Political Quotes

“Thank you. I wanted to tie together Congressman Higgins' ideas on the Helmets to Hardhats, a program that I have supported, and commend him for his leadership on that, and also Congressman Tonko for the efforts that he's made in suggesting to us that we have to be visionary, and we have to promote new research, new research and development. One area we have not focused on during these discussions tonight as much as I would hope is housing. Every recovery America has had since World War II has been led by housing, and housing has been in the dumpster for several years now. And one of the ways we do that is think about ways in which programs like Helmets to Hardhats could identify sectors in communities that were depleted by the Wall Street crisis. And think about how to modernize the manner in which energy is provided to them, for example. So we're not just rebuilding to the past but building the future. In my home community, we have something called Advanced Energy Utility that the Port Authority has established where they can loan funds that are then paid back through the bond offerings they do. And right now it's in its early stages. But one could see where a neighborhood could be identified and new technologies in the building sector brought to bear to create the new neighborhoods of tomorrow. One company--Owens Corning--in our region has established a new manufacturing plant near Milan, Ohio, building a seven-layer roofing and the most incredible equipment.…”