Kirsten Gillibrand United States Senator for New York

"Creating jobs in New York is my number one priority." -Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator

Creating jobs and getting our economy turned around is Senator Gillibrand’s number one priority. Senator Gillibrand believes the best way to create jobs is by increasing lending and cutting taxes for small businesses, making aggressive investments in infrastructure, and transitioning from foreign fossil fuels to an economy powered by clean, American energy.

Supporting Small Businesses

Government doesn’t create jobs, businesses do. And small businesses are one of the best economic engines we have – responsible for half of all private sector job creation and 70 percent of all new jobs in the past decade. To make it easier for small businesses to create jobs, Senator Gillibrand introduced the Small Business Job Creation Tax Credit Act, which would provide businesses a tax cut of up to 20 percent of the cost of a new hire. By incentivizing businesses to hire now, we can help businesses that are ready to grow and get our economy back on track.

Senator Gillibrand is focused on policies that support entrepreneurs and small businesses by directing more early capital to business start-ups through investment in business incubators, tax-free savings accounts for entrepreneurs, and tax credits to leverage private investment in new businesses. In addition, she has cosponsored legislation that would reduce taxes on businesses investing in new equipment and eliminate capital gains on small business stock to help growing businesses raise capital so they can expand.

Senator Gillibrand is also working to get capital flowing to small businesses again. Nearly 40 percent of all small businesses are struggling to access credit, according to a National Small Business Association Survey. Senator Gillibrand has led the charge to allow more local community credit unions to lend to small businesses and has pushed to extend provisions allowing the Small Business Administration (SBA) to guarantee greater percentages of new loans, helping to increase the availability of SBA loans for businesses.

New Economy Fueled By Clean, American Energy

We beat Russia in the space race, and we can also beat China in the race to clean energy. But today, we spend $1 billion a day on foreign oil from hostile nations, hurting our economy, helping our enemies, and putting America at risk. It’s time to stop spending billions on the outdated fuels of the last century, and start investing in clean energy that is made here in America. New York can lead the way.

Home to fertile soil, vast open spaces, cutting-edge innovation and world-class research institutions, New York has the potential to be a significant producer of clean, renewable energy from wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, and waste-to-energy systems. New York's engineering programs, and high tech businesses make the state uniquely positioned to transfer manufacturing know-how into creating the energy efficient technologies and products needed to address our current energy challenges. To help further these investments in clean technology, Senator Gillibrand is pushing to preserve key tax incentives, such as the production tax credit for wind energy, to help us build the foundation to lead the world in clean energy jobs.

Senator Gillibrand is advancing policies that will help New York take advantage of the alternative energy revolution - growing green jobs and creating long-term economic opportunities for decades. Additionally, Senator Gillibrand is working to pass the Security in Energy and Manufacturing (SEAM) Act, legislation that would help cut costs on domestic manufacturing of clean energy technology like wind turbines, solar panels, and hybrid vehicle systems by providing companies grants to retrofit their systems and develop manufacturing for these new programs.

Strengthening New York’s Rural Communities

Senator Gillibrand is the first New York Senator in nearly 40 years to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee. From this seat, Senator Gillibrand has played a key role in fighting for issues that are critical to strengthening New York’s rural economy. As Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Marketing and Agriculture Security, Senator Gillibrand is leading the effort to overhaul the current dairy pricing system with a more stable and transparent system that will enable New York State’s dairy industry to grow and thrive. To continue supporting specialty crop farmers, who generate nearly $1.4 billion for New York’s economy each year, Senator Gillibrand is fighting to protect Specialty Crop Block Grants that help ensure long-term viability of specialty crops, which include fruits, vegetables, maple, honey and horticulture products. Additionally, Senator Gillibrand has prioritized opening up new markets for our farmers’ products by supporting efforts to connect fresh produce with large markets and increasing access to farmers markets.

Small businesses are the backbone of rural communities, accounting for 90 percent of all rural businesses. Senator Gillibrand is advocating for legislation that would increase small business access to loans from credit unions, allow entrepreneurs to grow tax-free savings to fund their new small business, and support the creation of business incubators that can assist small businesses with training, counseling, investment management, and other important services. In addition, Senator Gillibrand has worked to connect more New York businesses with new markets for their products through the Internet, introducing the Broadband Connections for Rural Opportunities (B-CROP) Act to provide adequate resources to expand broadband access to unserved rural areas as well as to make broadband funding programs more accessible and user-friendly, creating a one-stop-shop in the federal government to acquire funding and resources to deliver high-speed Internet to businesses and families currently cut off from such service.

