Paul Tonko

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. So pre-recession, we were 32 percent at the best, anywhere from 11 percent to 32 percent growth, versus 256 percent growth for that top 1 percent perched at the top of the economic ladder, the income strata.

Mr. TONKO. I would add to that that the jobs piece is so significant. Because we can talk about tax reform, but unless you have a job and an income, then it renders itself somewhat meaningless. I would also add, Representative Garamendi, the concern that as more and more pressure has befallen the 50 States, we've seen cuts to programs and resources. These services don't go away, and so the payment comes down to the local level with property tax payments that are now snuffing out the American Dream for America's working families, for the middle class. So not only is the tax policy suffocating for middle class Americans, but the counter effect of property taxes growing in order to continue services means that more and more pressure--income tax, property tax pressure, school tax pressure--is befalling the middle class. When people want to walk away from this agenda to make progressive reforms to tax policy, it scares me because this is our moment, our tipping point to turn things around. I know that you want to close. I thank you for the outstanding leadership in bringing us together, Representative Garamendi. It is always a pleasure to join with you. We will continue to forcefully speak to the reforms we need.

Mr. TONKO. Let me share a perspective with you, Representative Garamendi. And I know we've talked about this, but we'll share it for the sake of those viewing the discussion this evening on the House floor. My district has been severely impacted by the ravages of the waters of Irene and then with the one-two punch, if you will, when the Tropical Storm Lee wreaked devastating damage upon the upstate New York area, certainly in Pennsylvania and in Massachusetts, in Vermont, in Connecticut, to name a few, and then even into the Southeast with the Carolinas. But if ever you wanted to see a snapshot of change from just hours' worth, people were disconnected from their neighborhood, farmers who had to pour milk into the waters, the ravaging waters, because they had no connection to the outside world, roads wiped away by the force of water, bridges discontinued, rail systems knocked out, rail stopped until they could reconstruct that rail line. That pointed out with such significant measure, in such significant measure, in very bold terms, the value of infrastructure. This screeching halt to a regional economy came about through the forces of Mother Nature, and it just brought into clear vision for me just what this infrastructure debate is and how folks can ignore the value of infrastructure on this House floor and want to do political games on an idea that really talks about shipping freight across this country, shipping the essential materials for our manufacturing lines across this country. Infrastructure is that major artery. It's the lifeblood flow into our communities that enables the economic comeback to truly be that noble, bold approach, infrastructure, and to put together in the American Jobs Act an infrastructure bank bill that allows us to place $10 billion that will leverage, we believe, $100 billion that then enables all sorts of constructs to occur and puts together a working plan for America's skilled labor. It is a powerful expression of job creation, job retention. It's what really is the pulse of America. It is that heartbeat of activity to our roads and bridges and rail system and airports that really tells the true story.

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Representative Garamendi, thank you. Thank you for leading us again in another very thoughtful hour of discussion about the importance of deciphering the facts out there that will springboard the comeback--the economic recovery--of this Nation, and it must be done with the deepest and most profound sense of academics. The American public is counting on Congress working with the President to make jobs more abundant in our society. You talked about skills and the development of skills. Recently, during our district work period, I traveled to Schoharie County in my district and saw the benefits of the investment of automation in manufacturing. I was reminded by Wynn Kintz of Kintz Plastics that it's important for us to develop the skills that are required today in manufacturing. He's involved with a CAT center--a center for advanced technology--in the Capital Region. He works with RPI and other institutions. He works with the private sector community in that compact that really puts together the vision and the need, the compact that expresses the need for manufacturing. Now, there are those who would suggest that manufacturing is dead, that we've seen our heyday, that it's over, that it's history. Well, when you talk to America's manufacturers, they will tell you that they need to develop the human infrastructure, that they need today's skills to meet today's competition. They will tell you about doing it smarter so as to be that sharpest competitor on the global scene, and they will talk about innovation. Just how does innovation happen? It's taking ideas and moving them along, investing in R&D, building a prototype, developing that impact in manufacturing, and making certain that we are at the cutting edge, that we're investing with America's brainpower--its know-how--that we're pulling together the intellectual capacity and making it work; but when we introduce innovation, we need people with the skill set to run these automated mechanisms in the manufacturing line. So it is absolutely essential, it's so vitally important to develop the skill set, the know-how in order to put people to work and make us competitive. It's happening as we speak. Mr. Kintz advised me that across this country, from my end of the country to your end, Representative Garamendi, we need skilled labor of the newest kind. I can tell you, there are many people who have been displaced from the workforce through no fault of their own. Their job may have been shipped offshore. They have a high work ethic, they have tremendous skill, but now it needs to be honed into present-day application, training, retraining, enabling us to advance innovation, advance manufacturing. These are important aspects to the work that needs to be done. In the Make It In America efforts where we enable people to dream the American Dream, where we cultivate that climate where you can tether to the American Dream, we can introduce the source of policies that it takes to advance Make It In America. The President has done that with his American Jobs Act. We, as Democrats in the House of Representatives, have made