Well, absolutely. The manufacturing element in our society is strong. It still is very much--a bit of statistical evidence that we rank high in the international economy with manufacturing jobs, but there was a huge loss in the decade before this administration; 4.6 million jobs lost in that manufacturing element. Well, in order for us to stop that bleeding, it's important, I believe, to promote advanced manufacturing. Retrofitting our manufacturing centers in a way that allows us to be cutting edge and doing it smarter--not necessarily cheaper, but doing it smarter--allows us to maintain that world leading status for manufacturing. Also, as we talk about infrastructure, beyond the bonds effort and the American Jobs Act, an infrastructure bank bill that will allow us to utilize that concept to leverage public and private funds that expand the opportunities to invest in our infrastructure takes us well beyond the traditional roads and bridges and levees that we talked about, the waterfront opportunities and dam repair, but it also brings us into the infrastructure for telecommunications and for electric utilities so that we then are cutting edge. We can provide for an upgrade, if you will, in the grid system. Now, we saw what that collapse was about in the year 2003, when branches rubbing on some power lines in Ohio put out the lights on Broadway in New York City. Now, that is unacceptable weakness.…
Share & report
More from Paul Tonko
I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, even though I am not opposed. The Acting CHAIR. Without objection, the gentleman from New York is recognized for 5 minutes. There was no objection.
The gentleman appears to be fixated on undermining key EPA safeguards put in place over the last 15 years under the guise of being too costly, while the history of environmental protection, especially under the Clean Air Act, shows this is…
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.J. Res. 27, the Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval targeting the clean water restoration rule. Our waterways, like the mighty Hudson…
Well, of course, we are modernizing our ports. We are modernizing our roads and bridges. We are making certain that we have a state-of-the-art grid for electricity sake so that as you integrate renewables, and integrate distributed…





