Congressman Maurice Hinchey broke the news to surprised Orange County Chamber of Commerce members at a luncheon on Tuesday, where he was joined by Senator Charles Schumer. Hinchey said that in the final budget deal, the alternative energy loan guarantee program was spared. The guarantees will make it easier for the Montgomery, NY based project to secure loans and ramp up operations. The project will likely create more than 400 jobs in the Lower Hudson Valley and will give a desperately-needed boost to the local economy.
Hayworth had given her tacit approval to the original House spending bill drafted by Republicans. That bill was filled with reckless and draconian cuts including the elimination of the loan guarantee program. Only a few days previous to giving the job-killing bill her blessing, Hayworth told a business group that it was not the government's place to create jobs.
Killing jobs, it seems, is another matter for the Tea Party-backed Hayworth.
Taylor Biomass Energy's headquarters is on located Neelytown Road, and a portion of the project is in Hayworth's 19th Congressional district. Hayworth's constituents will undoubtedly reap the benefits of job creation in the area.
To demonstrate how out of touch Hayworth is with her constituency, even her fellow Republicans in the area are overjoyed that the project is proceeding. New York State Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun called the Taylor Biomass project "tremendous" in terms job creation, clean energy production, and bolstering the area's tax base. She praised the efforts to save the project, saying, "this was not a political issue, it was a job creating issue."
But for Nan Hayworth it's not about jobs, it's all about politics.
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