it our mantra over and over again stating ``make it in America,'' and that takes on tremendous meaning. It takes on a variation of meanings. You can make it in America, produce it in America. You can make it in America. You can survive and grow economically in America. There's all sorts of making it in America themes that are interpreted through that statement. And it does incorporate sound trade policy. It incorporates an investment through incentives that provide the tax initiatives that will enable people to be strong. It takes that energy core ingredient, gives us the opportunities to be innovative in the energy costs, which could shave a tremendous amount of price off the final product: labor, investing in the human infrastructure, education from pre-K, from pre-K all the way to advanced degrees. We need to invest in education, higher education and research. Without cultivating ideas, without inspiring that sort of genius that comes up with very clever concepts, we are nowhere as a society. Finally, the infrastructure, putting together the sorts of efforts that will enable us here at home to ship our products, to have the infrastructure not only of the ordinary, traditional type, but to invest in broadband so that communications could be state-of-the-art, so that we invest in a grid system that enables us to reach through the arteries and veins of the network, the transmission and distribution networking, making certain it's state-of-the-art. We saw what happened, did we not, in August of 2003 when a failure in Ohio put out the lights on Broadway in New York City and impacted my district in upstate New York for weeks upon weeks. These are the factors, these are the motivating disciplines within our efforts to enable us to boldly say that's a Make It In America initiative. We're going to make it happen. We're working really hard. We're proud of the efforts made by the White House. It's a plan. It's a vision, laser sharp in its focus, on putting people back to work, restoring the dignity of work. We've talked about it, gathering around the table, the dinner table at home. It's so very valuable when we can talk about having people bring home that paycheck. People have been denied that opportunity in far too many homes--14 million Americans, unemployed. They ought not wait 14 months for Congress to work with this President to get something done. I'm just happy to join you on the floor of the House of Representatives and thank you for the leadership that you exert on this issue.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Thank you very much. To Chairman Larson and then Representative Garamendi to close. I yield to Chairman Larson.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Yarmuth, let me add to your reality with my reality, one scenario being a couple of decades old now. In 1987, a bridge collapsed along the New York State Thruway system because of flooding. It came across a creek that you could walk across some years during the month of August. It had the CFS, the flow, equal to Niagara Falls with the flooding, and it wiped out a bridge. And I believe just about all of the tragedies, all of the loss of life, which was some 10 or 11 people, were not from the area. So we are all at risk with these deficiencies to which you alluded. So it is important for us to keep up the investments. As we saw this year, some 500-year records broken with hurricanes from the ravages of the waters of Irene and floods from the Tropical Storm Lee, wiped out infrastructure galore. And so now there is a need, a demand to have these bits of infrastructure restored and rebuilt; otherwise the economy suffers. I saw what rail meant to jobs in my district through the course of time. I saw what the canal meant not only for jobs in my district, but in the western movement, the industrial revolution. So infrastructure is important. I dwelled on innovation to economy, but you are so right to bring up the need for infrastructure and those improvements. I thank you, Representative Yarmuth, for your thoughts and hang with us because this is an order where we want to talk about job creation. We are joined by yet another outspoken voice from Maryland's Third Congressional District. Representative John Sarbanes is an outspoken advocate for job creation in our society. He knows from the Maryland experience that we need jobs. By the New York experience, by which I measure it all, we need jobs. Representative Sarbanes, thank you for being a leader in the House and advocating for not only Make It in America but job creation of all types. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. TONKO. It's been my pleasure and honor to work with you gentlemen. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TONKO. I yield to Representative Garamendi to close.

Mr. TONKO. Chairman Larson, we have precious few minutes left. I'll make a few comments and then yield to my gentlemen colleagues as we close this Special Order hour. To me, you've identified it well. This country has had, throughout its history, its shining moments. This is our opportunity to invest in America's next shining moment. It will take commitment by the legislators here on the Hill in Washington, and encouraging and inspiring and building a tone that brings us together to think as one as a Nation, generation to generation to generation, region of the country to region of the country, political persuasion to opposite political persuasion, philosophy of difference to the philosophy of another kind, moving together, coming together, understanding this is our defining moment. It's our moment to create our next shining example of America at her best. Representative Sarbanes, thank you for joining us.

Mr. TONKO. To Representative Sarbanes' point, every year that's wasted, that is allowed to pass by, youngsters in the third, fourth, fifth grade, whatever, will never have the experience they ought to. So we're letting down the workers of tomorrow by this delay, by this resistance, this recalcitrance of a political order that is unacceptable. I will just make the point that Wynn Kintz, who is the owner of the facility that I toured in Schoharie County, said that he reaches the community colleges routinely because he needs that upgraded skill set. There are manufacturing jobs across this country for which they need skilled labor, and if we walk away from that investment in human infrastructure, we've denied progress for this country. We've been joined by an outspoken advocate for jobs--I mean a very loud voice because we've heard the volume cranked up--as the chair of our Democratic Caucus and the Representative of Connecticut's First Congressional District, and that is none other than Representative John Larson. Representative Larson, thank you for joining us in this Special Order.

