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EDITORIAL


Offense and Defense F


ootball season has come and gone, but one of the principal aspects of the sport applies to business advocacy, as well. Football is a game


of both off ense and defense; a team that hopes to advance to the Super Bowl better be adept at both parts of the game. T e same has applied in the serious world of business advocacy. Businesses such as metalcasting are infl uenced heavily by public policy, and often for the negative. Regula- tions are frequent- ly more sweeping and costly than necessary or advis- able. Tax policies may discourage investment and hiring. Permit- ting processes tend to slow many projects to a crawl. AFS , which has an active advocacy program on behalf of the metalcast- ing industry, has long had to devote a lot of resources to playing defense against such policies. Sometimes, as in the case of OSHA’s silica rule, we have even had to sue our own government. Over the past eight years, the opportunities to


T e new


opportunities to play off ense don’t mean that we can let down our guard on defense. But they do mean that for the fi rst time in eight years, a more positive business


climate for the $30.3 billion metalcasting industry is possible.


business growth. AFS has been in touch with the Trump administration and every congressional offi ce, emphasizing that the time is right for our policy agenda. T at agenda includes re- ducing regula- tory burdens, implementing pro-growth tax reform, strict enforce- ment of trade laws, invest- ment in in- frastructure, smarter future rulemaking, maintaining a strong national defense, restoring voluntary programs at OSHA and EPA, and expanding domestic energy production. T e new opportunities to play of-


fense don’t mean that we can let down our guard on defense. But they do mean that for the fi rst time in eight years, a more positive business climate for the $30.3 billion metalcasting industry is possible. I invite all Modern Casting readers to join us in Washington, D.C. on June 20-21 as we stand together as an industry for a Government Aff airs


blitz in the nation’s capital. Advocacy is one of the three pillars of the AFS vision, alongside education and innovation.


play off ense were few and far between. True enough, there were some important victories, such as the multi-year transportation infrastructure law and a tax package that included a permanent research and development credit. But most of the positive aspects of the AFS agenda were stuck in neutral. Following the November elections, there is a new


interest in Washington in advancing policies that encourage investment, economic opportunity, and


Doug Kurkul, AFS CEO


If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in Modern Casting, email managing editor Shannon Wetzel at swetzel@afsinc.org.


February 2017 MODERN CASTING | 7


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