Paul Tonko: “Thank you, Representative Garamendi, and thank you for bringing us together for some very thoughtful dialogue about the…”

“Thank you, Representative Garamendi, and thank you for bringing us together for some very thoughtful dialogue about the highest priority that is held by Americans coast to coast, and that is job creation, job retention. Make no mistake about it, there is no other higher priority. I agree with the previous statements made by the gentleman from Connecticut. Representative Larson spoke of the absolute simplistic equation of job creation and retention equals deficit reduction. It doesn't get plainer, simpler, or more sound than that. It is about creating jobs, reducing the deficit. The job growth will move forward in resolving several of our major issues out there. You know, your focus, Representative Garamendi, on the initial public offerings, the IPOs as they're referenced, they have dropped precipitously, and knowing that then is a downward spiral that doesn't find the sort of investing that is absolutely essential is a very troubling notion. You know, many will talk about just leaving it to the capitalist model, let it just work on its own. Well, it's obvious we need to prime the pump in many areas. You talked about my role in the State of New York. When I served as the head of the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, we found that investing from the public sector sources leveraged tremendous amounts of private sector capital. We see it in this global race. This global race on clean energy and innovation is driven by a robust competition.…”