Mr. TONKO. Earlier, Representative Sarbanes talked, Representative Garamendi, about human infrastructure. It begins with sound schools that are not crumbling over the students' heads but also an investment in education. Just recently, during our August district work period, I did a tour, a number of tours in my district with manufacturing. But one story pops into mind where a manufacturer in Schoharie County, a very rural county in my district, has utilized the efforts of its CAT Center--the Center for Advanced Technology--to come up with an idea that created automation so that he can remain competitive in the global sweepstakes. But he needs people who are specifically trained and educated to run this automation aspect within his assembly process, and so it becomes very important that this human infrastructure is critical. I'm reminded all the time about a centuries-old saga and decades-old stories of what we used to manufacture in America. After doing it someplace else, the daunting challenge to America, to a sophisticated society, is build the products not yet on the radar screen. And that takes intellect. That takes genius that's cultivated in our schools and in our colleges and our universities and research centers, and then we create that product line that is brand new. But that's a sophisticated society responding to a manufacturing challenge. And it begins with the human intellect; it begins with human infrastructure. Representative Sarbanes, you're so on target with that investment of capital infrastructure, physical infrastructure, and, indeed, human infrastructure, so thank you for bringing that into the discussion.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's an important topic these days when we refer to jobs--jobs in America, jobs that we retain, jobs that we create. The overwhelming issue right now in the minds and hearts of constituents across this country, I firmly believe, is about the dignity of work, jobs that need to be strengthened out there in number so as to provide for the opportunity for people to dream the American Dream, the American Dream of home ownership, of education for their children, of higher education pursuits, so as to unleash the skills and the talents and the passions of the next generations of workers. Training, retraining programs to enable the human infrastructure required as an investment in the work zone of America is an important aspect of the investment that we need to make through policy reforms and policy strengthening and resource advocacy that we could do here in the Halls of Congress, on the floor of the House of Representatives to enable us to fill those coffers with the quality investments that need to be made from a human infrastructure perspective to a capital infrastructure, and certainly to a physical infrastructure as we go forward and allow this country to utilize its intellectual capacity, to use the brainpower of these United States to enable us to compete and compete effectively in a way that acknowledges that the jobs market, the jobs created, the jobs retained through advocacy here in Washington can speak to the ultimate highest priority that people have established for all of us who are serving, regardless of political persuasion or philosophical mindsets. As we serve this Nation, we can best provide for an outcome of jobs that are created in our society. There is no stronger need. There should be no stronger commitment. The President showcased that when he was hosted here in the House of Representatives with a joint session of Congress. And the room was filled. The gallery was packed as people witnessed the very passionate speech from the leader of the free world. As President Obama laid forth his vision, his plan, his initiatives, his goals for the American people, the House of Representatives and Members of the United States Senate got to hear firsthand what that effort is all about. People listened with intent to move forward with that blueprint for our future, a blueprint that would strengthen our economy and have an impact across the world. We have this opportunity now to work in a multipartisan way in a bicameral response to what the President has highlighted to be his plan for jobs here in America. I was happy to note that amongst his arguments, amongst his priorities happens to be the creation of an innovation economy, a response perhaps to an innovation economy that finds us as an ``idea- ist'' society investing in those ideas, investing in ideas that get moved along perhaps to a prototype that moves along to a manufacturing sector. I, before entering the Halls of Congress, before being elected to the House of Representatives, served as president and CEO of NYSERDA, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. It is nationally recognized for its cutting-edge work being done in the science and tech aspects of high tech. By the way, in the district that I represent, the 21st Congressional District in New York State, much about the Capital Region and Mohawk Valley and Schoharie Valley of upstate New York have been dubbed recently by Brookings Institute to be the hottest territory, the strongest hub, the most active region in the country for green collar job growth. That's a feather in our cap; and if someone wants to see investment happening, it's there in the Capital Region of New York. It took a partnership with academia and State government and Federal Government, yes; but it also was a partnership with the private sector, where great investments were made by the private sector in this high- tech agenda--in the science and tech agenda, nanoscience, semiconductor, advanced battery manufacturing. Now, that is somewhat clustering in its concept to draw more and more start-ups and entrepreneurial efforts and workers who are clustering in this way, with academia getting invested in the research aspects. I mention that because the innovation economy is something that received high focus and an inordinate amount of attention in the speech made by the President. He understands and he has professed--and I agree with his assessment--that whoever wins this global race on innovation will emerge the exporter--the kingpin, if you will--of the global economy, the exporter of energy intellect and innovation and ideas that will enable us to, in a way, mimic the success stories of the space race--a global race that found fewer partners but found the United States of America being victorious. That all began, I believe, with a setback. Sometimes failure is a misunderstood gift. In this case, through the Sputnik moment, America, in its defeat, had to stand up and dust off its backside and commit with passion, as experienced