Jobs in America

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, thank you for leading us in this hour discussion focusing on jobs--from a manufacturing sector, jobs from an investment. They come about in an investment in research, R&D, and they come about through innovation.

We have talked about this many times on this floor, that we come from districts that have that keen sense of vision about how to do it smarter, which can be that difference in the competitive edge that our businesses require in an international marketplace.

What I like about the investment through this package, Make It in America, is an across-the-board holistic approach, incentives that provide everything from encouragement to the local industries to retrofit and rebuild their manufacturing processes; to investment in the workforce, making certain that those cutting-edge skills and trades are being developed within our workers, making certain that we have that human infrastructure up and ready to go so as to be robustly competitive; and also talking about the investment in this ideas economy, which speaks to the sophistication of our American society. The intellectual capacity that is harnessed to produce jobs is an awesome measure that allows us to maintain a great bit of hope that we can robustly respond to the needs of today's economy, an international economy, and be a winning agent out there. And it happens with this investment. That's how we grow jobs.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. I was at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and we saw what public-private matches were about. We were able to deal with the ideas economy. We came up with new ways to harness energy, to create energy efficiency in the outcome, and by so doing, innovation and research equals jobs, good-paying jobs that allow us, again, to have that cutting edge of cleverness, of having a thoughtful way to do things. The smart factor can win those contracts on an international scale. So I'm thrilled about what we can do through research.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Sure. The wordsmithing that you talk about is so critical. The addition of language that clarifies or specifically states ``made in America'' as an outcome, very critical to the legislation. And two things were happening. The wordsmithing didn't happen as tenderly as it should have for American workers, but there was also a disinvestment in manufacturing as a sector of our economy. And agriculture was ignored. Manufacturing was ignored.

Service sector was paid attention to; and then more narrowly, financial services got great attention. But we know that story: turn your back as government, say go function as you choose, and create derivatives to avoid government overview and avoid the watchdog. And we saw trillions lost to American households because of that failure.

Here there's a conscious attempt to say, no, we're not going to pay to have you ship jobs offshore. Yes, we're going to pay to have you bring them back. Yes, we're going to invest in workers. Yes, we're going to invest in research to develop new processes.

I have a bill that deals with energy efficiency that allows for us to enhance the efficiency of turbines that are being produced in Schenectady, that are being made in Schenectady at GE, and then exported to the markets around the world.

Routinely, I am showcasing manufacturing in my district so that the media, as a partner, can showcase what's happening right in our very neighborhoods, and that the story fully, complete and told to everyone, is that we're also exporting from Tech Valley, New York. That is so important for people to know, and we need to enhance that.

We need to provide for the reinforcement, the underpinning of support through language in bills, resources that are attached to various appropriations bills, and pointing a focus on American manufacturing.

I saw what happened through an incubator program at RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in my district, where a local manufacturer was able to revisit his process, his manufacturing process. They upgraded it, went to a community college in the district, Hudson Valley Community College, which trained the workers from this facility how to use this new automated piece; and now they've added workers who are specifically trained on this automated concept. They're winning contracts, and Kintz Plastics in Schoharie, New York, in the upstate New York region, a rural county setting, by the way, is strengthened by all that investment.

That's what it takes. It's a focus, laser-sharp focus on how to meet the various elements of the equation that will take us to a winning effort. And it's straightforward, it's thought out, it's not mindless.

Instead of issues of ignoring manufacturing, providing for sequestration that automatically cuts programs where there ought to be investment, let's move forward with a sound budget. Let's move forward with an agenda that produces jobs.

The President has introduced a package that calls for a budget that's real, that displaces sequestration. He knows of the damage that that would do to the economy and to the investment in manufacturing that is needed now in a very targeted way.

So this is a thoughtful, mindful, analytical, academically driven agenda that really speaks to the

needs of all sorts of efficiency operations, turbines that will be built to better scale, that will allow for better outcomes and save us, in the process, save jobs in the process, grow jobs, and then provide for more productivity on the local scene.

So, I think it's incredibly successful when we just apply simple logic to the situation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Sure. Even the data compilation there, the research that's done with the weather patterns, putting together data that's compiled that are very compelling bits of information allow us to grow back smarter. If we're just going to rebuild after the damages of these consequences of Mother Nature----

Mr. GARAMENDI. It's global warming.

Mr. TONKO. Yes. And we have to be real about this. We have to take into mind and heart the situations out there. And to just simply rebuild and ignore the facts, if there's increased precipitation over the last 20 years, markedly so, discernibly speaking to us, we need to move forward accordingly. And so there should be retrofits that are responding to the data.

You don't rebuild a bridge to the same span and same height if the water volume is growing exponentially. We have combined heat and power situations that were impacted or survived the consequences of the disaster of Superstorm Sandy. Should we revisit how we rebuild some of the electric infrastructure?

So there are calls here that challenge us, that require us to do it more wisely, to do it more effectively, and to do it with intelligent approaches that allow us to use the innovative approaches that are available.

