PLATTSBURGH — Congresswoman Elise Stefanik touted her efforts in support of the region's growing transportation-equipment manufacturing cluster during a roundtable in Plattsburgh.
Stefanik, speaking to a gathering of interested stakeholders at the North Country Chamber of Commerce, talked about the importance of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST), which she supported as it passed in December.
That had been challenging for Congress for more than a decade, with six-month and year-by-year extensions, she said.
From her first visits to the region after she announced her run for office, she said, she heard concerns from local manufacturers such as Bombardier Transportation and Nova Bus/Prevost that the lack of a long-term bill affected their operations.
"That lack of certainty causes an ebb and flow in job numbers. We need to do more to ensure multi-year certainty so those contracts translate to jobs locally," Stefanik said.
The six-year funding authorization provides that certainty, she said.
CONFIDENCE
North Country Chamber of Commerce President Garry Douglas said long-term financial certainty allows metropolitan transportation authorities to make investments in new buses and rail stock.
Those authorities tend to hold back on procurements when they are not certain of their ability to get federal funding.
Any increase in orders should prove beneficial to local manufacturers such as Bombardier Transportation (rail) and Nova Bus/Prevost (transit bus).
"We'll win our share of contracts if there are contracts out there to be won," Douglas said. "But there's got to be the confidence with the transit authorities across the country to put contracts out in the marketplace."
REQUIRED U.S. PARTS
Jason Martin, general manager of the Nova Bus/Prevost manufacturing plant in Plattsburgh, said that while they are thankful for the long-term funding bill, the company is concerned about the Buy America Act.
That bill increased U.S. content provisions for equipment manufactured using federal funds to 70 percent.
That requirement affects their ability to use economies of scale, which is one of their strengths as part of the Volvo Group, Martin said.
"That poses a real challenge for us as a company to do business in the North Country or anywhere in the U.S.," he said.
Douglas said U.S. content provisions have grown from 50 percent originally to 60 percent several years ago and now to 70 percent in the new bill.
That was a compromise from the 100 percent proposed in the original version of the bill, he said. Those provisions increase the cost of the final product to taxpayers, in part by interfering with efficient supply-chain management.
The call for 100 percent remains in place, Douglas said, and will continue in the future.
PENALIZES FIRMS
Stefanik said she wants to do as much as she can to protect high-paying manufacturing jobs in the North Country.
The priority for last year was approval of the funding bill, and the U.S. content increase was pushed for by some members of the Senate.
"We shouldn't be punishing manufacturers that have chosen to invest in the North Country," she said.
That's critical to this area, where the transportation-equipment cluster has grown to 33 companies with more than 8,000 employees.
"We want to keep those manufacturers here," Stefanik said.
MADE IN US
Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello said the FAST Act was not a good bill. The majority of the funding in the bill is for new roads, he said.
"There is so much infrastructure already in place that requires attention," he said.
Funiciello said only about 60 billion of the authorized $300 billion is targeted to transportation-equipment acquisitions.
As for the U.S. content provisions in the measure, Funiciello said he is in favor of the call for 100 percent U.S. content in public-transportation equipment procurements.
"Anytime U.S. taxpayers dollars are used (for these purchases), 100 percent should be made in America," he said.
Mike Derrick, Democratic candidate for the 21st Congressional District, did not respond to a request for comment.
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