Trump Administration Officials Visit Bloomington, IN as Baxter Signs Pledge to America's Workers

Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council Joe Grogan visited Baxter International Inc.’s Bloomington, Indiana facility where Baxter signed the Pledge to America’s Workers, committing to nearly 2,000 employee development opportunities over the next five years.

At Baxter, Secretary Azar and Director Grogan participated in a tour of Baxter’s manufacturing, research and development facilities, led by Baxter CEO Jose Almeida. In a roundtable after the tour, Almeida expressed the enthusiastic support of Baxter for President Trump’s executive order on Transforming American Kidney Health and discussed the need for employees at many of Baxter’s U.S. facilities.

At the signing ceremony, Almeida discussed the $500 million in potential investments in new and existing U.S. facilities that make and distribute products for peritoneal dialysis, supporting the Trump Administration kidney health initiative and potentially creating 1,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Secretary Azar spoke about the importance of the President’s Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative, which seeks to reduce the number of Americans developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) by 25 percent by 2030; have 80 percent of new ESRD patients in 2025 receiving dialysis at home, benefiting from new treatment options, or receiving a transplant; and doubling the number of kidneys available for transplant by 2030.

Director Grogan discussed the roaring economy and the President’s Pledge to America’s Workers, an initiative that calls on employers large and small to create more jobs, strengthen our economy, and restore hopeful futures to countless families.

Bruce Pleskow, a Baxter employee and ESRD survivor, shared his story of how important peritoneal dialysis was to his battle with ESRD.

Almeida then signed the Pledge to America’s Workers to applause from the approximately 70 Baxter employees in attendance. Baxter joins more than 300 companies and organizations who have signed the Pledge contributing to over 12.7 million new education and training opportunities for American students and workers over the next five years.

Learn more about the Pledge to America’s Workers Initiative

Learn more about the Advancing American Kidney Health Initiative