Portsmouth Patch - Ayotte Visits Thermo Fisher Scientific

News Article

By Robert Cook

U.S. Senator tells employees a fairer, more simplified tax code is the best way to help businesses in a tough economy.

U.S. Sen Kelly Ayotte toured a Portsmouth company on Wednesday that is still a leader in its field, but where company officials are concerned about the state of the U.S. economy and the emergence of China.

Ayotte, R-NH, toured Thermo Fisher Scientific with company officials before holding a town hall meeting with 75 company employees where she shared her view of what it will take for the U.S. economy to rebound.

During her tour, Ayotte learned that 281 people work in the 90,000-square foot facility located off Lafayette Road that specializes in making glass slides for the medical industry as well as specialty glass diagnostics.

Michael Karsonovich, vice president and general manager of the company that employs 500 people in New Hampshire and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., said "We're the only one in the world who can manufacture water white glass slides."

Thermo Fisher Scientific's customers include hospitals, medical research facilities, and public schools who use the glass slides for their microscopes.

Karsonvich said the Portsmouth employees manufacture the equivalent of 100 miles of glass slides per day by using multi-million dollar equipment and technical expertise. The glass used to make the slides is made in Switzerland. Broken or chipped slides are recycled and sent back to Switzerland, he said.

Ayotte said she was impressed by everything she saw during her tour and she wants to help keep companies like Thermo Fisher Scientific strong by giving them a better playing field.

During her town meeting with company employees, Ayotte said she fully supports a balanced budget amendment and a fair tax code that could be simplified, making it easier for businesses to expand and add jobs.

The out of control spending in Washington that led to the debt crisis earlier this month showed "We haven't acted as responsible stewards of your money."

Ayotte said Congress also needs to create a better regulatory environment for businesses because the current environment makes it too hard for large and small businesses to grow.

Taxing the richest Americans is not fair, Ayotte told one employee who asked her about that issue.

"Even if we tax all the millionnaires and billionnaires out there, it still doesn't get us where we need to go," Ayotte said.

Ayotte said she has filed three bills that she believes would help businesses. One would create a moratorium on federal regulations until the national unemployment rate fell below 7 percent. Another bill she filed would require federal agencies to do cost analysis of how certain regulations would affect a given business before they would be enforced and the third bill would create more working capital which businesses need to survive and grow.

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