with the words of John F. Kennedy, who said we're going to do this effort of investing in the space race not because it's easy but because it's hard; and that attitude, that tone, that passion, that commitment, that resolve produced a winning moment, a winning moment when we were the first to achieve the daunting task of landing a person first on the Moon. As a Nation, we took great pride in that event that happened some 40- plus years ago. It was more than the magic moment of landing a person on the Moon and the infamous quote that talked about the giant leap for mankind. It was the unleashing of technology and untold aspects of our world, of our society, where technology reached communications and energy generation and education and health care, to name a few segments of activity out there. That was a profound statement made by America and her brain power, America and her will--her will to invest in her people and in a mission that brought us together as a Nation, where everyone joined in the efforts to fine-tune the best way by which to pursue that mission. What happened really raised America. Her leadership potential, her leadership recognition in the global community became profoundly enhanced, and it was not just technology entering these different segments of our society but of bolstering all these aspects, the different sectors of our economy, and of course impacting not just for Americans but for people worldwide the quality of life that we enjoy, the opportunity to strengthen services, to be able to bring us together in almost a village capacity as a world simply because of technology. Today, I would remind my colleagues in the House of Representatives and our partners down the Hall in the United States Senate that we have that same moment, that same challenge, that same need to resolve with passion again, to go forward--to go forward with a mission that allows us to invest in a clean-energy society, in a clean-energy economy into an innovation agenda. Think of it. We have so many opportunities here. We have committed so many times over to public and private aspects of research and development, of investment of research that leads to ideas or ideas that are built by that research to a greater capacity and then shared in a way that builds and develops the prototype that then creates the manufacturing aspect. We've seen it with the chips manufacturing in my district. Perhaps the largest such construction of a chips manufacturing facility in all of America is taking hold in the region, in the area that I call home. That is enabling us to think beyond usual terms. We're thinking of chips applied to agriculture, chips applied to health care, chips applied to the education world. That is a marvel in and of itself, and it's enabling the best minds to cluster in an area like that which I represent, which is the 21st Congressional District in upstate New York in the Capital Region. That's the investment that I believe America not only requires but that Americans are demanding of their leaders, leaders that occupy these seats here in Washington in the Halls of Congress. That's what they're asking for--that sort of investment, that sort of magical quality that we have seen throughout her history. It's replete with sagas of success that began oftentimes with hyphenated Americans in their first generation of connection to these soils investing in a way with this brightness of ideas coming from blue-collar workers, who enabled us to take a region like that which I represent and allow it to inspire a westward movement and an industrial revolution because, in the heartlands of the 21st Congressional District, we were the hosts to an Erie Canal/barge canal history. What that pathway, that waterway pronounced with its own presence is the opportunity to build a Port of New York that then gave birth to a necklace of communities, dubbed ``mill towns,'' that became these epicenters of invention and innovation. It was perhaps the first high- tech revolution taking hold in the 21st Congressional District of New York. It was there that all sorts of product lines were conceived and then further developed and then realized in the marketplace around the world, and these product lines inspired continued progress. That's the sort of ilk that is American and uniquely American. That is the sort of investment that enabled us to produce these tremendously powerful chapters in our Nation's history, and it should be the inspiration. These moments should be the inspiration for us to do the correct thing today: for us to understand that we do not cut our way to prosperity, that we do not cut our way to opportunity, but that certainly we can invest our way to opportunity and invest our way to a new economy, a stronger outcome, an investment in our working families, an opportunity for people to truly dream the American Dream. That's how we will survive. That's how we will meet the test in the present moment. The President has challenged Congress--and rightfully so. This is not a time for political gamesmanship. This is not a time for simple negative response or rejection of a political kind. This is about working as a team, executive branch with legislative branch, Republicans with Democrats, Senators with House of Representatives membership. That's what we can accomplish here if we set our hearts and our minds and our souls to an agenda that is in keeping with the tradition, the deeply rooted and powerful tradition of job creation in our society. Think of it. Throughout our years, whether it was President Lincoln in the development of rail or Governor DeWitt Clinton in New York with the development of an Erie Canal, or President Eisenhower in the development of an interstate system, or President Roosevelt and the Corps that went throughout this great country of ours State by State and built the infrastructure that really was a need for this country at a time when we were hurting from a grossly high unemployment statistic. That's America at her best, at her brightest. It's her shining moment. The President is imploring all of us, as Members, as leadership in the Houses, to allow for America to have her next shining moment. Challenges in difficult times can produce the most deep, profound, uninhibited, unrestricted behavior, and we have that opportunity. We have that opportunity here to respond with this innovation economy. It takes investment. As I indicated, when I served as president and CEO of NYSERDA, and before as energy chair for some 15 years in the New York State Assembly with the New York State legislature, it took an appropriate policy and then an investment that would enable us to respond in nontraditional