Oct. 15—U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, held a roundtable discussion with local business owners, an educator and a union representative at the Cooperstown Bat Company in Hartwick on Thursday, Oct. 14, where he discussed new bipartisan legislation titled the MADE HERE Act.

Delgado said the bill would bolster manufacturing in the United States by creating clusters of manufacturing across the country. The legislation would advance new manufacturing technologies and would promote a skilled workforce by bringing together educational institutions, private companies, nonprofits, unions and government-funded resources to solve pressing manufacturing problems, he said.

The panel discussing the legislation reflected the mission of the bill, with Gregory Owens, CEO of Liberty Tabletop; David Wasiura of the United Steelworkers Union; Alan Rubin, president of the Otsego County Chamber of Commerce; Tim Haney, president of Cooperstown Bat Company; Alberto Cardelle, president of SUNY Oneonta; and Michael Gamble, plant manager at Corning Inc. in Oneonta.

They spoke about how manufacturing in the United States needs help.

Haney said he strives to buy equipment made in America, but sometimes that isn't possible. He said passed over several lathes manufactured in Germany or Italy before he was able to find a lathe manufacturer in Warren, Pennsylvania. He said he contracted with US Steel for some materials and bought saws from a manufacturer in Louisiana, but he couldn't find a U.S. manufacturer of a moulder. He said he was able to find one that was German-engineered, but built in China.

The Cooperstown Bat Company is the third-oldest bat company in the country and produces between 35,000 and 40,000 bats per year and between 60,000 and 70,000 billets per year, he said. He said he buys trees from local loggers and works with the Amish mills in Otsego County.

Rubin said Otsego County is poised for growth through its innovative companies, including Corning glass and Ioxus, and mentioned hemp manufacturing as a potential new industry pairing the county's agricultural and industrial sectors.

Gamble said he was a fourth-generation Corning employee and said the company has many manufacturing plants across the country in rural areas. He said the company is looking to partner with local schools to start a manufacturing curriculum for students.

Rubin also said the county's educational institutions were key to keeping up with manufacturing demands and highlighted the Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES robotics and mechatronics program.

Cardelle said SUNY Oneonta is an anchor institution in Oneonta ready to develop courses that will retrain the new workforce.

Delgado also talked about the BuyAmerican.gov Act, which would track the waivers the Department of Transportation and the Department of Defense use to bypass the Buy American Act. The legislation would also create an online hub of American manufacturers that government agencies can use, he said.

One of the companies that the department of defense contracts with is Liberty Tabletop in Sherrill, which supplies cutlery to the U.S. Navy, Owens said. Liberty Tabletop bought the former Oneida Flatware plant after it was closed and the company moved production overseas, Owens said. He said the historic building where his office is located was "built when Abraham Lincoln was president."

Owens said at the height of production in 2001, Oneida Limited employed 4,800 people. Liberty Tabletop currently employs 70 people, and the company is looking to upgrade its 1980s and '90s-era technology to increase production and prepare the workforce for the future, he said.