technologies and jobs of the future. A company in my district, Ohio WilloWood, uses the 3-D printers to help develop prosthetics for veterans and others. These cutting-edge, small businesses, like WilloWood, will only continue to expand and flourish.”
Added Rep. Takano, “For the past century, innovation and entrepreneurship has helped propel the American economy, but with global competition increasing, developing new industries right here in the United States could not be more important.
“The Congressional Maker Caucus looks to harness the power of America’s best and brightest and advocate for America’s maker community in the halls of Congress and I am thrilled to be a co-founder," he continued. "I thank Congressman Ryan, Congressman Stivers, and Congressman Mulvaney for expressing a similar interest in the maker movement and look forward to growing maker communities.”
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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