terms, to be able to go forward with the kinds of intellectual response to deeply rooted concerns. Think about it. We dismantled a monopoly situation for utility purposes, electric utility purposes, and chose through an administrative order with then-Governor Pataki to go forward with a competitive quality in our utility outreaches in New York State, a system designed for a monopoly setting that has to be adjusted to not only wheel electrons from region to region within our State, but from State to State, from State to New York State, and then from country to New York State. So that took improvement that needed to be made in policy and in resource advocacy. I saw from my positioning in NYSERDA the benefits that came when we invested in research and development. Now, granted, all the stories, all the situations, all the scenarios within the research and development opportunities are not necessarily success stories. But without the dive into that opportunity, we will never feel the splash of success. So many of those situations become a winning outcome. And when we have such an outcome, we are able to move forward and allow for us to even dream of the notion of enhancing our energy independence. We cannot remain so gluttonously dependent upon fossil-based fuels to be our solution for our energy crisis. We simply cannot. We cannot. We need to make certain that we commit to an innovation cycle that enables us to dream outside the ordinary, to think beyond the barrel, think outside the barrel in the case of energy reform. And those formats, those transformations need to again encourage the investment in higher education, in education, because we need, as early as the pre-K setting, to encourage the development of our students, especially with the shortfall of engineers that we are producing in our society, and scientists. Education in itself has the need for many reforms, but one of the areas of targeted concentration needs to be the increased numbers of individuals, especially in atypical formats with young women and students of color who need to be encouraged to pursue along the pathways of engineering and science. So we begin that investment but then we go forward with that cultivation of ideas that begins with the investment of the intellect of America, and what I witnessed were wonderful opportunities. We had witnessed all sorts of improvements to renewables, that was part of the NYSERDA agenda. We saw all sorts of opportunities like kinetic hydropower where we would actually be able to do turbine-type settings in an ordinary wind turbine activity, but beneath the turbulence of water, to use the turbulence of water to crank out the energy supplies that we required. In a State like New York it holds vast potential. It holds tremendous potential. The R&D commitment was there, the refinements came through the Department of Energy lab where they reviewed the product, saw where some of the weaknesses might be, engineered the assembly, the design of the turbine itself and the assembly of that turbine, designed it, redesigned it, and now we grow more and more committed to the opportunity for some of this use of turbulence of water to respond to our energy needs. That's just one small sampling in one agency and one State of how we can grow the opportunities. Investing in battery manufacturing that enables us to respond to that linchpin that is our connector to investment into the future that enables us to, again, draw this energy independence agenda together in a way that not only grows our economy and protects our consumers and strengthens American job opportunities, but really creates a cutting-edge sort of job opportunity where, for the first time, these jobs appear on the radar so that we can begin to provide hope to individuals who may have that genius within them and will pursue that as a career path. But it begins with individual voices, individual voices in the House speaking to those issues of jobs and creation of jobs and investing in an innovation economy, investing in workers. Certainly no one has been stronger in that attempt than my colleague, my friend from Kentucky's Third District. Representative John Yarmuth has been a champion on the floor. He has been a champion at home speaking to the need for jobs in America, Make It in America, which is a mantra which he and I and our colleagues in the Democratic Caucus have adopted. Representative Yarmuth, it is great to have you join us for this hour. Welcome, and I know you have been such a strong voice for jobs not only for Kentucky but for Americans coast-to-coast.

Mr. TONKO. Well, it's amazing because there are situations--I'll first go to Representative Welch's district in Vermont--where Route 4 has been wiped out. It's just about removed from the map. What was just a couple of miles worth of activity for some people to travel to work now becomes this tremendous circuitous route that may even take you down into Massachusetts and back into eastern Vermont to get to the locations. It has made life nearly impossible. I have seen numbers of bridges wiped out in upstate New York, a tremendous amount of bridges, locks that have been compromised in the area that I represent. I talked about hosting the Erie Canal barge canal activity. The locks that came in the second phase of that canal development are now tremendously devastated by the powerful force of water, homes that have been knocked out, but the infrastructure and landslides of roads that are disappearing and different opportunities now that are really demanding of an investment like this in order for us to go forward. As Representative Sarbanes made mention, this is a part of the equation for success for jobs--not just jobs in the immediate zone to improve and repair and construct some of this infrastructure, but jobs in general. It is part of the equation of success. You have got to move that product line. You have got to deal with the freight issues. So it is incumbent upon us to respond. If politics gets in the way here, it is grossly regrettable. It's unacceptable to hold back this Nation simply because you choose to do a knee-jerk political response to a plan outlined by a President who has shown a vision here that is laser sharp about what needs to be done.

Mr. TONKO. That measurement, I'm assuming, was made before some of the ravages of floods in portions of our country or the tragedies in Texas with the many fires. As the President proposes this infrastructure improvement, there are those who are hurting right now who have been severely impacted by the ravages of the waters of Hurricane Irene that went so far northeast and inland that they broke centuries worth of recordkeeping.

