Gary Peters

ASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown requesting a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into whether the Department of Commerce (DOC), under Secretary Howard Lutnick, has followed the law and properly funded and managed the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. Michigan’s MEP Center, the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC), has helped Michigan’s small and medium-sized businesses compete and grow for more than 30 years.

“The MEP Program enhances the competitiveness, productivity, and technological performance of the U.S. manufacturing sector,” Peters wrote. “However, since Secretary Lutnick took control of the Department of Commerce, the Department has put the future of the MEP Program and the services it provides to over 600,000 American manufacturers in deep uncertainty with an ever-shifting chronology of statements, actions, and reversals. A robust investigation by GAO would help determine whether and how officials at the Department circumvented or ignored congressional directives on MEP.”

The MEP Program, which is housed under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the DOC, serves as a national network of go-to experts that help small and medium-sized manufacturers enhance productivity and adopt advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. MEP Centers across the country provide assistance to help improve manufacturing firms’ processes and productivity, expand their capacity, utilize best management practices, and train their workforce. Despite its nearly 30-year history of successfully supporting manufacturing in America, on April 1, 2025, NIST began withholding and delaying funds for MEP Centers, greatly reducing federal MEP Program staff levels and leaving MEP Centers in a perpetual state of uncertainty that led to hiring freezes and layoffs in 90 percent of MEP Centers.

When pressed by senators on both sides of the aisle, the Department and Secretary Lutnick have repeatedly blamed the withholding of funds on years-old Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General findings.

“This apparent justification for withholding MEP funds lacks credibility, as the Commerce Department’s Inspector General personally confirmed to Democratic Committee staff that the OIG’s findings and recommendations were not a legal or otherwise appropriate grounds for the Department to defund the MEP program,” Peters continued.

This effort comes after Peters led his colleagues in sending a letter to the DOC in December demanding clear answers about why NIST was withholding and delaying congressionally approved funds to MEP Program Centers.

Peters has led numerous efforts in the Senate to bolster the MEP Program’s efforts to support workers and manufacturers. Peters helped author and pass into law the CHIPS and Science Act which increased funding for the MEP program. Peters secured $400,000 in federal funding for MMTC to help manufacturers in Michigan improve the strength of their supply chains. Peters also authored bipartisan legislation that was signed into law in 2017 to adjust federal cost-share ratio and implement new accountability and oversight provisions within the MEP program.