SYRACUSE, NY (WRVO) - Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) is calling for more infrastructure investment as she visits a range of different businesses and organizations in her district. She is also highlighting what she calls the positive impact the tax overhaul is having on the upstate economy.
Kris-Tech Wire in Rome manufactures copper wire and sells it to utilities and contractors. Graham Brodock, the owner and CEO, said their business is tied to the overall economy.
“So when the economy is strong, our copper prices go up, when the economy is weak, copper prices go down,” Brodock said.
With a strong economy, the company is growing. But Brodock said there are still challenges. It is difficult to find skilled workers and health care costs continue to rise.
Tenney said every business she talks to has benefited from the tax overhaul law passed last year, including Kris-Tech.
“This company is a perfect example or reinvesting and how they’re growing, expanding and using that tax cut for the right purpose.”
Opponents of the tax overhaul say it has mainly benefitted the rich.
Tenney is also focusing on infrastructure funding, saying it empowers businesses to expand. She is critical of President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. The federal government would pay only a fraction of that amount, leaving it to state and local governments and private investors to come up with the rest.
“There is too much of a share being required by the local government," Tenney said. "Our local governments don’t have the money. We just don’t. We need to have a larger federal share.”
Tenney said she is working with the White House to change that.