New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced Tuesday that a package of measures to create jobs in upstate New York is now in the Senate Finance Committee. The legislation would do five things: spur clean energy businesses, help farmers diversify their products, retrain workers for specific local manufacturer needs, invest in infrastructure and expand rural broadband access.
“Of these five ideas, each one of them is a job generator,” said Sen Gillibrand. “I’m going to try to get all of them passed.”
The legislation, packaged as the "Upstate Works Act," is also being sent in pieces to the appropriate committees, and she is convinced that there is bipartisan support for them all. She says $30 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy would reduce our dependence on foreign energy and innovation.
“With our manufacturing knowhow and the talent we have in research and innovation, there’s no reason that every fuel cell and every wind turbine can’t be made in America,” said Gillibrand.
Gillibrand says upstate New York has advantages it lacked 10 or 15 years ago thanks to investments in biotech, nanotechnology and clean energy.