H.R. 3684

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, let me begin my remarks this evening by expressing my appreciation to Senators Portman and Sinema for their extraordinary leadership of our group, our bipartisan group, of 10 Senators, who have labored so hard to bring before the Senate the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

This legislation represents the most significant investment in our infrastructure since the construction of the Interstate Highway System. Think about that. For generations, for decades, we have talked about the need to rebuild our roads and our bridges, our airports, our seaports, our waterways, our water treatment systems, and, today, to expand high-speed internet access to Americans throughout our country no matter where they live--whether they are in the northern regions of Maine or an inner city neighborhood--and that is exactly what this legislation would do.

I want to just quickly give an example from my own State of Maine.

Maine has 315 bridges and nearly 1,500 miles of roads that are rated as being in poor condition. Now the State of Maine will have the funding that will enable it to make major investments in the repair and replacement of this critical infrastructure. I am particularly pleased that the legislation includes $65 billion to expand access to broadband.

And I want to thank my colleague Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who worked so closely with me. We were partners in this endeavor, and this is going to make such a difference to students who are doing online courses, to seniors who want access to telemedicine, to individuals who are able to work from home, but none of that is possible without access to high-speed internet services.

I am very pleased to be part of this group, and I am also delighted to demonstrate to the American people that we can work across the aisle in a bipartisan way to achieve real results that matter to the people of this country.

I yield to the Senator from New Hampshire.

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