I watch what is being designed here by so many of the startup industries that are taking into account climate change, taking into account the various elements that are impacting us, causing coastal areas on your coast, on my coast of this country, where people need to rebuild in a clever way and in a way that's sensitive to the demands of the system. And the threshold years out there by which we need to respond to climate change are quickly approaching us. Some suggest as early as 2017. Others will stretch it to 2020. Regardless, that is around the corner. And the call to order here is to be sophisticated in the approach. Go forward, do it with science, do it with intellect, do it academically, so that we can grow jobs that are going to respond to the pressures out there that are bearing down upon us and are undeniable. Let's get the stuff done.

Recently, I went to several college graduations in my district. And to see the technical strength walking across that stage. From doctorates to master's degrees to bachelor's degrees, there is great talent being released out there. Let's put it to work so this Nation can build upon that pioneer spirit that has always driven us. There's just such great opportunity here. And if you believe that all the products ever required by humankind have been conceived, prototyped, developed, manufactured, and sold, the story is over. But we know better than that. Products are being developed as we speak. And the challenge to a sophisticated society such as ours, it's okay. Maybe some of those manufactured goods that you did a century ago are now replaced by some new, precision-oriented, heavy-duty ideas reformulation that really allows us to be clever in the attempt.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Sure. Even the data compilation there, the research that's done with the weather patterns, putting together data that's compiled that are very compelling bits of information allow us to grow back smarter. If we're just going to rebuild after the damages of these consequences of Mother Nature----

Mr. GARAMENDI. It's global warming.

Mr. TONKO. Yes. And we have to be real about this. We have to take into mind and heart the situations out there. And to just simply rebuild and ignore the facts, if there's increased precipitation over the last 20 years, markedly so, discernibly speaking to us, we need to move forward accordingly. And so there should be retrofits that are responding to the data.

You don't rebuild a bridge to the same span and same height if the water volume is growing exponentially. We have combined heat and power situations that were impacted or survived the consequences of the disaster of Superstorm Sandy. Should we revisit how we rebuild some of the electric infrastructure?
http://thomas.loc.gov
So there are calls here that challenge us, that require us to do it more wisely, to do it more effectively, and to do it with intelligent approaches that allow us to use the innovative approaches that are available.

I watch what is being designed here by so many of the startup industries that are taking into account climate change, taking into account the various elements that are impacting us, causing coastal areas on your coast, on my coast of this country, where people need to rebuild in a clever way and in a way that's sensitive to the demands of the system. And the threshold years out there by which we need to respond to climate change are quickly approaching us. Some suggest as early as 2017. Others will stretch it to 2020. Regardless, that is around the corner. And the call to order here is to be sophisticated in the approach. Go forward, do it with science, do it with intellect, do it academically, so that we can grow jobs that are going to respond to the pressures out there that are bearing down upon us and are undeniable. Let's get the stuff done.

Recently, I went to several college graduations in my district. And to see the technical strength walking across that stage. From doctorates to master's degrees to bachelor's degrees, there is great talent being released out there. Let's put it to work so this Nation can build upon that pioneer spirit that has always driven us. There's just such great opportunity here. And if you believe that all the products ever required by humankind have been conceived, prototyped, developed, manufactured, and sold, the story is over. But we know better than that. Products are being developed as we speak. And the challenge to a sophisticated society such as ours, it's okay. Maybe some of those manufactured goods that you did a century ago are now replaced by some new, precision-oriented, heavy-duty ideas reformulation that really allows us to be clever in the attempt.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. When you talk about roads and bridges, my home county of Montgomery, New York, in my district, was host to a terrible bridge collapse. We commemorated in 2012 the 25th anniversary of the collapse of a thruway bridge that took several lives. That was a stark reminder 25, 26 years ago. We have only

accumulated more concern for deficiencies.

So it's roads and bridges. It's rail, as you made mention. But it's also telecommunications and utilities. You look at a system that was engineered to be a monopoly, serving regions of energy needs for people, and then with deregulation came the wheeling of electrons from region to region, State to State, nation to nation. You had Canada wheeling in electrons to New York State. We need to upgrade the system. The interconnection devices need to be upgraded. There's new technology. You get more efficiency, less line loss. These are the things that are smart. And we're asking with this package that we've talked about here tonight, let's be smart. Let's respect the hard-earned tax dollars that are under our stewardship.

In August of 2003, I was serving in State government in New York when we had a major collapse of the system that was driven by transmission. An outage in Ohio triggered a collapse into New York. So Ohio put out the lights on Broadway in New York City. And this was long-term in its consequences. Great economic loss, great challenge to us. In the midst of homeland security, anti-terrorist sentiment, you had a glaring, gaping vulnerability for terrorist minds to see that weakness.

We need to invest in the infrastructure. So an infrastructure bank bill, you're absolutely right, is a tremendously strong, powerful way to leverage public-private sector matches to extend the opportunities, to grow the opportunities to make investments in all sorts of infrastructure.

I live in one of the oldest sections of the country. Our water-sewer systems are antiquated. Our utility sectors are very, very old.

