A federal program designed to help struggling U.S. manufacturers is running out of funding, and any hopes of resurrecting it hinges on a break in the Congressional stalemate.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) is designed to help U.S. manufacturing companies impacted by imports. TAAF technical assistance help these U.S. firms develop and implement projects to strengthen operations, expand markets and increase profitability, thereby increasing U.S. jobs. TAAF was created by congress in 1974, but statutory authorization of the program expired on June 30, 2022.
“It’s literally an Act of Congress that puts this program in play,” says Mark Allen, contract project manager for the Mid-America Trade Adjustment Assistance Center, one of 11 regional partners that help administer the program. “TAAF has been a part of trade bills for the last 40-plus years. But there are two legislative actions needed. The first is for Congress to appropriate funds for it, which has happened every year since it first started, until 2025. The second is that Congress needs to reauthorize the TAAF program so it can once again assist new manufacturing firms. Congress essentially has to turn the lights on by passing a bill that allows the regional Trade Adjustment Assistance Centers (TAACs) to assist new manufacturing firms by cost sharing their improvement projects.”
A Great Resource for Smaller Manufacturers
The Mid-America Trade Adjustment Assistance Center, based in Independence, Mo., covers the 4-state region of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. Allen says smaller, rurally located manufacturers within his region have benefited from the TAAF program over the years. That’s because TAAF has been structured to accommodate companies of all sizes.
“It’s a Cost Share Technical Assistance program,” Allen points out. “For manufacturers with up to $5 million in sales, it’s $30,000 of technical assistance where the federal government (EDA) cost shares $22,500 and the manufacturer kicks in $7,500. For manufacturers with sales up to $10 million, it’s a direct match where each cost shares $50,000. For manufacturers with sales over $10 million, it’s a direct match where each cost shares $75,000.”
The funding is designed to help manufacturers combat competitive pressure from imports. Thus, the cost sharing of improvement projects can’t be used for direct operating costs like acquiring real estate, manufacturing equipment or inventory. Rather, Allen points to things like software systems, employee training and marketing as eligible investments that are implemented by industry experts and professional consultants.
Speaking of eligibility, Allen says a manufacturer must demonstrate that its sales and employee base have each declined by 5% over a 12-month period, as compared to the same period of the previous year, and must be negatively impacted by import competition.
Allen says a manufacturer submits their information to their regional TAAC. “I personally have a simple 2-page spreadsheet for manufacturers in our 4-state region,” Allen relates. “Then we do the research on the import data so a manufacturer doesn’t have to worry about gathering that.”
From there it’s a 3-step process to become certified as eligible and benefit from the cost sharing of improvement projects. First, an application (petition) is submitted to the EDA. The application includes all of the data mentioned above and proves eligibility into the TAAF program.
“The second step is what’s called an adjustment proposal, which is essentially a strategic business recovery plan as to the type of improvement project the manufacturer would like to have cost shared,” Allen says.
“The third step is the implementation of the improvement projects,” Allen continues. “It’s a 3-party contract between the TAAC program, the manufacturer, and the manufacturer’s consultant (i.e. software manufacturer or marketing consultant) of choice. After performing the improvement project, the consultant invoices the manufacturer for the full amount of services provided. The manufacturer pays their cost share portion, the consultant verifies they received it, and then the TAAC will pay the balance directly to the vendor on behalf of the TAAF program.
Some firms implement all cost share at once on one large improvement project. Others implement many smaller projects in increments over several years, which is why some manufacturers are still working through funds they’d already been allocated.” This last step is where Congressional appropriation is necessary to cost share the improvement projects,” Allen says.
Will Authorization and Funding be Restored?
According to Allen, the TAAF program has been operating on funds that were already appropriated in FY2024, along with costing sharing improvement projects for clients that were already certified into the TAAF program prior to the authorization lapse on June 30, 2022. It’s a 5-year program, so each certified firm has up to 5 years to implement all their improvement projects. Thus, annual TAAF program funding is needed to continue to cost share certified firms’ improvement projects until they complete their business recovery plan.
“That means we can’t bring new manufacturers into the program and cost share improvement projects with them at a time when they could really use it, especially farm equipment manufacturers,” Allen points out. “We can talk to them about the program benefits and eligibility criteria. But all we can do after that is put them in a queue for when Congress reauthorizes us to act.”
The question is whether or not Congress will ultimately reauthorize the TAAF program. In the meantime, Allen has been talking with members of Congress in his 4-state region to try kickstarting some momentum behind that reauthorization. Like a lot of things in Washington, D.C., it’s been a slow process.
Several bills have actually been introduced in Congress that would reauthorize the TAAF program, most recently S.1449 (Trade Adjustment Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2025) and S.2354 (CJS 2026 Appropriations Bill included $13.5M for TAAF). Neither bill has been passed.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa's press secretary, David Bader says, "Senator Grassley is not a cosponsor of S.1449. As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, he will carefully examine any legislation that comes up for a vote in the committee related to reauthorizing the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) program.
Farm Equipment reached out to several other members of Congress for comment, but didn’t receive a response:
- Sen. Dave McCormick, Pennsylvania
- Sen. John Fetterman, Pennsylvania
- Sen. Roger Marshall, Kansas
- Sen. Pete Ricketts, Nebraska
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois
- Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri
- Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa
- Rep. Bryan Steil, Wisconsin
Skeptics of TAAF have questioned if enough oversight is provided, and whether the program is actually effective in helping U.S. manufacturers. Some have also questioned if streamlining TAAF with other federal programs administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA), for example, would be a more efficient way of assisting manufacturers.
Folks like Allen, who have worked hand in hand with small manufacturers for many years, would like to see things continue as they have — because TAAF has made a real difference with the companies he’s worked with.
Data from the national FY2022 TAAF Annual Report, the last since program authorization expired, tends to support Allen’s assertion. According to that report:
- From certification to program completion, firms’ average sales increased by 51%, average employment decreased by 16%, and productivity increased by 46%.
- For the 2 years following program completion, average sales increased by 58%, average employment increased by 13%, and productivity increased by 48%.
“One thing that puzzles me is that the current administration is putting all these tariffs on imports,” Allen says. “But what are they doing to support homegrown manufacturers in places like Iowa that never left the United States? These smaller manufacturers never upped and moved production to China or Mexico. They’ve just continued to support their rural towns and employ hundreds of people for years and years. My hope is that lawmakers in D.C. recognize this and get TAAF back on the agenda.”
Shortline manufacturers and their dealers can join in the effort to try and kickstart the TAAF reauthorization. Find your local representative by typing your zip code into the U.S. House Directory, and give their office a call or send them a message saying that you’d like to see TAAF reauthorized and funding restored — so homegrown farm equipment manufacturers can get the support they need to survive and thrive in a changing global economy.
