U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced the "Made in America Manufacturing Communities Act of 2022" Monday alongside Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger, C4V CEO Dr. Shailesh Upreti, and Nobel Prize laureate Stanley Whittingham.

"Perhaps America will be making their own lithium batteries in the future thanks to her legislation," Stenger said.

This act would be a modification to a previous Gillibrand program. The original was the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program. The "Made in America" Act encourages private-public partnerships as it would allow the Secretary of Commerce to designate these networks as "Manufacturing Communities." These communities are eligible for both commercial and technical assistance. An example of this would be the C4V-Binghamton partnership.

"The Department of Commerce would help these groups cut through red tape and would offer both financial and technical support to them so that they have the resources and information they need to stand these programs up and rebuild our domestic manufacturing capabilities," Gillibrand said.

Another goal of this act is to connect academia with industry experts to spur manufacturing.

"I have a goal of building a facility over in Endicott that will basically bring back that technology to the US," Whittingham said. "Bridge the gap between academia and startups and manufacturing."

On a local level, that partnership is committed to clean energy, but the Southern Tier as well.

"Our commitment to clean energy is not going to stop here with this first Giga factory," Upreti said. "We are excited to announce that our team is working tirelessly for the next 10 years of our goal that will build about 38-gigawatt plant right here in Endicott and New York State."

Ultimately, Upreti's and Whittingham's goal is to manufacture Lithium-Ion batteries in America that will take over those made in different countries.

"We leapfrog the Asians, make better batteries, make safer batteries, make lower-cost ones and have them so we can stamp on them made in America," Whittingham said.

Gillibrand continued to say that this act and the partnership between BU and C4V will create a bright future in New York.

"There's no better resource in America than the American worker," Gillibrand said. "I know that we have the innovative spirit, we have the drive and the dedication that we need to build that future right here in New York."

For more on what consortiums are eligible and the rules regarding them, go here.

For the full bill text, go here.