UWCHLAN >> Congressman Lou Barletta, a Republican planning to challenge Sen. Bob Casey Jr., met with a Chester County business leaders and elected officials Wednesday and toured the Sheree Boulevard factory floor DFT Inc., an international manufacturer of valves.
The tour was followed by a roundtable discussion where Barletta and David Moser, DFT owner and CEO, discussed immigration, tariffs and infrastructure plans.
“I love to see people making, while using skills, dedication and a true passion for their work,” Barletta said. “We have to focus on keeping our manufacturing in the U.S. “These are good jobs.”
Moser immigrated to America four decades ago from Canada. He said that the immigration system was then full of bureaucracy and was time-consuming.
“Immigration is very dysfunctional in the U.S. right now,” Moser said. “We have to fix our immigration system. It’s time-consuming and in the past 40 years nothing has changed. The reason we have so much illegal immigration is because legal immigration is so difficult.”
Barletta, the former mayor of Hazleton, Pa., said that now is the perfect time to change the immigration system.
“We should be using our immigration system to strengthen our country,” he said. “Illegal immigration depresses the wages of American workers.
“The immigration system does not work. We want to raise the wages. Illegal and legal immigration are very sensitive subjects – people want to demonize each other.”
Barletta said he believes the tax cuts passed by Congress in December will continue to help grow the economy and raise wages for American workers.
Moser said the tax cuts were well-received at DFT. However, he expressed skepticism about tariffs.
Moser noted that nobody wins in a tariff war, and that free trade, including NAFTA, is very important to the company with plants in six other places: three in the U.S.; one in Canada; another in China; and a sixth in Singapore.
“We’re card-carrying free traders,” Moser said.
Barletta said that President Donald Trump was likely raising steel tariffs to “level the playing field. It’s leverage for countries that aren’t playing fair,” Barletta said.
Moser said that at DFT’s Uwchlan site, the company was short three or four workers.
“This is a good country to manufacture things in,” he said. “We have good people. We just need more of them.”
Barletta said that the manufacturing jobs were fine, family-sustaining occupations.
“Most people want to work – make sure we teach them the skills,” he said.
Barletta said he grew up working in a family quarry and favors an infrastructure bill.
“There is nothing better for the local economy than infrastructure,” he said. “Strengthen our economy. “The more we will consume, the more we will buy and the more we’ll sell.”
Everyone in the group wore safety glasses on the tour through the tidy, bustling and busy factory floor. Barletta also met several of the factory workers, who explained what their jobs are like.
While Barletta looked right at home, Moser said that many of the products produced are custom-made and ship all over the world.
Barletta is running in the Republican primary to challenge Casey, who is seeking re-election.
State Rep. Jim Christiana, R-15, and businessman Joseph Vodvarka are also running in the Republican primary.
Pennsylvania’s primary elections will be held May 15.
Digital First Media staff writer Lucas M. Rodgers contributed to this report.
