Investing in A New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act. H.R. 2 has significant goals which I proudly support. During this time of unrest as a result of different tragic encounters with police officers, I am especially proud of the inclusion of language that embraces my bill, H.R. 169--the Driver and Officer Safety Education Act.

The language included in H.R. 2 would establish a grant program for states with specific standards for education and training programs concerning civilian and law enforcement encounters during traffic stops and other in-person encounters. Originally intended to memorialize the fatal shooting of Philando Castile during a 2016 traffic stop in Minnesota, this language is both timely and extremely necessary given the recent tragic deaths of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks who both died as a result of encounters with local law enforcement.

Their lives mattered. The inclusion of my bill H.R. 169 in H.R. 2 advances us toward a better understanding of how police and civilians should interact during traffic stops and other in-person encounters to save lives. However, to take the much-needed step toward effective reformation, we must also aim for reconciliation. My resolution, H. Res. 992, calls for a Department of Reconciliation that would report directly to the President and be charged with eliminating systemic racism and invidious discrimination from all aspects of American life.

I thank my colleagues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for including H.R. 169, and I look forward to H.R. 2 passing the Senate and hopefully being enacted as law. We cannot allow the multifaceted issues disproportionately affecting low-income communities and communities of color to go unaddressed.

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