Jobs & Economic Development
Brian’s top priority in Congress is fostering economic development and bringing jobs to the hardworking people of Western New York. He firmly believes that with hard work, determination, and focus, our region’s best days are ahead of us.
Brian and his colleagues in the House of Representative are making strides in putting money back into the hands of hardworking Americans. In the 110th Congress, Brian voted to pass the first federal minimum wage increase in nearly a decade, as well as the largest college aid expansion since the GI Bill in 1944. By reprioritizing our nation’s budget, Brian and his colleagues have put America on a path to doubling funding for basic research and development to drive American innovation.
The Innovation Agenda
Over the past two years, Brian and his House Democratic Colleagues have met with leaders from the academic, high-technology, venture capital, biotech, and telecommunications sectors, as well as with students and young entrepreneurs. Using their expertise and advice, House Democrats developed solutions that will help guarantee our national security and prosperity, expand markets for American products, and assert economic leadership throughout the world in the decades to come.
The Innovation Agenda: A Commitment to Competitiveness to Keep America #1 will:
- Create a new generation of innovators: an educated, skilled workforce in the vital areas of science, math, engineering, and information technology
- Make a sustained federal research and development commitment that promotes private sector innovation
- Spur affordable access to broadband technology
- Achieve energy independence, strengthen our national security, and protect our planet by developing emerging technologies for clean and sustainable alternatives
- Provide small businesses with the tools to encourage entrepreneurial innovation and job creation throughout our economy
As a first step in implementing an aggressive investment policy, last year Congress passed the America COMPETES Act. This bill begins a long term investment in nurturing American innovation to create jobs in the increasingly competitive global economy. It invests in 25,000 new teachers; funds basic research and development and puts us on a path to double funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science; creates a new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy; and puts funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership on a path to doubling over 10 years.
With this bold agenda, our nation will continue to be the world leader in education, innovation, and economic growth.
