Written Testimony of Bill Zoeller, CEO and Great-Grandson of Founder, Zoeller Company — U.S. Senate (May 13, 2026)

Summary

Written testimony of Bill Zoeller, CEO of Zoeller Company, to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship for its May 13, 2026 hearing titled America 250: Industrialization and the Rise of Small Manufacturers. The testimony describes the company as a family-owned water pump manufacturer founded in 1939 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, and recounts its history, including the acquisition of Flint and Walling, founded in 1866, and wartime production. It credits the Working Families Tax Cuts, signed July 4, 2025, with preserving the 21% corporate tax rate, restoring immediate expensing for research and capital equipment, and preserving the higher estate tax exemption. It also discusses regulatory costs, AI and infrastructure policy, and a workforce gap of 400,000 open manufacturing positions.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

                         Written Testimony of Bill Zoeller
               CEO and Great-Grandson of Founder, Zoeller Company
                Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
                                    U.S. Senate
   Hearing on “America 250: Industrialization and the Rise of Small Manufacturers”

                                       May 13, 2026


Thank you, Chair Ernst, Ranking Member Markey, and members of the Senate Small
Business and Entrepreneurship Committee for inviting me to testify today. My name is Bill
Zoeller, CEO of Zoeller Company and proud great-grandson of August “Pop” Zoeller, founder
of the company in 1939.

It is an honor to testify on behalf of Zoeller Company for this hearing celebrating America’s
250th birthday, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Manufacturing has played a vital role in our nation’s history—and continues to do so, now
and into the future.

Zoeller Company is one of the oldest family-owned water pump manufacturers in North
America. Like startups of today, it was founded in the family basement in 1939. Over the past
eight decades, Zoeller Company has established itself as a dependable leader in the
wastewater and clearwater industries. Our pumps help keep homeowners safe and dry,
removing sewage, stormwater, and wastewater from homes and commercial facilities. They
provide clean water to our nation’s farmers and others in different rural communities.
Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, we proudly excel with fourth-generation leadership
and an expanding workforce. We have grown significantly since our founding, acquiring other
companies to expand our product offerings, including Flint and Walling (F&W), which was
founded in 1866 and is based in Kendallville, Indiana. We also operate Zoeller Custom
Molding in Boonville Indiana, Wolf Pump in Abernathy, Texas, and Sencillo Systems in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

At Zoeller, we are proud to have the “Made in the USA” label on our Zoeller Pump Company
mainline products and that over 90% of our products are Made in America using a majority
of US domestic content. In 2012 when one of our suppliers moved to Mexico, we cut ties with
them. By investing in our people we decided to manufacture those motors internally. This
created 35 new jobs and we put “Made in the USA” back on several products. Today, F&W is
the lone manufacturer of 4” DC motors in the USA. Additionally, the well pumps
manufactured in Kendallville IN, proudly state “Made in the USA with a majority of US

                                             1
domestic content” on them. Both of these labels give our customers the trust and
confidence of knowing exactly where their products come from.

Zoeller is also proud to employ the American worker. We treat everyone as part of the Zoeller
family, investing in their well-being with competitive benefits and a culture where people feel
valued. That same sense of care extends beyond our walls. We stay deeply involved in the
communities where we serve. Our employees are proud partners, volunteering their time
and supporting charitable efforts that make a real difference. We are particularly proud of
the fact that Zoeller annually invests more than $1M throughout our communities through
different charitable ventures.

Zoeller and America’s Manufacturing History

We are proud to be part of America’s rich history of manufacturing. At each chapter since
independence was declared, manufacturers have answered the call. Blacksmiths and
shipbuilders armed the American revolution. Manufacturers built the tools that enabled our
expansion to the west. We revolutionized transportation around the world with the assembly
lines that made the automobile affordable. From the factories that became the Arsenal of
Democracy, to the network of innovation and engineering across America that brought us to
the moon in the Cold War, to the vaccines and healthcare supplies that ended the
pandemic—manufactures have always been there to help move this country forward.