Mr. TONKO. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Sarbanes, I couldn't agree with you more. I have witnessed what happens when we invest in training, retraining, and apprenticeship programs in pre-K through 12, in graduate school, in undergrad campuses and research centers. I witnessed the inspiration that a cleanroom science course provided for a young man 30, 35 years old, unemployed ready to leave our area. When he saw the cleanroom science at the local community college, which was an investment from the Federal Government, he did a U-turn in his stated plans. This was something that was exciting. This was something that spoke to his heart and soul. This was something he wanted to engage in. And that's the opportunity that we can give people here. The story line of America is basic. As you say, give me that American Dream. Let me unleash my skills, my talents. Let me raise a family, build a home, and dream that American Dream. We owe it to America. And people have placed their faith in this jobs agenda. I can't tell you how many times that I know we've talked. We've heard it from our colleagues. People believe in that Make It In America opportunity. They believe in tethering that dream, that American Dream, so that households, middle class--let's rebuild that middle class. Let's take those values of the middle class and make it happen. We're happy you joined us. Another partner of ours, a colleague who has led us oftentimes during Special Order on making it in America, on jobs, none other than California's 10th District Representative, John Garamendi. Representative Garamendi, we often talk about the east coast-west coast. The message is unique. It's commonplace across this country. Thank you again for your leadership on the floor on job creation.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, I'll try to do this in lightning speed. I think of two things here. People that were impacted by the storms in my district that need to rebuild are also impacted with the loss of jobs. Small businesses that have shut are losing jobs for the community. So it makes sense to bring back those jobs. The dignity of work is what should drive us, what should motivate us. And oftentimes in this equation, as has usually been the tradition, people of most modest means--neighborhoods, communities, people, businesses of modest means, farms of modest means have been impacted here. So we need to respond, and we need to respond with that dignity of work, for the young college grad who has college loans to pay off and is told to come back when you have experience; for the middle-aged person who lost a job through no fault of her own who now needs to continue to work and maybe at the age of 55 is having a tough time landing that work; or seniors who need to supplement their income. Across the age spectrum, we need to be there to provide the dignity of work. Again, let's give America it's newest shining moment. Let's invest in jobs. Let's make it in America. Let's invest in manufacturing as a sector. We are still perched at the top of the list with manufacturing jobs. We lost too many because the manufacturing sector was ignored. Let's shine that moment again for America.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Garamendi, thank you again for bringing us together. I noticed in the listing of dynamics that you have research indicated there, and education and, I'd say, slash higher education, but I witnessed testimony of those investments yesterday in my district with a group called Ener-G-Rotors. And they're actually taking the waste heat market in this country and retrofitting it so that they capture that as a byproduct in different industries, and they make certain that it's utilized to add to the energy supplies that that industry might need. Now, what happens there? Well, the genesis of that story is that ideas, again, were thought up because of the investment in higher education. This brain was ignited to come forward with this idea that would capture heat and that waste heat market is a precious commodity now. So instead of it just going up into waste, it is captured, recaptured, brought into the energy grid for that particular industry. We're addressing greenhouse gas emissions to the positive. We're reducing those. And we are reducing the energy supply that this industry needs, and we're creating jobs in this incubator startup. They came up with this idea. This took investment in research dollars. It took tax credits from the Federal Government to buy in the commitment from the private sector. It produced the equity that they needed simply with the tax credits that were provided. And all lived happily ever after. There is a win-win-win scenario here that was produced, and that's grounded here in America, and we can export this intellect, this concept, to people around the world, and we begin to be the agents that deal with the waste heat market. What a wonderful concept. And that's how you grow jobs. And they're projecting within a few years 120 jobs in this concept. This is wonderful. This is what we're talking about at the Democratic Caucus, investing in the intellectual capacity of this Nation in a way that responds to challenges that confront us this very day and where we can grow our energy independence, grow jobs through investing in ideas, moving ideas along. Research equals jobs. Research equals jobs. You can't say it over enough and often enough.

Mr. TONKO. I think what this tragedy reminds us of is that we come together at times of tragedy in a way that really brings out the best expression of America's spirit. This is about a sense of urgency. It's about a sense of justice. People have been brought down by this tragedy, but their resilience, their strength of character is driven by the belief that we can work together to rebuild. I was so inspired today in caucus to hear so much support for a supplemental and to say no, no idea of offsets. We're not going to have offsets here. This is tragedy. If this Nation were being attacked by a foreign enemy, we wouldn't sit around and play partisan games or have political dialogue over what to do, but we'd go right to the table and say this is what is needed and let's make it happen. That's what I think we need to have here. We need the American response to come forward and react in a way that really has that American spirit all about it. This is how we built America one community at a time, putting together the strengths that are all released here in this country enabled to be expressed in magnanimous terms. This is what's so important. We're going to rebuild America by making it in America. Our workers are raring to go, and there are jobs that can invest the power of that genius in all sorts of ways, infrastructure needs that are out there in the traditional sense or in the more creative or updated sense with broadband and a transmission grid system that needs to be upgraded so as to speak to what is a vulnerability in our system. So there is a lot of work there waiting to happen. We need to invest, and we need to do it in a way that doesn't have us groping for offsets. There's no more important issue right now than jobs. Jobs, jobs, job creation, job retention. Let's make it happen. And as we do it, let's make it respond to the tragedies that I've seen in my district over the last week and a half and that we heard about today in caucus from other colleagues.

