Schumer in Elmira

Chuck Schumer spoke to a group of Corning Business and Government leaders on Wednesday and spoke about trade, jobs and Iraq.

“We have trade policies that motivate companies to move to other countries for cheap labor,” said Schumer during an open forum at City Hall. “We need to level the playing field.” The Central American Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade policies with China are unfair pacts, he said.“We need better trade rules,” Schumer said. “We must pass better trade laws so our companies here have a fighting chance.”

This is consistent with Schumer’s votes on trade agreements, but I also think to a degree that ranting about NAFTA/CAFTA is more rhetoric than reality at this point when it comes to economic development and upstate NY, and it’s probably true in other regions as well. Manufacturing jobs were exiting the area long before those trade agreements. Yes, we do need better international trade agreements and I applaud the Senator for voting no on CAFTA (he wasn’t around for NAFTA), but we need smarter economic development in the state more than anything else. (I’ll blog more about that eventually…)

Also on Schumer’s agenda:

Securing funding to complete upgrades to Interstate Highway 86 and several other key infrastructure projects.

Creating incentives for the development of ethanol plants throughout the state. The plans will help the country wean its dependence on natural gas.

Weak reporting by the Corning Leader. Would have been nice to have a little more substance to this article about what was discussed….