Murphy Announces MADE Act to Help Manufacturers Lower Costs, Boost Jobs

Press Release

Congressman Chris Murphy today announced new legislation aimed at helping manufacturers increase energy efficiency and lower their costs. The Manufacturing Assistance Driving Efficiency (MADE) Act will provide federal grants to manufacturers for energy efficiency upgrades in lieu of the existing commercial buildings tax deduction.

Murphy made the announcement at Peter Paul Electronics in New Britain.

"Energy costs can sometimes mean the difference between keeping a factory floor running or shutting its doors," said Murphy. "As businesses here in Connecticut and across the country work to dig out of this recession, it's critical that they have every possible tool to keep their operations running as efficiently as they can. Tax credits or deductions only have value if a business has income that is being taxed, so for businesses that are struggling, there's not always a lot to be gained from them. This grant program will help businesses up front so they can make the investments that will help them grow and succeed."

Dr. Mitch Kennedy of Design with Nature said, "While there is already a renewable energy tax credit program, it makes a lot of sense to take the energy efficiency part and make it into a grant program, which will help these upgrades start paying for themselves much, much sooner. This is going to have a huge impact for businesses here in Connecticut and I'm excited that Chris is taking it on."

The legislation is modeled on the grants-in-lieu-of-tax credits program funded in the 2009 Recovery Act that provided a cash grant instead of a tax write-off for renewable energy investments.

"This similar program created over 200,000 jobs by leveraging more than $22.8 billion in private investment to support 22,000 renewable energy projects in every state in the country," added Murphy. "But the program expired in 2011. We have an opportunity to help Connecticut businesses lower their costs and create new jobs in the process, and the MADE Act will help us do it."

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