Mr. TONKO. Yes. It was the second stage of the canal when we moved from the mule-driven barge canal to the Erie Canal, which was engineered with locks. And again, to see the damage, tens of millions of dollars worth of damage; infrastructure here, putting the trades to work to rebuild these communities. You made an interesting observation that the impacts of natural disasters and manmade disasters never ask about political persuasion or philosophy or geography. We've been impacted from coast to coast. And with pride the other day, we in upstate New York, some colleagues in government, were talking. When the Midwest needed us, we were there. When the West Coast needed us, we were there, as you have been for other regions in the country. When the Southeast needed us, the Gulf States needed us, we were there. We're the family of America, the 50 States speaking as one. Now it's the turn for us to ask for your help. Thanks to the goodness of folks like yourself, we're going to make it happen. We're going to be able to rebuild. And I think the greatest commodity that we can bring to individuals at times like this where they're enduring, they're coping with tragedy, is to deliver hope to their doorstep. That hope goes a long way, and the hope to recover, the hope to rebuild, the hope to reestablish the character of these communities which is so replete with history and heritage expression: covered bridges, historic homes, historic churches, lock systems that define not only developments of New York State but this Nation and the global impact it had with quality of life being enhanced simply by the genius of oftentimes blue collar workers. Make It In America came to mind for me over this past week. The greatness of how we developed jobs and products in this country now finds us a century later challenged with new dynamics. How do we draw ourselves away? How do we wean down this dependency on fossil-based fuels? How can we grow America's energy independence? How do we grow high-tech jobs that impact the quality of health care services or communications? We've seen it. Our whole Sputnik moment drove us to land a person on the moon before any other nation. We need that passion again, we need that resolve here today, and Make It In America does it.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us together on what is a very thoughtful discussion about how we create jobs, grow jobs in America. And that is such a vital agenda. I thank you for bringing us together, and I thank you and our colleagues in the caucus for allowing myself and others to share the woes that we have faced in our respective districts over the recent district work period. It's ironic that in my district, in upstate New York, within days, we suffered from an earthquake, from a hurricane, from a tornado in my hometown, and now flooding, as we speak. The ravages of the waters of Irene have produced tremendous consequences for the great communities and the people that I represent. And as I've said at all of my stops in the district, I knew, always believed that there was a strength to the people that I represent. But they have made a profound statement about that resilience and that strength in the last few days. I have seen people lose everything they've ever worked for, homes totally washed into the river, devastation from the floodwaters, cattle that were lost, harvest season almost at hand, all the investment of sweat equity and resources and fuel that never will really have the fruits of that labor captured in harvest. The heritage infrastructure. As I made mention, in my hometown, the oldest building dates back to 1766, older than our Nation, a wedding gift from Sir William Johnson to his daughter. And watching the velocity of waters tear away the stone of that building and now expose it to the elements, and it was severely threatened and weakened by the storm. I mention this because it is so important for us to put together the resources that enable us to come back with the skilled labor that can rebuild communities, the heritage infrastructure that very much trailed through the waterway path in my district--covered bridges, historic homes, historic churches, gathering places that have significance, that speak to the character of the communities that I represent. That character is forever changed, and we need to have the resources to go forward and rebuild the infrastructure, the lock system that manages the waters, the gauging system, the technology that needs to be incorporated. Representative Garamendi, my district hosted, hosts the site of the Erie Canal Barge Canal. They gave birth to mill towns, a necklace of communities we call mill towns that became the epicenters of invention and innovation. The progress of which we speak, the agenda that you bring forward with such passion, is about now a new era of job creation, where we move it up a notch because of our sophisticated quality as a society. We have perhaps shared manufacturing of traditional types with other nations, and now it's our job to bring in issues like the chip manufacturing that's done, and all sorts of innovative ideas in clean energy that allow for renewables to take hold. But I make mention of that because we have a richness of history that spoke to job creation, that offered the opportunity to have our constituents, or constituents of the past, express their God-given talents and express them in ways that strengthens the larger picture, that strengthens society and had an impact around the world, coming right here from New York State, that gave birth to a westward movement that finally reached the west coast of California that you represent. So we can do it again. We should take to heart our history that showed that, as a people, we have that pioneer spirit; as Americans, we have that uniqueness, we have that gift, we have those strengths, we have the opportunity to turn these situations, these challenges into jobs, jobs that are driven by ideas, that are nurtured by research and development, that translate into manufacturing, manufacturing of an innovation economy of the present moment. And we can make that happen simply by the stewardship of sound public policy and advocacy for resources in our budget planning. I firmly believe, and I know you share this belief, we don't cut our way to prosperity. We don't cut our way to opportunity. We invest our way to prosperity. We invest our way to innovation, to opportunity. That's what it's all about, and the Make It In America agenda embraced by the Democratic Caucus in which we have the pleasure of serving has adopted that slogan, has adopted the meaning of that passionate opportunity for us to take the trades, take tax policy, take the energy challenges, take the strength of labor, reinforced by the underpinnings of education and higher education and, coupled with research, it all happens if we put the plan together. Thank you for opening us up to a discussion that is very meaningful to the lives of our individual constituents and to the fabric of our communities which are really looking for this sort of involvement, this sort of implementation of strategy.

