Washington-Congressional appropriators gutted a federal program that serves America's small manufacturers, despite the support of more than 300 members of Congress.
A bipartisan Congressional group conducted a letter writing campaign to the CJS Subcommittee leadership calling for funding to be set at $110 million. Supporters say the MEP program is a way to combat the decline in U.S. manufacturing, which has lost 2.5 million manufacturing jobs since the beginning of 2001.