Paul Tonko: “It was an intentional game of ``gotcha.'' Here sat in the balcony representatives of labor and representatives from the…”

“It was an intentional game of ``gotcha.'' Here sat in the balcony representatives of labor and representatives from the United States Chamber of Commerce, a broad spectrum of support for a bill that takes America to the cutting edge, allows her to invest in smart manufacturing, and to compete effectively in a global marketplace, to invest in science and technology, to make certain that we're state-of-the-art, that we're investing in research and development, which translates into jobs. All of that activity thwarted by a game of politics on this floor. It didn't matter--it didn't matter--that nearly 2 million jobs could be created; that we could become a more competitive Nation. That didn't matter. And ``no'' wasn't enough of a force to stop it. So we resort to political games. That's the sort of record that the public will scrutinize, and they will say, Look, we see the slow and steady progress. We believe in this. To your point, Representative Boccieri, about setting up the goalposts, setting up the parameters for this program, yes, allowing the capitalist model to work but making certain that there's discipline, discipline in the situation and the scenario, so that we go forward and invest and know that we recover with lucrative dividends.”