U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-08) issued the following statement in response to this morning's news that GM's Grand River Assembly Plant in Lansing will temporarily halt production due to supply chain disruptions:
"This morning, a shock in global supply chains has hit home locally, with our own GM Grand River Assembly Plant in Lansing temporarily halting production due to a lack of parts. I'm thinking of the workers who are getting this news today, during an already challenging time for Michigan families. It's particularly painful to see supply chain disruptions similar to those that rocked our state early in the pandemic are now upending our autoworkers' jobs and economic security.
"For 30 years, Michiganders have been warning of the risks of sending too much manufacturing abroad. As we saw in 2020, lives are at stake when we can't get ahold of basic supplies to protect Americans in a crisis. Now, supply chain issues are affecting Michiganders' livelihoods. For weeks, workers at the Grand River Assembly Plant have been partially building cars, waiting for remaining parts before they could be sold. Now GM was forced to shut down until enough parts are available to start up again. Strengthening our supply chains to ensure we are resilient against these kinds of disruptions and growing American manufacturing capabilities is critical to our national security, and our economic security. And today's news is all the more evidence of that.
"I spoke to local UAW leadership this morning, and they are mobilizing to support their workers who will see a reduction in wages until this issue is resolved. I know GM, the UAW and the Lansing community want the plant to restart operations as soon as possible."
Since the searing experience in the early days of the pandemic of fighting to get critical supplies from overseas manufacturers to our doctors and nurses here in Michigan, Slotkin has been raising the issue of boosting American manufacturing as a national security issue. In April 2020, she introduced in the House bipartisan legislation to make us less dependent on foreign suppliers in a pandemic. And in an amazing coincidence, Slotkin yesterday kicked off a bipartisan task force to do the same thing for supply chains the Department of Defense relies on, including the chips that are in such short supply for GM.
Original source can be found here.
