Exclusive — Sen. Joni Ernst: Revitalizing American Industrial Base ‘Starts with Small Businesses’
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) will say during a Senate Small Business Committee hearing on Wednesday that revitalizing the American industrial base starts with boosting small businesses.
Ernst, the chair of the Small Business Committee, will host a hearing on Wednesday on “Fueling America’s Manufacturing Comeback.” The hearing features Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler.
During her opening prepared remarks, which were obtained by Breitbart News, she will say that the American industrial base has been hollowed, much to China’s “delight and advantage”:
Over the last twenty-five years in Iowa alone, we have lost nearly 1 in 6 manufacturing jobs. American manufacturing employment has fared even worse over the last forty years, falling by 28 percent and reaching depths we haven’t seen since 1946.
Only 3.7 percent of Americans are employed in manufacturing today – half the share we had forty years ago, and barely a third of our peak in the late 60’s.
To put that in perspective, there are nearly twice as many people working in state and local governments than on the factory floor.
She said, “Shuttered plants, decaying factories, and empty parking lots stand as monuments to the multi-generational disintegration of hard-earned knowledge, talent, and tradition that once formed the bedrock of our nation.”
However, she said that not all hope is lost as President Donald Trump and Administrator Loeffler understand what “is at stake.”
Ernst said that Loeffler was invited to discuss the bipartisan Made in America Manufacturing Finance Act, a bipartisan bill that would double the SBA-loan limit from $5 to $10 million for small manufacturers “who need that capital to modernize, grow, and train the next generation of American workers.”
“That investment will have a meaningful impact across the entire supply chain. Because the smallest startups to the largest firms all rely on small manufacturers to get the job done,” Ernst will conclude in her opening remarks. “Revitalizing our industrial base and reclaiming our ability to make things in America starts with small businesses. We must ensure that cutting edge innovation and high-speed, high-quality production happens right here, at home – not overseas.”
Ernst has noted that manufacturing loans have already grown 74 percent since Trump’s inauguration and that doubling the loan limit would give small businesses the capital needed to invest in more equipment, hire more employees, and grow businesses. She also has noted that small manufacturers comprise 98 percent of manufacturing firms in the United States.
Loeffler will say, according to her prepared remarks, that the legislation under discussion on Wednesday will “supercharge the return of American manufacturing, empowering job creators with needed capital to onshore production and rebuild critical supply chains.”
Loeffler continued:
We are no longer supporting the globalists, bureaucrats, or partisan political interests – but the small defense manufacturers, the local construction companies, and the tech company founders putting everything on the line to live the American Dream.
Alongside President Trump, we’re empowering small businesses to lead America’s industrial comeback. Now, Congress has an opportunity to supercharge that comeback – with new capital that will make us stronger, more independent, and more resilient than ever before.
The Made in America Manufacturing Finance Act of 2025 sends a clear signal that this country is serious about rebuilding its manufacturing base, jobs, and supply chains.
She added, “It’s simple. It’s responsive. And it delivers exactly what job creators and lenders have been asking for.”
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
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