Manufacturers are fighting to rebound from the recession and grow opportunities and jobs, yet they still face congressional inaction on even the most bipartisan pieces of legislation, including the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB).

While the most productive in the world, manufacturers in the United States face fierce competition overseas as they are saddled with the highest tax rate in the world, as well as a regulatory burden that totals more than $2 trillion annually in compliance costs. There are numerous actions Congress could and should take to address this imbalance, but it has failed over the past two years to take the simple step of eliminating import tariffs on necessary manufacturing components not even produced in the United States.

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That’s right. The United States imposes border taxes on necessary components not even produced here.

Over the past 30 years, Congress has regularly passed legislation to eliminate this tax on a short-term basis — the MTB, which expired at the end of 2012. This legislation is subject to an open and transparent process and ensures that an independent government agency, the U.S. International Trade Commission, verifies that products are unavailable domestically in order to protect domestic manufacturing jobs.

Since the expiration of the MTB nearly two years ago, there has been lots of discussion but no real action. There has even been a bill introduced by the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which included roughly 2,000 bipartisan provisions — nearly two years ago. Yet, there has been no concrete action: no committee markups, no floor action and no enactment of legislation, despite longstanding bipartisan support for it.

For the past 30 years, Congress has passed this cost-cutting measure with little controversy and sweeping bipartisan support. The 2010 MTB passed by a vote of 378-43 in the House and by unanimous consent in the Senate.

That’s because the underlying principle of the MTB is quite simple. By eliminating congressionally imposed taxes on inputs not manufactured domestically, Congress is incentivizing companies to keep and bring back manufacturing to the United States. Without eliminating this tax, it is sometimes cheaper for the final product to be manufactured overseas and shipped to the United States with no border tax whatsoever, threatening manufacturing jobs in America.

It is no secret that moving any legislation through Congress over the past two years has been incredibly difficult, but given the broad bipartisan support for the MTB in both chambers, congressional inaction is inexplicable. There is no resolution of this issue and no discernible path forward.

Last year, the National Association of Manufacturers conducted an economic analysis indicating that failure to pass an MTB would result in a tax hike on manufacturing in America to the tune of $748 million and economic losses to U.S. manufacturing of $1.857 billion. Manufacturers are already paying those prices, and the longer that Congress ignores manufacturers’ calls to pass this important bill, the more manufacturers’ costs continue to mount. With each passing day, manufacturers small and large, in industries that drive our economy, ranging from agriculture and electronics to textiles and chemicals, pay tariffs on inputs they need to manufacture their products, undermining their competitiveness, raising their costs and damaging their ability to retain and create manufacturing jobs in this country.

It is far past time that the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees move this legislation forward. If process changes for future MTBs are necessary to move this legislation now, then committee leaders can surely develop bipartisan reforms that both parties can accept to address the issues raised. If members of Congress are serious about supporting manufacturing growth in this country, they will roll up their sleeves and work to find a solution to pass the MTB. Manufacturers cannot afford to wait any longer.

Dempsey is vice president of international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers.