A bipartisan group of senators is introducing legislation intended to shore up financial support for Manufacturing Extension Partnerships, in response to Trump administration attempts to delay and eliminate Congressionally-allocated funding for the program.
Established in 1988, MEPs help small- to medium-sized manufacturers to modernize and grow their businesses. The program encourages collaboration and resource-sharing among manufacturers, as well as with nonprofit and public-sector entities like research labs and regional economic development groups, to “develop new products and customers, expand and diversify markets, adopt new technologies and enhance value within supply chains.”
Ohio Republican Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno; New Jersey Democratic Sen. Andy Kim; and California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff released statements on July 9 announcing the Defend American Manufacturing Act. (The House version of the bill, H.R. 2832, was introduced by Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas in April 2025 but has not moved out of committee.)
According to a statement from Sen. Schiff’s office, the Defend American Manufacturing Act would:
- “Require the Department of Commerce to continue operating the MEP program by executing cooperative agreements, ensuring the Department cannot sidestep the program and stall funding.
- “Protect Center funding by prohibiting the Department from suspending, canceling, or not renewing funding to a MEP Center unless the Center operator receives an evaluation other than positive.
- “Mandate that a Center operator placed on probation – but actively remedying – continues to receive funding during the probationary period.
- “Dictate that the Department must re-evaluate a probationary Center and make a final determination regarding the Center’s status within 180 days.
- “Force the Department to launch a competition for a new operator within 30 days of canceling a contract, cap the application period at 90 days, and mandate a final award decision within 30 days of closing applications.
- “Ensure any unspent funds allocated to a previous operator are automatically transferred to the newly selected operator.
- “Codify assessments regarding financial management, including fraud monitoring and misuse of funds, as part of the formal 'Evaluation of Centers' process."
Painful Delays
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, oversees federal MEP program funding.
Congress allocates $175 million in funding annually to MEP centers in 48 states and Puerto Rico. Since April 2025, those centers have seen their funding approvals delayed and in some cases received letters from NIST that their federal funding would be eliminated.
According to Sen. Schiff's statement, because of Trump administration actions, "nearly 90% of the nation's MEP centers have been forced to implement immediate hiring freezes or staff layoffs."
‘Not Consistent With Priorities’
An Oct. 10, 2025, letter to MEP directors from Craig Burkhardt, then deputy director and acting director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), stated that the agency had decided to end the federal Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program because “it is not consistent with the Secretary’s [Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick’s] priorities.”
The letter said that MEPs were out of step with “President Trump’s efforts to streamline and reduce the cost and size of the Federal Government” and with priorities to secure the U.S.’s position “as the unrivaled world leader in critical and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum information science.”
Trump's proposed 2027 fiscal year budget would eliminate funding for the MEP program entirely.
NIST has a new director, Arvind Raman, as of June 2026. Fifteen MEPs up for contract renewal on July 1, 2026, received their funding approvals by July 6.