The same year my great-grandfather started our family business, Nazi Germany invaded
Poland, beginning the Axis powers’ attempt at global domination. As America’s enemies
advanced across the world, manufacturers in America stepped up and built the Arsenal of
Democracy that would ensure their defeat. Between 1939 and 1944, industrial production in
the United States doubled. Zoeller Company production efforts expanded to include
military-related equipment such as pumps, tracer shells, and aircraft components. For
example, Flint & Walling’s contributions earned national recognition, including the Navy “E”
Award for Excellence and the company’s products were used across multiple theaters of
war, from Europe to North Africa. Many manufacturers across America did the same, and by
1944 the U.S. surpassed the industrial production of all the Axis powers combined. America
armed our allies as our enemies swept across Europe, and when the time came for American
troops to join Allied forces in taking back France, American manufacturers ensured that they
would do so with what would be the greatest arsenal in human history to support their
advance. Aircraft production increased 45-fold. The U.S. Navy increased its fleet by nine-
fold. We built four tanks in the time it took the Germans to build one. Manufacturers were
relentless in building an industrial base for victory, and we did exactly that.


                                              2
The industrial dominance that followed World War II was soon met with a competitive global
economy. As the world recovered from the war and as nations rose to join the industrialized
world, America’s manufacturing preeminence was challenged. Zoeller had to fight off our
own threat from Chinese manufacturers, as our products were being replicated and the U.S.
market was swamped with counterfeit goods. Fortunately, securing a U.S. patent gave us the
legal protection we needed to defend our products.

But Zoeller’s participation in America’s history goes back even further than World War II. The
company acquired Flint and Walling, which was founded in 1866 in Kendallville, Indiana.
They manufactured the Flint and Walling Windmill that powered groundwater pumps to
provide drinking water for cattle and irrigation in the Midwest. These small steel windmills
are still a staple of rural America today and helped make possible America’s expansion to
the Pacific Ocean. As frontiersman settled throughout the wilderness of the West, the Flint
and Walling Windmill enabled not just their survival, but their ability to expand and grow.

Much has changed since Flint and Walling first made its windmill, or when Zoeller became a
temporary defense manufacturer in World War II. The global economy is simply more
competitive today than it has been in the past. The recent policy successes are helping us
compete, and Congress should continue policy efforts to support manufacturing into the
future. It is once again time for the United States to defend its position as the industrial
powerhouse of the world, and we are grateful for Congress’s recent efforts to do exactly that.

The Policy Pivot to Manufacturing Dominance is Supporting Zoeller’s Success

Policy investments from decisionmakers here in Washington, DC are impacting companies
like Zoeller across the country—bolstering America’s manufacturing preeminence. Historic
policies in recent years have powered job creation here at home and supported American
competitiveness on the world stage. The U.S. is making progress along a policy trajectory
that will support reindustrialization and American manufacturing dominance—and we must
preserve the progress we’ve made while continuing that momentum.

The Working Families Tax Cuts Are Rocket Fuel for Manufacturing Investment

One of the most significant recent policy changes to support manufacturing in America is
the Working Families Tax Cuts Act. These historic tax reforms were a vital win for
manufacturing in America, improving the tax code to support manufacturing investment.

Corporate Tax Rate

As a corporation, the 21% corporate tax rate established in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and
preserved by the Working Families Tax Cuts has supported Zoeller’s success and growth in

                                              3
recent years. As we have continued to expand, invest, and hire, a competitive corporate tax
rate has been critical to our success. Before 2017, we were operating under one of the
highest corporate tax rates in the world, while our competitors in foreign countries faced
much lower rates. We’ve been far better positioned to grow and compete thanks to the Tax
Cuts and Jobs Act instituting a 21% corporate rate—and the Working Families Tax Cuts
preserving that globally competitive rate.

