Paul Tonko: “Thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us together. You are right, I do represent the area that houses the…”

“Thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us together. You are right, I do represent the area that houses the Erie Canal bed that was the main route to the westward movement, and it's a necklace of communities called mill towns that were the centers of invention and innovation. That pioneer spirit still exists, I am convinced, in America. During our recent work-period break, where we all went back to our districts and had a 6-week stretch to connect to our constituents, I did Tuesday tours. The Tuesday tours were about manufacturing, making it in America, and where we need to invest and where the success stories might rest. It's amazing to see the stories that were impacted by the Recovery Act, work done by water efficiency, energy efficiency, the MEP program, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which, by the way, the previous administration wanted to zero out. I went to a group called X-Ray Opticals. Because of MEP programming and SBIR, Small Business Innovation Research, monies, this group is employing people they never dropped during the recession.”