Bipartisan Jobs Bill Aims to Grow Manufacturing Sector

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today unveiled a bipartisan "jobs bill" to encourage companies to repatriate manufacturing jobs to the U.S.

Both stressed the new $5000 forgivable loan program, run through the Commerce Department, will be deficit neutral -- they plan to reorient existing loan programs.

The bill would set up a competitive grant program for states to provide up to $5,000 in forgivable loans for each new manufacturing job created and maintained for at least five years within a rural or economically-distressed region of the country. Companies who retain the jobs after five years wouldn't have to pay back the money.

Sen. Warner called the plan "modest," but he said the $5000-per-manufacturing-job program could "give that extra little push" companies might need to create more jobs.

Warner, a successful tech industry businessman before entering politics, noted that broadband connectivity rising labor costs in China & India have made America more competitive.

"This has no party label," he said of the bill.