Immediate Expensing for Research, Capital Equipment, and Facilities

For Zoeller, another crucial pro-growth, pro-investment benefit of the Working Families Tax
Cuts is the law’s focus on business expensing. The reforms restored our ability to fully and
immediately expense the cost of both research and capital equipment purchases; the law
also made it easier to expense interest on business loans, supporting our future investments
that depend on debt financing. Additionally, the Working Families Tax Cuts Act created a new
deduction for the construction or improvement of manufacturing production facilities—a
critical new incentive that will drive manufacturing investment and job creation across the
country.

By empowering manufacturers to immediately expense research, capital equipment, and
manufacturing facilities, the after-tax costs of those investments are reduced, and
manufacturers like Zoeller can make more of them as a result. Zoeller is continuing to invest
in our growth, building a new facility in Louisville and ordering equipment to run the plant. As
we continue to invest into the future, these tax provisions will make it easier and more cost-
effective for us to make those investments.

We have seen a tremendous impact from the law’s restoration of research expensing. Zoeller
needs to offer cutting-edge products to stay competitive, and immediate research expensing
supports our ability to do exactly that. We’ve come a long way from the pumps my great-
grandfather built in 1939, and it is important that we continue to lead in innovation to deliver
the highest quality pumps to our customers. Immediately deducting our research costs has
a big impact on our ability to invest in R&D, and we are grateful that the Working Families Tax
Cuts supports our ability to innovate with its restoration.

Manufacturers are capital-intensive, and investment in research and advanced
manufacturing technologies are the lifeblood of manufacturing competitiveness. By creating
a tax code that recognizes the importance of these investments for economic growth,
manufacturers are better prepared than ever to compete and win.




                                               4
Estate Tax Relief

Additionally, the tax law also allows me to plan long term for the company’s continued
legacy. Zoeller is a longstanding family business, and I am proud to be the fourth generation
of the Zoeller family to own the company. Only 3% of family businesses in the U.S. are fourth
generation. Many families have not been as fortunate as Zoeller, and one of the key obstacles
to keeping family businesses in the family has historically been the Death Tax. Thankfully, the
Working Families Tax Cuts provide relief to many small, family-owned manufacturers from
the devastating impact of the estate tax.

In 2017, the TCJA doubled the estate tax exemption, protecting family-owned manufacturers
from a potentially crippling tax burden following the death of a loved one. Without the
Working Families Tax Cuts, the exemption would have been cut in half at the end of 2025.
That would have meant that family-owned manufacturers would have been forced to
liquidate assets, take on debt, limit operations, reduce employees, or close down entirely as
a result of the tax. Instead, because the Working Families Tax Cuts preserved the higher
exemption, family-owned manufacturers like Zoeller are better equipped to grow and pass
down their family’s legacy.

Pro-Growth Impacts

Zoeller’s employees also benefit directly from the Working Families Tax Cuts, especially
because the law prevented a tax rate increase on families at all income levels. Additionally,
the workers at Zoeller will benefit from No Tax on Overtime, the new deduction in the Working
Families Tax Cuts for overtime income. Our employees who work overtime will be receiving
a direct increase to their take-home pay as a result of this provision. Manufacturing workers
work 6 more hours per week than the national average and increasing these workers take-
home pay makes a manufacturing career even more attractive at a time when the industry is
facing nearly 400,000 open jobs.

The benefits of the Working Families Tax Cuts for manufacturing in America also extend well
beyond those provisions that directly impact Zoeller. Though Zoeller is a corporation, 96% of
manufacturers are organized as pass-throughs, and these are overwhelmingly small
businesses. The 20% deduction for pass-through businesses and the extension of the
individual income tax rates has been another impactful piece of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act;
because the Working Families Tax Cuts made the deduction and reduced rates permanent,
small manufacturers have both the competitive tax policy the certainty they need to support
their success.



                                              5
With the signing of the Working Families Tax Cuts on July 4, 2025, Congress and President
Trump delivered a tax code that will empower manufacturers to build on the past and help
continue to lead this country into the future. The pro-growth provisions included in the bill
come together to create a tax code that aligns perfectly with the investments manufacturers
need to make to stay competitive. Competitive tax rates, fairer treatment of family
businesses, and immediate expensing for vital investments underpin the tax code’s pivot
towards manufacturing growth. With each of these vital provisions, the Working Families Tax
Cuts further aligns our tax code with the legacy of our nation as one of builders and makers.

