BUFFALO, N.Y. -- For more than a decade, Erie County has not been able to access millions of dollars in economic development funding because of a conflict between two federal agencies.

"Sometimes the grinding gears of bureaucracy get in the way. You get egos. You get people pointing fingers at each other and we suffer," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said.

In 1979, both the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Economic Development Administration contributed money to establish the county's Regional Development Corporation Revolving Loan Fund. Schumer said HUD reinterpreted its own rules in 2005 and the argument over which set of agency rules should be followed effectively froze the funding.

"When the county executive called me and said, we've got to do something, I said, 'there's only one way to solve this. Bring the heads of these agencies together and put them in a room. Lock the door and say you ain't coming out until you guys agree that we can get our money,'" he said.

Several weeks ago, the agencies reached an agreement and $14 million was released for the county to give low-interest loans to developers. The county also got back the original $2.3 million in HUD money it contributed plus interest which will go directly toward local development projects.

County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Schumer was instrumental in making it happen.

"If it hasn't been said enough today, I do have to say once again, we are only here because of him. It's as simple as that. There's a lot of people that have been working hard on this for a long, long time but he really did get the players in the room," said Poloncarz, D-Erie County.

Schumer is hoping to be re-elected in three weeks, but he said his Tuesday visit to Buffalo was not campaign-related.

"What I do for re-election is just do what I've done for six years," he said. "I've made announcements like this with the county executive over and over and over again. I always find the best way to get re-elected is just do your job. That's what I'm doing now."

His opponent questioned the timing though.

"It's just so typical of him to come racing in on his plane and claim credit for everything. He'd claim credit for the sun coming up in the morning if he could," Republican candidate Wendy Long said.

Schumer said the breakthrough between HUD and the EDA will open up funding for other communities throughout the country.