Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank probably the most knowledgeable Member of Congress about infrastructure in this country and our needs, Mr. DeFazio, the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

He and his committee, Mr. Speaker, and members of his staff have worked very long and very late hours over the past 2 years--and, frankly, longer than that, going back to the 116th Congress and the 115th Congress--to produce the legislation that served as a basis for this bipartisan bill. I also thank Chairman Pallone and the members and the staff of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who contributed a great deal as well.

Mr. Speaker, during the course of the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump said he was going to invest a trillion dollars in infrastructure--a trillion dollars. In 2017, he became the President of the United States, and in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, no trillion-dollar infrastructure bill was offered to this House or to the Congress.

Mr. DeFazio, myself, the Speaker, and other leaders went down and met with President Trump. Mr. DeFazio was talking about the trillion dollars that the President talked about. He really thought there was probably more needed, but he was talking about the trillion dollars. The President said dismiss that, that is too little. It is not enough. We need at least $2 trillion--President Trump, 2019.

What we have before us today, Mr. Speaker, is a product that reflects the needs of our economy, an infrastructure system in dire need of upgrade and expansion, and addresses some, but by no means all, of the realities of the climate crisis we face.

In fact, a bill which did a much better job passed this House, led by Mr. DeFazio. Unfortunately, it was not subject to conference, which is what the process ought to be.

However, this bill would enable our businesses to seize on the opportunities presented by those challenges and to create millions of good, new jobs in the process.

And I thank Mr. DeFazio for his leadership and advocacy.

We have before us legislation that will invest more than $1 trillion in transportation networks--half of what President Trump said we ought to be doing, but a very significant step nonetheless--in expanding broadband access, in addressing climate change, and in helping our communities build back better and more resilient.

It would enact a major component of President Biden's Build Back Better agenda. This is part and parcel of the whole. This is a segment of what the President has rightfully called generational, transformational change.

I hope we can come together and pass this legislation, Mr. Speaker, with strong support from Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans have been browbeaten into opposing this bill, not because of substantive reasons, but for political reasons so that President Biden will not have a victory. But that perspective is incorrect. The people who will not have a victory are the American people.

I hope we come together, as I said, to pass this legislation in a bipartisan fashion to help our businesses and working families make it in America. I use those words on purpose because I have been talking about making it in America for over a decade.

I have been proud, for many years, to lead House Democrats' Make It In America plan for jobs and opportunities, a plan with three core components: infrastructure, this bill; and education, the bill to come, although this has significant training in here for workers to get good jobs and good-paying jobs. It is a plan with also another core, and that is entrepreneurship.

Infrastructure has been central to our Make It In America plan since I first put it on the table in 2010. That is because momentum has been building for these investments in infrastructure for many years. As a matter of fact, then-candidate Joe Biden called me up and said: I want to talk to you about Make It In America.

We talked about it, and it is in our Democratic platform, Make It In America.

I don't know anybody who is not for making it in America, either manufacturing, even if it is zeros and ones, or succeeding, making it in America.

Businesses, labor, economists, and State and local leaders have been clamoring for Congress to do exactly what we are about to do today with this vote. And when I say ``exactly,'' they would like more. I think they would have liked the House bill, Mr. DeFazio's bill, much better. But none of us get perfect, and this is a bipartisan bill.

Our Make It In America plan has called for multiyear, fully funded authorizations to address the backlog of projects both for transportation and for water infrastructure, and that is what Mr. DeFazio has been leading on.

This bill includes a 5-year, $110 billion authorization for highways, roads, and bridges; $39 billion for transit; and $55 billion in water infrastructure to literally get the lead out and make our water safe to drink.

It calls for making our electricity grid more resilient and more reliable, which we included in Make It In America. This bill invests $78 billion to do exactly that and creates a new grid deployment authority to promote innovation and smart-grid technologies. That is about our national security. That is a national security demand on us.

In the Make It In America agenda, we challenged Congress to promote a modern energy infrastructure that reduces waste and incentivizes storage and alternative forms of energy for vehicles. That is what Mr. DeFazio did in the bill that we passed. It is not as good, I think, but that is what is in this bill.

The $7.5 billion included in this legislation for building an electric vehicle charging infrastructure in America, particularly in rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach communities, meets that challenge. That is why 40 percent of the Republicans in the United States Senate voted for it.

When House Democrats traveled across the country listening to the American people over the last few years, we heard what they need to make it in America. We heard about the need to expand access to high- speed internet, including deployment of 5G wireless infrastructure. That is what Mr. DeFazio did, and that is what this Senate bill does. This bill achieves those goals by including $65 billion to bring broadband access to nearly all Americans by auctioning new spectrum for 5G wireless. That is what Whip Clyburn was talking about, making sure that all of us can make it in America because we have access to the internet.

It is also about education, and we have called for reforms that allow for stackable credentials for students preparing for the workforce as well as those already in the workforce looking to get ahead by learning new skills.

This bill before us today includes provisions that provide States with flexibility in how they use funding to strengthen workforce development. We all talk about that. It helps more people train for in- demand skills, such as engineering.

In so many ways, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a product of House Democrats--Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Scott, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Neal--and, yes, many Republicans who have also talked about making it in America.

We have been united in promoting this agenda for 10 years, and now we have the chance to effect a large portion of it.

Mr. Trump talked about it; he just didn't do it.

This legislation, of course, is just one-half of an even larger effort, as I said, by President Biden and Democrats to achieve that objective of helping our people make it in America.

The other piece is the Build Back Better Act. That legislation, which is progressing steadily toward consideration on the floor, would enact the remainder of President Biden and Democrats' domestic agenda, including major efforts to address the climate crisis and reforms that will help millions of American families achieve economic security.

We all talk about being pro-family. That is pro-family. Childcare is pro-family. Earned income tax credit is pro-family. Expanding Medicaid is pro-family. So much. And if we are pro-family, we need to support those items.

While the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act makes investments toward tackling the climate crisis, the Build Back Better Act will take the steps needed to transition our economy to clean energy in line with the President's commitment to the Paris climate agreement and Mr. DeFazio's bill that we passed through this House.

Where this legislation today invests in our Nation's physical infrastructure, the Build Back Better Act makes investment in America's human infrastructure.

When I go to a building and cut a ribbon at some base or whatever, I say that is very nice, this physical structure, but if we build great bricks and mortar but don't have people who can do the job, we build in vain.

In our working families, in our communities, that is what we invest in, in opportunities for hardworking Americans to get ahead.

We are moving steadily ahead with that bill, and I am hopeful that we are nearing the finish line. I look forward to bringing that bill, the Build Back Better Act, to the floor soon.

Mr. Speaker, I believe Democrats will demonstrate unity on both pieces of legislation as we put President Biden and congressional Democrats' agenda into action. Let's get it done. Vote ``yes.''

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