Other Recent Policies Have Built the Infrastructure for Manufacturing Growth

Several other policy efforts deserve mention as crucial to America’s manufacturing
resurgence.

Regulatory Rebalancing

First, manufacturers strongly support President Trump’s efforts to rebalance and modernize
the federal regulatory environment. Our industry spends $350 billion each year just to
comply with federal regulations — capital that could be spent on expanding factories and
production lines, hiring new workers, or raising wages. This cost falls disproportionately on
smaller manufacturers, which spend more than $50,000 per employee per year on
regulatory compliance costs. At Zoeller, we worry that the costs could be greater if the
regulations require us to undermine the quality and reliability of our product, creating long-
term costs for both us and our customers. The administration’s reforms to reduce the cost
of federal regulations and ensure that rules are practical and workable are crucial to the
growth of manufacturing in America.

AI, Innovation, and Energy Security

AI is increasingly integral to modern manufacturing. President Trump has put forward a
strategy for AI development in the U.S. that supports the advancement of this critical
technology, while advancing energy and critical minerals policies that support the buildout
of the digital infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence. As a vital technology that will
define much of the future economy, the U.S. must continue to lead in the development and
deployment of artificial intelligence.

These investments build on the success of the CHIPS and Science Act, which was vital for
reshoring the critical semiconductor supply chain. Bringing that capability home helps
secure that supply chain in the U.S., which is important for both manufacturers making chips
and those using chips in their products. As a company committed to sourcing our products


                                               6
domestically, we appreciated Congress’s efforts to bring this critical manufacturing input to
U.S. shores.

Infrastructure

Manufacturers like Zoeller depend on robust American infrastructure to make and move
products across the country. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was a historic
investment informed by years of advocacy from manufacturers and other key stakeholders
to finally address our nation’s longstanding infrastructure needs. This investment bolstered
American supply chains by ensuring the efficient movement of manufacturing goods—
ultimately supporting companies like Zoeller as we bring inputs to our facilities and as we
deliver products to our customers across the country. With key IIJA provisions set to expire
later this year, Congress now has the opportunity to preserve and build on these
investments.

How Congress Can Continue the Momentum for Manufacturing Dominance

The path to manufacturing dominance is already underway with a competitive tax code now
in place. Now, Congress has the opportunity build on the successes of the Working Families
Tax Cuts with additional investments that will drive manufacturing revitalization in America.

Regulatory Reforms

As mentioned, President Trump’s efforts to right-size federal regulations have been
enormously important for manufacturers. At Zoeller, we are hopeful that the Department of
Energy will take steps to protect manufacturers from the Biden Administration’s Circulator
Pump efficiency regulation, which was finalized in May 2024, with a compliance date of May
22, 2028.

Manufacturers, including producers and users of energy, are committed to reducing our
energy intensity and producing more energy-efficient consumer products to help reduce
energy demand, save money, and lower costs.

Unfortunately, under the previous administration, the Circulator Pump regulation was an
instance of new energy efficiency regulations being issued that didn’t take into account the
full impact that they would have on small and medium-sized manufacturers, nor does it fully
account for costs associated with a pump failure. If implemented, according to Zoeller’s
estimates, the new standard would threaten the reliability of the sump pump motor in order
to only save customers $2-3 per year on energy costs. In contrast, the damage that results
from a higher efficiency, but lower reliability motor, is significantly more costly to consumers
in that the damage of a flooded basement. There is a role for the Department of Energy to

                                               7
play in ensuring regulatory certainty and predictability for manufacturers. At the same time,
the government also should ensure their rules are workable for companies like Zoeller before
they impose them.

