REBUILDING OUR NATIONAL DEFENSE: President Donald J. Trump is working to rebuild our military and strengthen our defense industrial base.
- Today, President Trump is visiting the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, OH, America’s last remaining manufacturer of the Army’s main battle tank: the M1A2 Abrams.
- The facility also builds the DCHA1 Stryker, an armored fighting vehicle that serves as the centerpiece of our military’s Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.
- The plant nearly went out of business under the Obama administration, but President Trump’s investment in our defense has revitalized it.
- President Trump requested 174 Abrams tanks in fiscal year (FY) 2019, and $714 million was invested in January to carry out his Administration’s request.
- The Lima plant has added more than 150 workers since the last year of the Obama administration, with plans to hire 400 more over the next year and a half.
- The revitalized plant will directly employ more than 1,000 employees and support many more across the supply chain.
- In Ohio alone, almost 200 suppliers will assemble parts and materials for these tanks.
INVESTING IN OUR SECURITY: President Trump has made historic strides rebuilding our military in order to keep our Nation safe.
- President Trump signed legislation providing $700 billion for defense in FY 2018 and $716 billion in FY 2019.
- The President’s FY 2020 budget proposal continues this rebuilding by requesting $750 billion in defense spending.
- President Trump directed the first whole-of-government assessment of the United States manufacturing and defense supply chains since the Eisenhower Administration.
- Thanks to the President’s work, our military members have received their largest pay raise in nearly a decade.
BRINGING BACK AMERICAN MANUFACTURING: The President is fulfilling his promise to bring back American manufacturing, creating more good paying jobs for American workers.
- Thanks to the President’s pro-growth agenda, investments are pouring into American manufacturing by expanding and reopening existing factories and bringing more jobs.
- Since President Trump’s election, manufacturers have created nearly half a million jobs.
- More than 260,000 manufacturing jobs were created last year alone.
- Manufacturing jobs are being created at six times the pace of the previous administration’s last two years.
- According to a National Association of Manufacturers survey, manufacturer optimism soared to a record high last year.
- Blue-collar workers are on track to receive almost $2,500 more in annual wages.
- To protect our domestic industries and our national security, President Trump enacted tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.
- President Trump is supporting American manufacturing by pursuing new trade deals and renegotiating old ones that failed American workers.
