GENEVA, Ohio – A groundbreaking that took place earlier in the day for an expansion at a local defense contractor is an example of what can take place when local business and community leaders communicate their needs to their federal representatives, U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce said Wednesday afternoon.
Joyce, R-14th, was the featured speaker at the Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County’s annual meeting. He spoke and fielded questions for about 40 minutes at the meeting, which was held at Ferrante Winery and Ristorante.
Earlier in the day, the congressman, who serves on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, was among the dignitaries in attendance at a groundbreaking ceremony for an expansion at Iten Defense in Saybrook, which manufactures composite body armor products.
The company is doing a 50,000-square-foot expansion to its plant, said Greg Myers, executive director of the Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County.
“It’s a nice investment for them, and they’re installing new equipment for them to be able to produce new lines of product here,” Myers said.
Iten received federal research, development, test and evaluation funding to advance ballistic protection capabilities through the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act in 2024 and the Full Year Continuing and Appropriations Act, according to a news release from Joyce’s office.
Joyce, who was elected to Congress in 2012, recalled first meeting with Iten representatives about 12 years ago regarding the company’s needs. As a result of the expansion that got underway Wednesday, the company will be able to add jobs and expand internationally, “all from the start of explaining to somebody like me what their needs were and how I could best address those,” he said.
Appropriators in Congress have “a finite amount of dollars” and have to determine how much can be spent and what projects they can be spent on through community project funding, or what used to be referred to as earmarks, he said. Working with county, state and local leaders, “we try to address the concerns of the community and make sure that the funding, your dollars, get back in your community to help it expand and grow,” he continued.
The congressman also said he prides himself on being the “No. 1 legislator in Ohio” for bringing money back to his district, securing $65 million last year and $60 million this year.
That includes $2 million for the Ashtabula Regional Medical Center, which its vice president for business development, Tina Stasiewski, said would be used to upgrade its cardiac catheter lab to upgrade to a Level 2. Another $16.2 million is going to dredging at Conneaut Harbor to improve shipping, he said.
“Now you won’t see me on TV because I’m not one of those idiots who stands up and says, ‘Let’s shut down the government because I don’t like a word in that bill.’ Unfortunately, we got a lot of knuckleheads, and we produced a lot of bad TV,” he remarked.
“We had to shut down the floor a number of times because of the Epstein files or other things. That’s not germane to getting the job of America done,” he continued.” Our job is to take tax dollars and appropriate them back in a way that makes the system work and move at the speed of business.”
He also acknowledged some frustration with what happens in Washington, including the “drama,” such as that surrounding another Ohio congressman, U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-7th, who is at the center of domestic abuse allegations.
“It is what it is, but you know, there’s a hell of a lot of men and women who get up every single day like you do and go to work and try to make America work, and that’s what I like to think I’m part of,” he said.
During a question-and-answer session, Joyce discussed his support for expansion of the federal Pell Grant program to pay for short-term career and technical education programs. “More adults are coming back and getting retrained for the jobs that exist,” he remarked.
In response to another question, Joyce said an opportunity was wasted with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, President Donald Trump’s initiative led by billionaire Elon Musk with a stated goal of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. He lamented that an effort wasn’t made to identify the biggest drivers of America’s debt – including Medicare, Social Security and interest on the national debt – and identify potential solutions.
“Americans understand shared sacrifice, but they don’t understand the problem,” he said. Anyone who brings up Social Security or Medicare is accused of wanting to cut it, he said.
Reporting on county economic development, Myers also noted Graphite One’s announcement in May that it had selected a site in Conneaut for its new plant, a project originally slated for Weathersfield Township in Trumbull County. The company is performing due diligence on the property in preparation for a potential $100 million capital investment, he said.
Myers said the development came out of the Growth Partnership’s network relationship with JobsOhio and its regional partner, Lake to River Economic Development, which covers Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
“Every single day we’re working hard to drive economic opportunity for Ashtabula County and for the region,” Myers said.
Lake to River now has nearly $4 billion in pending projects, attached to 41 projects and $151 million in potential payroll, Dani Robbins, Lake to River CEO, reported.
“So we are getting things done collectively,” she said.
Pictured at top: U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce speaks during the Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County meeting.