Paul Tonko: “Absolutely, Representative. Thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us together in what is this usual…”

“Absolutely, Representative. Thank you, Representative Garamendi, for bringing us together in what is this usual important discussion. You have done that time and time again for us to focus on an innovation economy, on building it, and making it in America is an important aspect of the work we do. Thank you for bringing that to the attention of the greater public that watches these proceedings. I do represent this region in upstate New York where we have the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, and it was birth to the Erie Canal, and that birth to the Erie Canal developed a port called New York, which became a major metro area, and a necklace of communities that were given birth to by that canal movement that became epicenters of invention and innovation, that then inspired a westward movement, and not only inspired the growth of this great Nation, but impacted the quality of life of people throughout the globe. That pioneer spirit should speak to us again as we develop budgets, as we promote public policy. It should be about investing, not dis- investing. It should be about funding, not defunding. The current climate here in this House with the new majority is to defund, to take those dollars away from economic recovery and to shift them over to tax cuts for millionaires, tax cuts for billionaires, ending Medicare, block granting Medicaid, dis-investing, providing for corporate loopholes. This is not the strategy that America needs.…”