Congressman Tom Reed is celebrating a new business deal involving a Southern Tier company that will reportedly create 1,000 jobs. But he says reforms must be made if U.S. manufacturing is to rise up.
Corning Glass has entered into an agreement with pharmaceutical giants Merck and Pfizer to deliver vials made of a stronger, more durable glass that better protects its contents. The overall $4 billion dollar deal will reportedly create 4,000 jobs, a quarter of which will be based in the U.S.
The deal was hailed by Reed and also previously by President Donald Trump, who spotlighted it as part of his "Made In America" week.
Trump, however, came under criticism because many of the products bearing his name are produced outside the U.S. Congressman Reed, when asked about this during a conference call, blamed a system he says has been "broken" for decades and has put domestic industries including textiles at a competitive disadvantage.
The way to curb the reliance on foreign manufacturing, he suggests, is tax code and regulatory reform.
"By having a cost benefit reasonable approach to a regulatory environment that does what it needs to do in order to ensure the safety and the advances we want in a regulatory scheme, but do it in a reasonable cost benefit type of return analysis that we can promote and stand with," Reed said.
The congressman believes the other components are in place to restore the United States as a manufacturing leader. He says the supply and manufacturing chains want to be in America.
"America is the best place to do business, in my opinion," said Reed. "You have the rule of law, the respect of property rights that we adhere to and, also, just the fundamental work ethic we as Americans continue to have in our heart and soul, that I think sets us apart from the rest of the world."
