“I don’t think a single person in the printing industry will disagree that it is one of the most difficult and grueling industries.”
This sentiment comes from Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), who at a young age was exposed to the challenges printing companies face, having grown up involved in her family’s business The Mid-York Press in Sherburne, New York.
Rep. Tenney and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) – whose father owned a sign business and who later opened his own printing shop at age 23 – are uniquely positioned to advocate on behalf of the printing industry.
“We understand the complexities of the industry and how we can help,” Rep. Tenney explains. “We can make sure that we don’t do harm to the industry.”
That shared dedication and passion for the printing industry resulted in Reps. Pocan and Tenney being named two of the four co-chairs of the inaugural Congressional Printing Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. The first-of-its-kind bipartisan caucus was formed in 2023 with Reps. Pocan and Tenney, Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), and Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) serving as co-chairs. The caucus aims to educate lawmakers about the issues, legislation, and regulations that could impact the printing industry.
“I think the biggest thing was that it’s a large industry that didn’t seem to have a footprint in Congress,” Rep. Pocan says.
A ‘Rapid Response Network’ Across Party Lines
Rep. Pocan explains that a caucus is a way to “centralize information about a bill, a letter, or an agency action that could impact small businesses.” He says one of the more important aspects of the caucus is its ability to extend across party lines.
“[It’s positive] to have a caucus that focuses on something that transcends ideological viewpoints,” Rep. Pocan says. “It’s about jobs. It’s about the economy. It’s about the quality of printing. It’s about the future of printing as changes are happening and making sure we’re adaptive. … We want to keep moving the industry forward and we want to make sure we’re doing it in a way that’s both sustainable for the businesses that hire people but also good for the output of the businesses.”
Rep. Tenney shares similar thoughts about the power of a bipartisan caucus, noting that it’s important to get buy-in from both sides in Congress in order to get a bill passed.
“With these very narrow margins we have, it’s always better to have a bipartisan bill where you have both sides agreeing,” she says. “It helps to facilitate the process.”
Rep. Pocan acknowledges there are opportunities to be proactive, such as addressing artificial intelligence’s potential impact on the industry, or regulatory actions involving the production or use of certain consumables. This, in particular, is something the industry experienced recently when there were several states — including New York and New Jersey — that proposed a ban on the use of carbon black materials, which can be found in black printing inks.
“If a federal agency is going to make a change to a law that could affect UV ink or something unique to the industry, we have a place to move on it,” Rep. Pocan says. “[The point of] having the caucus is that you have a rapid response network to be able to deal with things that come up.”
Read the rest of this story on Printing Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
