Lisbeth Lyons Black

PRINTING United Alliance supported passage of the CHIPS and Science Act as one potential medium- to long-term solution to help alleviate supply chain concerns to keep print equipment costs competitive in the future.

On Wednesday, as news traveled across Capitol Hill that December’s consumer price index rose 7%, PRINTING United Alliance issued a letter formally calling on Congressional leaders to end negotiations to pass the Build Back Better Act and shift focus to more immediate economic concerns.

While the new law will affect many industries, here are a few key points for print providers to note. Don't expect quick action, though. The majority of spending in the new law will take months (or years) to implement.

President Biden published a revised framework of the Build Back Better plan, his administration’s signature legislation focused on “human infrastructure” (aka social/domestic policy spending).

The headlines coming out of the President's address on his Administration’s efforts to find a path out of the pandemic focused on the mandate for COVID-19 vaccines for certain employers. Action item No. 5 of the Path Out of the Pandemic plan garnered less attention, but is still worthy of review by printing companies.

There’s never been more publicity surround USPS and – in recent times – the postal rate increase stakes have never been higher.

As we finally begin to poke our collective heads out into an increasingly vaccinated world, it is time for Congress to address the next phase of industry sector relief and recovery. The restart of live events is one such sector that Congress can and should begin to address now.

The PRO Act has been circulating in the US Congress for the past six years, but has recently gained national media attention and newfound legislative momentum in past weeks. Why now? How serious is the legislative impact to the printing industry, and what can print companies do to take action to oppose the bill?

Raising revenue to pay for this bill will cause an all-out food fight amongst sectors of the business community.

The USPS released its long-anticipated 10-year strategic plan this week and it’s a decidedly mixed bag for the commercial mailing sector, a supply chain that includes printing and packaging, and one that in 2019 generated an estimated $1.6 trillion in sales.