The long-tenured politico, who has represented Western Massachusetts in Washington since 1989, began his day in Stockbridge at the Norman Rockwell Museum Annual Business Breakfast. Speaking with WAMC during his second stop in Pittsfield, Neal said that local employers were struggling to find skilled labor- but that the Berkshires has a strong foundation in place for a burgeoning sector of the economy.
“I think one of the interesting parts of last year's job reports was that the only real growth we had was in health care," said the Democrat. "You've got a terrific story to tell here in the Berkshires about Berkshire Medical Center, North Adams, Fairview. All part of an essential story, because there are opportunities for nurses.”
Berkshire Health Systems, the private health care provider that operates the region’s major hospitals, is also the largest employer in the county with around 4,000 workers.
Neal said he also heard concerns about energy costs from the business community, especially in the face of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East drastically increasing oil prices.
“I also pointed out that, whether it was the Strait of Hormuz or our investment in renewable energy, we would take a lot of pressure off the Strait of Hormuz if we, in fact, embrace more renewable energy," said the congressman. "But there's a resistance to new housing in a lot of places. There's also, many advocates also resist some of the growth in alternative energy. And I think that, I had much to do with the Inflation Reduction Act. $412 billion worth of tax credits, and the president has walked away from a lot of it. I think it's a big miscalculation.”
Neal’s second stop in the Berkshires took him on a tour of county hub Pittsfield’s public schools - the largest system of its kind in the region. He told WAMC that he was impressed with the questions lobbed at him by local students, including one about President Donald Trump’s threats to jail members of the press for reporting on governmental leaks about missing Air Force officers shot down in Iran.
“While we all favor the universal notion and nature of transparency, the challenge that we had with trying to rescue that pilot was that if you did not mislead the Iranians, that they likely would have found him before we did," said Neal. "And I think that the ability in that instance- I think the President is wrong when he's threatening media with printing what a leaker has done. The media, they're not the ones who leaked the information. They only presented the information that was given to them. So, I'm delighted that we were able to rescue that pilot, but at the same time, there needed to be a little bit of hesitation in there until we found his whereabouts and did what we want the military to do to rescue him.”
The congressman’s third event brought him to the main campus of Berkshire Community College, also in Pittsfield. He was there to discuss federal funding for the region, including almost a million dollars for the college’s Trades Academy - described by BCC as an engine for “expanding workforce training opportunities, strengthening regional career pipelines, and supporting local industries in need of skilled workers.”
“We have a real skillset challenge in America right now, even based upon job availability and statistical data that I was reading this morning about labor participation rates," said Neal. "The labor participation rate right now in America is about 61.3%. That's low. That means that means that there are a lot of people who are not able to answer the call of the six and a half million jobs that are available in America today. And I think Berkshire Community College, they're very well positioned for this.”
As an example, Neal turned again to nursing.
“Nursing is a great career today, and we need them," he told WAMC. "We also, as I noted this morning from a question that took place, which I thought was really good- It was a question about slots at the vocational high school and how that was done. And [Pittsfield Mayor Peter Marchetti], to his credit, he interceded and explained that everybody who wanted access to the vocational high school, they got it. Because there's a lot of room in this economy now for electricians, plumbers, people with a certain skill set that the country needs.”
Neal is seeking another term in office in this year’s election, and faces challenger Jeromie Whalen in September’s Democratic primary.