The upgrades that are required, the technology that can be invested, the cutting-edge improvements that are part and parcel to that solution, these are incredible opportunities for us to strengthen the outcome for businesses. We have business coming in to upstate New York that, in one case, Global Foundries, represents some of the greatest job growth in the world for chip manufacturing. Are they energy intensive? You better believe they are. Do we need state-of-the-art hookups? Do we need reliability and predictability in that capacity that's delivered? Absolutely. So we know what the needs of business happen to be. We know how best to respond to that. We do it through clever, public, progressive policy that enables us to see the worthiness of investment.

Belt tightening, we've talked about this before--waste, inefficiency, fraud, outmoded programs undone. We belt tighten. But that is cut where you can so that you invest where you must. And that mantra should guide us: cut where you can so you invest where you must.

And the infrastructure requires our response. You need to move freight. You need to move workers. You need to have safety addressed, public safety addressed. I saw the consequences. I saw the deaths that came from the tragic collapse of a thruway bridge in upstate New York 26 years ago. That should not be repeated. That sort of tragedy should be avoided with any clever cost being assumed. And here we're asking simply to put people to work.

This is not just spending money. It's investing in workers that will make for a stronger outcome, and it provides for state-of-art opportunities. And that's where the business partnership is with this country. If you're going to sit there and say we're just going to cut our way to prosperity, cut our way to deficit reduction, and cut our way to job growth, it's not going to happen that way.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. Well, you talk about the challenges that we have out there, and you've listed what I think is a very aggressive agenda but a doable agenda; and I think to reinforce the doability of it, the acceptability of it, perhaps we just need to recall some of our most golden moments in American history when we were challenged, when there was a need to respond with boldness, with vision, and with courage. We did it.
My district is the donor area in a large way to the Erie Canal system. You talk about ports. It grew a port out of a little town called New York. It was that port of entry that then allowed for the shipping of goods up the Hudson into the Mohawk, into the Erie Canal system, a system that was brought about under tough times. The proponents of the canal said, Look, we're going to do this; it's a tough time, but let's invest.

Did that prove successful? You'd better believe it. It sparked the westward movement and an industrial revolution, gave birth to a necklace of communities called mill towns. Mill towns became the powerful epicenters of invention and innovation.

When President Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, led this Nation out of its worst economic crunch, it was about investing in America, putting people to work and developing projects that were essential to our hopeful tomorrow. It put a lot of people to work. It pulled us out of the doldrums of the Depression and allowed us to rise from the situation and provide, again, hope for this Nation.

President Eisenhower, understanding that in some tough times we needed to develop an interstate system for our highway network because, again, it was transporting and shipping of goods and we needed to modernize and advance what was best for America, that golden moment of our history should speak to us.

Certainly, President Kennedy picked up on that Sputnik moment when we dusted off our backside and said, Never again. He called us together as a nation, a rather youthful President, saying, We're going to win this global race on space. We're going to do it, because with passionate resolve, we're going to say ``yes'' to the investments required so as to stake that American flag as the first flag onto the surface of the Moon, winning that race, that global race on space. And we did it because we invested, we believed, and we resolved with passion and worked together as a nation.

So, let's take inspiration from those golden moments, an Erie Canal, an FDR comeback with the workers corps and the building of an infrastructure, highway infrastructure, and the winning of a global race on space. Let's let that speak to us as a nation. Let us move forward with the passion and the resolve and say, Invest in the clean energy, science and tech, innovation economy. We know we can win this. But if we sit there complacently and don't allow for the investment in our workforce, deny the potential of this Nation, that is not leadership. That is not leadership. We will then be passed by by other nations.

We have the intellect that can be harnessed here to grow the sophisticated products, to deal with a position orientation of manufacturing today, to provide for advanced manufacturing, to come up with clever batteries as a linchpin to the energy revolution, and the list goes on and on and on. Leadership from this Chamber can make a difference, and a sound budget, an honest budget, one that invests in America is what we require right now.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. TONKO. You know, we're not. And I think it's, again, that belief, that sense that we can accomplish; as you were talking about, those early, early days from our humble beginnings.

I was reminded of the event this weekend in my district in Saratoga where we were revisiting the area that hosted General Burgoyne's surrender to the American troops after the Battle of Saratoga. And this was the David and Goliath routine. We weren't supposed to win that battle. It's been dubbed the battle of the millennium. And that it was more than a national battle. It made a statement around the world that this mighty force came up against insurmountable odds and won. That's in our DNA.

We are replete in our history of all sorts of response that came in powerful measure, that said, ``this is America at her best.'' That's the moment to seize right here. Not to walk away and sequester us, weaken us, disinvest in us, defund us.

I told a group of young students this weekend with the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Conference, hundreds of students: Do not let us as a political generation undo your political generation. You are worthy of education dollars, you are in need of access affordability to a college path, you deserve your climate change to be addressed, your planet requires our stewardship. What is this walking away from the next generation? Is that our legacy? Is that what we want our legacy to be? Or is it us remembered as a generation that faced immense challenge after a difficult recession and we came to terms and said the academics applied here show us how to work our way through this critical test and how to invest in America so that her best days lie ahead?

That's responding with fairness, with respect, and justice to that next generation of workers who are only asking us to do what generations before us did: Believe in us, care for us, invest in us, so only our best will be available for us, our best opportunities.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source