AMT testifies before Senate committee

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee was told that manufacturers are going to need the federal government to help free up credit in order to survive the current economic climate.

Eugene R. Haffely Jr., a member of the board of directors for the Association of Manufacturing Technology, and chief operating officer of Assembly and Test Worldwide, said his industry “is in danger of not surviving the current economic chaos. The lack of credit is endangering the continued existence of virtually all of our companies.”

“Small, middle-market manufacturers are being clobbered by the credit crisis and are in serious trouble,” said William E. Gaskin, president of Precision Metalforming Association, a trade group based in suburban Cleveland.

Sen. Sherrod Brown brought the businessmen in to testify before the Senate Banking Committee’s subcommittee on economic policy.

“The continuing loss of U.S. manufacturing means a greater dependence on foreign factories to produce both everyday consumer goods and the key elements of our national security, including the building blocks of our nation's infrastructure and the equipment crucial to our nation’s military,” said Brown.