The US manufacturing sector says it will work with the new Congress on advancing its industry agenda following the results of yesterday’s (6 November) mid-term elections.

Democrats took back control of the US House of Representatives for the first time in eight years last night, with Republicans managing to hold their Senate majority: resulting in a mixed verdict in the first nationwide election of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The Democrats secured 219 seats and the Republicans 193 to win control of the House, while in the Senate, the Democrats had 43 and the Republicans had 51, with two independents.

In the wake of the results, Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) said it will work with anyone who wants to advance its goal of achieving a “thriving manufacturing industry that supports high-paying jobs for American workers”.

“The manufacturing agenda is a post-partisan agenda, which is why candidates of all backgrounds touted their support for so many of our priorities on the campaign trail,” he said.

“We are living in a time of record optimism among manufacturers. That is in large part due to the significant progress we’ve made over the last two years to empower manufacturers with game-changing policy reforms. We will continue that progress with the new Congress. From infrastructure investment to regulatory relief, workforce development to trade policy, there’s plenty to be done, and we know it can be done with support from across the political spectrum.”

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He added: “Manufacturers will continue to use our unique platform to bring Congress together around the manufacturing agenda and to reunite our country around those four foundational principles that make our nation exceptional: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.”

The new Democratic House majority ends the dominance of the Republicans in Washington for the last two years of Trump’s first term, giving them the ability to investigate the President if desired. Yesterday, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said the win would allow the Democrats to “restore checks and balances” on the administration, suggesting future investigations may indeed be initiated. 

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