Paul Tonko: “Thank you, Representative Dahlkemper. And it is a pleasure to hear both Congressmen from Michigan and California and you…”

“Thank you, Representative Dahlkemper. And it is a pleasure to hear both Congressmen from Michigan and California and you as a Representative from Pennsylvania all speaking the voice of the freshman class. I'm so enthused to work with all of us as freshman Members of this Congress. We have brought, I believe, a lot of thought, a lot of energy, a lot of vision; and we are attaching it to the leadership of this House, which is broken from some of the failed attempts from the prior administration. The entire focus on manufacturing through the MEP program was denied. There wasn't a respect shown, I believe, strong enough toward the manufacturing sector. And the American manufacturing sector is alive. It will be competitive on the global scene because it can do it smarter, and the investment of that intellectual capacity of this Nation gives us great promise with the manufacturing sector. So to hear of all these ideas, from tax benefits that will go toward creating small business opportunities, to dealing with the credit crunch, making certain that we raise the loan opportunities to allow for the working capital needs to be met for our small business community, those are important aspects. Those are great factors. H.R. 4598, which you are sponsoring, Congresswoman, is tremendous benefit to the opportunities to invest in small business, and they are the backbone of this American economy.”