The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
TENNEY, TRUMP TOUT TAX REFORM
Ivanka Trump, Claudia Tenney tour CNY manufacturer
Ivanka Trump paid a visit to Suit-Kote in Tully with Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, R-22, to talk tax cuts and business in upstate New York.
President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter told around 150 people in the Suit-Kote headquarters that it was incredible to see the effects of the tax cuts in the local community.
“It is really a pleasure to be here and incredible to come back into a community and see the effects of a policy that you deeply believe in,” Trump said. “I have to say, Congresswoman Tenney was such a champion for this and it’s not easy. There was a lot of pressure to not vote for it. You were a true believer and knew what it would do for American families and businesses. Across the country, businesses big and small, 6 million Americans have already benefited from wage increases or bonuses.”
Suit-Kote is one of those businesses that have benefitted from the tax reform. Suit-Kote CEO Frank Suits Jr. said the tax bill prompted the company to give its 800 employees a 5 percent raise.
“We started planning for tax reform six months before its passing,” Suits said. “It’s a tremendous benefit.”
“And I love that, Frank,” Trump said. “You knew that if the president said he was going to do it, he was going to get it done.”
“It isn’t complicated stuff. You let people keep a little bit more of the money they make and through a capitalistic society, put it to work,” Suits said. “We have so much more free--
dom to run a business and prepare for an industry where there’s going to be tremendous growth. We have incentive to retain and attract.”
“This is the perfect place to discuss this,” Tenney said. “Suits’s grandfather founded the business and Suits is a fighter. He’s a tough guy and in a tough business. And we have businesses here as well, who have been able to increase raises or bonuses.”
Among the businesses attending, Tenney said there was NBT Bank Corporation from Norwich, which raised its minium wage from $11 an hour to $15 and gave bonuses to those making $50,000 or less a year, and BNY Melon in Utica, which also raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour.
And while businesses like Suit-Kote are benefiting, Tenney said there are more conversations needed to help raise jobs in New York after facing the high- est out-migration than any state in the nation.
“This is all done organically, not through mandates. It’s because of the tax reform and how historic it’s been,” Tenney said.
Trump was also given a tour of Suit-Kote and shown how the family-owned business does it all, from paving to asphalt emulsion. Tenney and Trump were even allowed up on a paver and showed how it works.
About 30 people holding signs against Trump, Tenney and John Katko, R-24, were onthe road outside the event, along with a number of those in support of the president.
Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi, D-119, issued a response to Trump’s visit and said her signature issue in Washington D.C. has been expanding paid family and medical leave and asked if she could educate Tenney on the importance of paid family leave.
“Ivanka and I both know that people shouldn’t fear losing their job when caring for a new born, sick loved one or a family member serving overseas. In the As- sembly, I was proud to vote for New York’s paid family leave plan and disappointed when Tenney voted against it,” Brindisi said. “Perhaps Ivanka can educate Tenney on the importance of paid family leave.”