Manufacturing jobs pay more than most, and Congressman Marc Veasey stressed the importance of keeping them in the U.S. during his meeting with the North Texas Delegation in Washington D.C. Congressman Marc Veasey told the North Texas Delegation that maintaining the strength of manufacturing in America is a critical priority that requires a continued focus on workforce development, education, and strong trade agreements. Trade issues are now the number one topic in his meetings with business groups.

Congressman Veasey sees no reason USMCA should not be passed. USMCA, the replacement trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, needs to be approved by Congress to go into effect. He believes it is vital to the Texas and United States economy and that there needs to be language covering environmental and labor issues that is enforceable in Mexico.

During his meeting with the North Texas Delegation, Congressman Veasey stressed that we have a severe shortage of workers in our country, and we need immigrant labor to fill those gaps. He told the group that if every person unemployed in America today could actually go to work, there would still not be enough workers to fill open jobs. He speculated that a comprehensive immigration reform bill will pass the House, but he offered little hope of it passing the Senate.

While meeting with the North Texas Delegation, Congressman Veasey spoke briefly about the minimum wage. We have moved from talking about $10.20 an hour to talking about $15.00 an hour. Recognizing that the businesses in our delegation paid far more than the minimum, he suggested that businesses should start to actively engage in the discussion about what the minimum wage should be.