Aug. 12—LIMA — After securing $65 million in funding for the Lima Tank Plant, Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) had a chance to see where that money will be going up close on Wednesday.
Ryan, who is also running for U.S. Senate, was in Lima to tour the tank plant and talk about how providing funding in the next defense bill will not only create jobs, but also the 'next generation' of M1 Abrams tanks.
"We just got $65 million in the defense appropriations bill to build the next generation Abrams tank, to do the engineering and the design for that," Ryan said. "This is the best tank in the world, the best workers in the world, it's manufacturing, it's good-paying jobs and it's right here in Ohio."
The tank plant has seen ups and downs over the years in terms of funding, and has been a hot topic for legislators on both sides of the aisle trying to draft a defense budget bill. Ryan said that the bipartisan support of the plant has helped keep its doors open.
"They were ready to close this plant several years ago, and I intervened and others intervened to help save it," he said. "Democrats and Republicans, which I think is important."
Ryan also explained the importance of visiting the plant and how its role helps the country on a local, national and international level.
"It's important to see what's going on in there. It's a very sophisticated level of manufacturing. There's not another plant like this in North America," Ryan said. "The workforce is unbelievably skilled, and to make sure that people in Washington recognized how important building something in the United States is to protect the war fighter, so that we can accomplish our missions that we have around the world."
For Ryan, the effort to support the Lima Tank Plant is also part of a broader issue of keeping good-paying jobs in Ohio, something he believes the new infrastructure bill will help with.
"(The bill) is a huge step in creating millions of jobs in the United States, good-paying jobs, good-paying American jobs that can't get outsourced to China or Mexico," he said. "And we want to continue to even go further on the infrastructure front, and to me that infrastructure is going to be key."
Reach Trevor Hubert at 567-242-0398