NORTH MANKATO — After touring the Kato Engineering plant where the company’s employees are making tens of millions of dollars worth of equipment for the Navy, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was excited to see recent graduates from Minnesota State University and South Central Technical College working on the floor.
“Now more than ever, innovation is key to moving the American economy forward. With technological advancements in advanced manufacturing and many other parts of our economy, it is critical that American workers are positioned for success,” she said.
Klobuchar recently was one of the authors of workforce skills legislation she said will help students pay for career-related learning.
She said Kato Engineering’s long history of getting military contracts is vital for the nation’s security, keeps good jobs in America and benefits the military and U.S. allies.
“We have to ensure we have sophisticated equipment to defend our country and our allies like Ukraine.”
Klobuchar noted many believed the far larger Russian military would quickly overwhelm Ukraine, but Ukraine has taken out a third of the Russian Army and destroyed or disabled many of their ships, thanks to their tenacity and U.S. military equipment.
Last fall, Kato Engineering was awarded its largest single contract ever — a $90 million project to power the catapult system that will launch aircraft from the newest U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.
The North Mankato-based company is building the energy storage subsystems for the USS Doris Miller, the Ford-Class aircraft carrier scheduled to be constructed starting in 2026 in Newport News, Virginia.
For the USS Doris Miller, the Navy came directly to the 97-year-old manufacturer of electric generators/alternators, energy storage products and specialty electric motors.
Kato Engineering’s Jim Twardowski, who heads up defense contracts, said he thinks the company’s future is strong and that its parent company, Nidec, will continue to invest in expanding the North Mankato company.
He said they’ve mainly done work with the Navy, but because the Army is moving into more electric tanks and other vehicles, Kato Engineering will have more opportunities for contracts in the future.
Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, reintroduced a bill to increase access to skills training.
The Skills Investment Act would expand Coverdell Education Savings Accounts — tax advantaged savings accounts for educational expenses — so American workers can use the accounts to pay for skills training, career-related learning, adult education and professional development.
Companion legislation also has been introduced in the House of Representatives by a Democrat and a Republican.
“My bipartisan Skills Investment Act will expand tax advantaged savings accounts so workers can build skills for the 21st century economy,” Klobuchar said in a statement.
The act will allow workers to use tax-advantaged savings accounts to pay for skills training programs throughout an account holder’s lifetime. The bill would eliminate the age-based contribution limit on Coverdell ESAs and expand the scope of allowable distributions to cover a broad array of career and technical education services. These savings accounts would now be eligible for pretax contributions, and mid-career workers would be allowed to contribute up to $4,000 tax free each year with a maximum contribution limit of $10,000.
Employers would receive a 25 percent tax credit for contributions to a worker’s account.