Mr. TONKO. Sure. I want to pick up on the importance of education as a role for our comeback, but before I do that, I want to thank two very good friends and two very sensitive hearts for the empathy that you have expressed on behalf of the people of my district and neighboring districts in the northeast. So Representative Garamendi from California and Representative Jackson Lee from Texas, thank you for bringing out the neighborliness in all of us. That is our best expression as an American people, and we do it through the auspices of our Federal Government when one amongst us hurts. We respond in a way that enables us to come back and strengthen the fabric of our entire Nation. But to the point of education, recently the district I represent, the region that I represent, was dubbed the fastest-growing hub in America for green collar jobs and the third-fastest growing jobs for high-tech jobs by two independent surveys. The reason that happened was because we invested through Federal Government, State government, and private sector and academia in an agenda that speaks to cutting-edge technology, and it happened because there are three basic formats of infrastructure that need to be reinforced and responded to, that being your physical infrastructure; your fiscal infrastructure, your capital infrastructure; and human infrastructure. Representative Garamendi and Representative Jackson Lee, you both referenced the education issues. They are very important to the comeback of this Nation, to growing jobs and retaining jobs. What I witnessed through the efforts in our region, we have a clustering happening as you have this strength. We have the largest ship manufacturing plant construction going on right now in all of America in the region that we call Capital Region, New York. I know that as other industries come in, other businesses come in, there is a demand for workers. Now, it's great to grow jobs, that's our first step in the process, but we have to make certain that jobs are responded to with the skill sets required, and those skill sets need to be brought to and enhanced for all neighborhoods, all communities. It has to be the coalition of a mosaic of workers brought to the table. And how do we do it? It's an investment in education beginning as early as pre-K and right through the college setting. Now, I witnessed what happens at our community colleges. We have grown programs for clean-room science. We have those investing in solar application to construction majors, those who are going to be building residences and businesses in our region. They are going to have State of the art know-how to retrofit those buildings with renewable concepts, from solar to wind to geothermal, whatever. So that cutting edge is being offered. We have an incubator in the region, several incubators. But we have one that incorporates a business that has produced automation in their manufacturing. At Kintz Plastics in Schoharie County, New York--which, by the way, absorbed some of the greatest blows from Mother Nature this past week--but right there in rural Schoharie County, New York, just absolutely replete with heritage and history, in that county, in a rural county, they are providing for automation and advanced manufacturing. That took place because we invested in the CAT concept, an incubator, a Center for Advanced Technology. And there we are getting ideas again that are then put into prototypes that are then further developed into a manufacturing concept that enables us to be competitive with this automation. But then you need now the skill set to operate these automated networks that are now part of the assembly process. So it's that investment again in the worker, in the brain power. This country will be competitive if we put the tools together, if we provide the tool kit. And how does it happen? It happens by doing it smarter, and that enables us to cut costs and be competitive in the global market. It's as simple as that. And Make It in America is a pronouncement of a commitment by the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives that says let's do the tax packaging, let's do the resource advocacy, let's see the research development incentives that bring together the strongest force of manufacturing. Manufacturing as a sector was ignored in the last decade and a half. Now this President has said we are going to be about an innovation economy, we are going to be about a clean energy agenda. We are going to be about bolstering our manufacturing sector. I know there is growing expectation. We are going to hear about Make It In America. We are going to hear about an infrastructure bank. I am convinced that's what we will hear tomorrow, and that will produce for us a far stronger outcome for America's workers and America's potential.

Mr. TONKO. Right. Their strength, their resilience is infectious. They motivate me. They fill my voice with passion. Again, I thank you for the wonderful support you have expressed today in caucus to do a stand-alone supplemental bill for the people of this recent tragedy. My district was in the midst of that, as were many others. Forty-seven, I believe, districts were impacted by it. But, Representative Garamendi, I couldn't help but think, as Representative Jackson Lee spoke with such eloquence, that America's most shining moments are when we invested in America, invested in a canal system, invested in an infrastructure program with rail. We invested in a rail system and an interstate system and invested in a race to the moon that unleashed untold amounts of technology. That investment had a bipartisan spirit to it under Republican and Democratic administrations. We were at our shining best when we invested in America. What do we hear now? Let the free market rule. Well, go tell it to companies whose countries are co-investing with them. We hear it all the time. They are co-investing in these other countries. In fact, the private sector investment in renewables used to be placing America number one. We slipped to number two to China, and recently slipped to number three after China and Germany. The America I love, the America we all love is not about being number three; we are about being number one, and that's the investment we are talking about.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to applaud House passage of H.R. 2715, the Enhancing CPSC Authority and Discretion Act of 2011, ECADA. I voted in favor of this long-awaited bill, because it addresses the needed reforms of the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, CPSIA, without undoing its core protections of consumers from unsafe toys and other products. This landmark legislation came in the wake of one of the biggest wave of consumer product recalls in American history. In excess of 10 million toys were estimated to have been recalled due to lead paint and other product safety standards, standards that have been on the books for decades. This was and is unacceptable, and Congress responded accordingly. Specifically, Mr. Speaker, this bill adequately addresses what I believe is the key provision of CPSIA--that consumer products, especially children's products--should be tested as being in compliance with mandatory safety standards. And testing is the key. We live in a global supply chain environment, where any given product has a dozen or more part suppliers from a dozen or more countries, where safety standards may be weaker than our own. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I am proud and pleased that the final ECADA bill passed by the House today maintains the requirement that products be tested to CPSC lead and other standards. But I am equally pleased that the final bill reflects the need to make such testing affordable. Additionally, H.R. 2715 directs the CPSC to look for ``other techniques for lowering the cost of third party testing consistent with assuring compliance with the applicable consumer product safety rules, bans, standards and regulations.'' Mr. Speaker, this last language is critical because it will protect consumers and create jobs here in America. I know this because in my Congressional District a company, XOS, Inc. has developed state of the art instruments for detecting lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in children's toys and other products. This new technology is the only CPSC approved method for the detection of lead paint without using wet chemistry. This method was also adopted by one of the most widely respected voluntary standards development organizations in the country (ASTM). Finally, I would suggest that, as this bill is on the precipice of becoming law, we consider that, if a small company in upstate New York can find a solution to ``how much lead is in this product,'' we can find more home-grown solutions to many of the other pending issues facing our country. We need to focus all our efforts on investing in our people and in creating jobs and this bill does just that.