Football 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 offense and defense; a team that hopes to advance to the Super Bowl better be adept at both parts of the game.

The same has applied in the serious world of business advocacy. Businesses such as metalcasting are influenced heavily by public policy, and often for the negative. Regulations are frequently more sweeping and costly than necessary or advisable. Tax policies may discourage investment and hiring.

Permitting processes tend to slow many projects to a crawl. AFS, which has an active advocacy program on behalf of the metalcasting 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 play offense 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 business growth. AFS has been in touch with the Trump administration and every congressional office, emphasizing that the time is right for our policy agenda.

That agenda includes reducing regulatory burdens, implementing pro-growth tax reform, strict enforcement of trade laws, investment in infrastructure, smarter future rulemaking, maintaining a strong national defense, restoring voluntary programs at OSHA and EPA, and expanding domestic energy production.

The new opportunities to play offense don’t mean that we can let down our guard on defense. But they do mean that for the first 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 Affairs blitz in the nation’s capital.

Advocacy is one of the three pillars of the AFS vision, alongside education and innovation.

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