Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/845602
64 The PCB Magazine • July 2017 industry, I think the Democrats and the Repub- licans aren't that far apart, especially when it comes to job training and things like that. Job training is going to be a critical thing, and since we want to try to grow the manufacturing base in North America, employees are going to be the key to our success. Everybody needs to be trained. We need to have people that are actual- ly going to work in factories. Goldman: It's nice to see that Washington is rec- ognizing that need. I was really impressed with the bill that she was going to introduce, where you could have this little fund set aside, sort of like an IRA—I believe she called it a "manufac- turing RA" or something like that. A business could set aside money, tax-free, to purchase equipment or train people. I thought that was pretty nifty. You can't just say, "Hey, we're going to bring back manufacturing" without having that whole other part: people trained and available to staff it and the capital equipment available with a fast depreciation schedule, along with everything else. Vardya: I thought that was a very novel con- cept, I really did. I agree with you. We'll have to learn more about it. Goldman: Did you get a chance to talk with your own senators and representatives on Wednes- day afternoon? Vardya: Yes, on Wednesday, after we had a cou- ple of staff meetings, we met staffers from Sen- ators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin (D- IL). We talked to both of their staffs, and we talked a lot about conflict minerals. The other thing we discussed was tax reform. We focused on those two aspects, because obviously, tax re- forms are important to all businesses. It is a key thing, and I think tax reform can really help people improve business in general. We also had a quick meeting with one of the local representatives from the House of Repre- sentatives, Dr. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) from District Eight. We talked about some of these same issues. He was very receptive; I think a lot of people are focused on getting more manufac- turing jobs, for sure. On Tuesday afternoon after the EPA visit, we met with Vice President Pence's Senior Domes- tic Policy Advisor, Daris Meeks, and it was very interesting. He basically said, "It's all about jobs, jobs, jobs, and we've been told that we need to listen to the people in industry and understand what the barriers are to creating more jobs." Goldman: There seems to have been an attitude change in DC. Vardya: You participated in the lunch discussion, right? It seems like the administration is trying to do a lot to really encourage jobs, to try to help with breaking down barriers, and things like that, so I thought that was very encouraging. Goldman: Yes, I noticed this year everybody seemed to be focused on businesspeople, people with businesses, in manufacturing and such. We seem to be the good guys this year. It was good all the way around. Vardya: I thought the IPC team did an outstand- ing job of putting together a great lineup of peo- ple to speak to us and with us. We talked with the administration, members of Congress—Re- publicans and Democrats. So we got a diverse set of perspectives and a very diverse set of views from the meetings that were set up. I have to commend IPC on doing such an excellent job IMPACT Interviews Congressman Shimkus (R-IL) talks with attendees.