Commonsense Trade Policy

As mentioned, Zoeller is in the process of expanding our footprint and procuring capital
equipment to operate our new facility. As we do so, we remain committed to sourcing inputs
domestically. However, much of the highly specialized machinery that we need to make
more in America is not yet produced here. In our case, we are procuring equipment from
Germany and Japan to machine cast iron components and to bring advanced manufacturing
capabilities online —equipment that will be installed on our shop floors here in America and
support the production of our “Made in the USA” products. Throughout the sector,
manufacturers rely on nearly $297 billion in imported machinery, predominantly from allied
trading partners with whom the U.S. has trade agreements or is currently negotiating trade
agreements. Ensuring reliable, low-cost access to these vital inputs—when used to support
manufacturing activity in the U.S.—would supercharge our ability to invest, grow, and create
jobs in America.

Permitting Reform and Energy Dominance

Energy demand across the country is experiencing unprecedented explosive growth, and it
is not expected to slow down. This is especially true for manufacturers, as our industry uses
a third of the nation’s energy. Kentucky has seen some key power plant closures in recent
years that have driven up energy costs and weighing down capacity. Manufacturers need to
be able to produce and use every energy source available to meet this critical moment. In
short, manufacturers need American energy dominance, bolstered by an all-of-the-above
energy strategy, that allows our industry to innovate, build, and grow here at home.

To achieve this objective, we must reform our nation’s broken and out-of-date permitting
processes. It should not take the United States 80% longer to permit a project as compared
to other major, developed nations. Unclear timelines, lack of agency coordination,
overlapping statutes, and endless litigation continue to drive up the costs of critical projects
or halt them altogether. This impacts our ability to get new shop floors up and running—and
our access to affordable, reliable energy to power those shop floors.

Manufacturing Workforce Development

Manufacturers have a deep understanding of their workforce needs and the negative impact
on their bottom line when they do not have the talent to fill necessary roles. Our industry has
long invested and taken an active role in building a well-trained, future-ready workforce—

                                               8
and Zoeller is no exception. As manufacturing in the U.S. grows and job roles evolve,
especially with the integration of AI, there is an urgent need for stronger, more responsive
training pathways to fill high-skill, high-wage roles.

At Zoeller, we do everything we can to ensure that when we hire an employee, we keep them.
We offer strong benefits, give our employees extra time off for community volunteering, and
treat them well. We have incredibly strong retention of our employees, with many employees
working at Zoeller across multiple generations. We routinely promote internal candidates –
providing them with additional training as needed to ensure that they can do new jobs and
develop new skills. We do this because we know that attracting and retaining a strong
workforce can be a challenge. There are 400,000 open positions in the manufacturing sector,
and if we are going to have the workforce to expand manufacturing in the United States, we
need take action to get there.

This is particularly important as AI augments the jobs that manufacturing workers perform.
Manufacturing workers increasingly need new skills to adapt to the increasingly
sophisticated technologies being utilized. At stake is not only America’s manufacturing
potential, but also the ability of our country to deploy AI for broad-based economic growth.
The future economy will be defined by our ability to lead in manufacturing and artificial
intelligence—and for both of those goals, we need a workforce that can meet the moment.

Conclusion

Zoeller is proud of our legacy of manufacturing in America, and to be part of an incredible
industry that has helped drive America’s history. From the factories of the Industrial
Revolution to the assembly lines that mobilized the Arsenal of Democracy, from the boom
that built the middle class to the advanced production that created the modern economy,
the story of America goes hand in hand with the story of manufacturing. Manufacturing is a
part of who the Zoeller family is, and it’s a part of who America is. I could not be prouder to
testify before the Senate Small Business Committee today in honor of America’s 250th
birthday. Thank you for all the recent efforts to support manufacturing in America and know
that the Zoeller Company is rooting for you to continue to succeed in making America the
best country in the world to make things.




                                              9


File and source

File

Zoeller_Testimony.pdf

Size

117,871 bytes

SHA-256

ed3bf8ef144b13aef7a81f43ddc2292c5511e4d8db67aa31f41cc954d921e40f

Our copy

Zoeller_Testimony.pdf

Original

No public link identified.