U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called for a national infrastructure bank and said she would also push for a “Made in America” manufacturing initiative at a Feb. 24 breakfast hosted by the Business Council of Westchester.
While the election and bipartisan brinksmanship continue to drive headlines, Gillibrand pointed to several items supported by both Democrats and Republicans that could help create jobs and immediately boost the economy.
“Obviously there”™s no silver bullet, there”™s no one-size-fits-all solution for all parts of our economy in New York, but there are a lot of ways that I think we can make a difference and that I think there would be good bipartisan support for,” she said.
Chief among those items in need of attention is support for U.S.-based manufacturers, and particularly those specializing in high-tech fields, Gillibrand said.
She highlighted the high-tech corridor in the Hudson Valley that features a number of companies specializing in biotechnology, nanotechnology and energy-efficient technology manufacturing.
“We are now well-poised to be at the forefront of a lot of these growing industries, and so focusing on Made in America manufacturing ”¦ is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea, it”™s just a good idea and it”™s one that frankly is nonpartisan.”
Gillibrand also called on Congress to act on a bipartisan bill that has been introduced in the Senate and that would establish a national infrastructure bank.
That bill, sponsored by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and co-sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), could conceivably be passed by the end of the year, Gillibrand said.
“I think if we can really form a good bipartisan coalition we could move that legislation this year,” she said in an interview following the event.
By creating a mechanism for public-private partnerships on large-scale infrastructure work, projects “could be funded by the private sector with a small amount of money ”“ seed money or loan guarantees ”“ from the federal government,” she said.
That, in turn, would “get a lot of capitalists sitting on the sidelines in our economy today reinvested in America again.”
Gillibrand said she supports the creation of an infrastructure bank with a nonpartisan board of advisers, similar to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, which could then make determinations on what projects to fund “regardless of the political cycle.”
Also discussed by Gillibrand was the need to examine the country”™s tax policies to better facilitate business development and to cut down on red tape, in addition to the need for women”™s salaries to be on par with their male counterparts.
Marsha Gordon, Business Council president and CEO, said she was impressed by Gillibrand”™s pro-business agenda.
“I thought the senator”™s comments were extremely supportive of the business community. Her sensitivity to the growth of emerging industries from high tech manufacturing to biotech to small businesses was evident,” she said.
The event, which drew 225 attendees, took place at Abigail Kirsch at Tappan Hill in Tarrytown and was part of the Business Council”™s KeyBank Speaker Series.