Job Creation Through Tourism

From the bright lights of Times Square, to the natural beauty of Niagara Falls; from the world class vineyards of the Finger Lakes to the high peaks of the Adirondacks, New York’s tourism has much to offer. In 2007, tourism generated nearly $10 Billion in revenues to federal, state and local governments. Senator Gillibrand is pushing the Travel Regional Investment Partnership (TRIP) Act to sustain domestic tourism and help it flourish. The TRIP Act would promote domestic tourism by joining both public and private funding through a competitive grant match program with the U.S. Department of Commerce, allowing tourism promotion organizations to partner with other regional tourism entities to receive federal funding to market their destinations nationally. The TRIP Act would allow New York organizations and localities the opportunity to compete for more resources and leverage public-private partnerships to attract more visitors. This would ultimately help in retaining and adding to the more than 660,000 jobs statewide that the tourism sector supported last year.

Made In America Manufacturing

America was powered by New York manufacturing in the 20th century. But we’ve lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the last decade alone. To renew the strength of our manufacturers and create new jobs, Senator Gillibrand is pushing her Made in America manufacturing initiative. The plan would create a “Made in America” competitive grant program to provide smaller manufacturers with resources and strategies to retool their operations, and retrain their workforce for advanced manufacturing, such as clean energy, computer technology, aerospace and biotechnology. Senator Gillibrand is also advocating for the extension of the New Markets Tax Credit Program, which leverages more private investment into manufacturers in some of New York’s hardest hit communities to expand and improve their operations, creating new jobs and revitalizing these communities. Senator Gillibrand is working to permanently extend and simplify the Research and Development Tax Credit, which provides tax incentives for companies who invest in technology that will pave the way for future growth. More than eight percent of the value of this credit goes directly to supporting high-skill, good-paying jobs in the U.S., and enables U.S. companies to develop the technological know-how to create new products, improve their efficiency, and outcompete our competitors across the world.

Training For The Future

New York is on the cutting edge of new industries with tremendous potential for growth, yet many of these jobs are going unfilled because workers do not have the training needed for high-skill, emerging industries. Manufacturing jobs in clean energy, computer technology, aerospace, biotechnology and other fast-growing industries often require workers with additional post-secondary education and job training. To help ensure more New Yorkers have the necessary skills for these good-paying jobs, Senator Gillibrand introduced legislation that would better prepare New York’s workforce with the training needed for jobs in growing industries. The plan focuses on strengthening job training programs at community colleges, supporting collaborative efforts among academic institutions and local businesses, providing more businesses with on-the-job training programs, while investing in workforce training programs. Senator Gillibrand is also working to pass the Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success (SECTORS) Act, which would support connecting regional businesses, suppliers, research and development entities, education and training providers, and associated institutions in a particular field to fulfill regional workforce needs and grow regional economies.

Creating Jobs Through Upgrading Infrastructure

According to the New York State Department of Transportation, 12 percent of New York’s bridges are classified as “structurally deficient,” and 25 percent are functionally obsolete. Senator Gillibrand voted for the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), which would reauthorize and reform our nation’s surface transportation programs. It is estimated that this legislation would create or save nearly 1.8 million jobs nationwide, putting many New Yorkers back to work. MAP-21 would also increase federal infrastructure investments through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) to $1 billion annually, providing additional assistance for states like New York to move ahead with large-scale infrastructure improvements.

As a nation, we are spending less than 40 percent of what we should on our infrastructure needs. In New York alone, it is estimated that it will cost nearly $70 billion over the next ten years to upgrade wastewater and drinking water infrastructure. To address this and other infrastructure needs, Senator Gillibrand is working to establish a National Infrastructure Bank to leverage more private investment into infrastructure projects.

Protecting Public Transportation

Mass transit is the lifeline by which millions of New Yorkers get to work every day, and Senator Gillibrand is working to ensure that Congress continues to fund critical upgrades for repairs to our aging transit systems. Senator Gillibrand is fighting to ensure that mass transit riders are not shortchanged through draconian cuts that would eliminate dedicated federal funding sources for transit projects. Senator Gillibrand also understands that during this challenging economic time, families who rely on mass transit cannot afford to lose their federal benefits and is fighting to extend the federal tax benefit for commuters.

Upstate Works Act

Born and raised in upstate New York, Senator Gillibrand understand how upstate families are struggling, and the unique opportunities that exist in the upstate economy. Senator Gillibrand wrote and introduced the Upstate Works Act, legislation that would provide targeted support for sectors across upstate New York’s economy, put more New Yorkers back to work, and ensure long-term economic strength and stability. The Upstate Works Act would provide new access to capital for businesses to grow and create jobs, retool New York’s manufacturers to produce clean domestic energy and provide tax credits for family farms to diversity and expand their production. It would also invest in worker training to prepare students and working adults for the jobs of the future, help connect upstate businesses with new markets by expanding broadband, and provide incentives for state and local governments to leverage private investment to help rebuild sewers, highways and other critical infrastructure across the state. Click here for more details on Senator Gillibrand’s Upstate Works Act.