A New Day for Transit in New York City

Floor Speech

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Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of representing two historic and iconic districts in the 13th Congressional District.

Harlem is the center, the mecca, of the African-American diaspora. It is the center of culture, of music, of literature for the Black community with the Apollo, the Schomburg, and other great historical institutions.

The other neighborhood that I represent, Mr. Speaker, is East Harlem, El Barrio, which is the launching pad for the Latino experience in New York City. It was the home, the cradle, for the Puerto Rican community that opened its doors to Dominicans, Ecuadorians, Colombians, Central and South Americans.

They really are two historic districts within the 13th Congressional District. Today, we mark a new day for those two communities with regard to transit access.

This week, President Biden announced and submitted to Congress a strong and visionary budget. It included $4.5 billion for the Capital Investment Grant program, which includes $400 million for the construction of the second phase of the Second Avenue subway extension.

The first phase was completed not too long ago, several years ago, and it went from 96th Street south to 72nd Street, touching some of the most affluent ZIP Codes in the country.

This phase, the second phase, will go north to 125th Street. Some people have categorized it and called it Uptown Grand Central. It would connect East Harlem, El Barrio, and Harlem at 125th Street to the rest of the world.

These stops will connect a transportation desert where over 75 percent of its residents use public transportation to the Lexington Avenue line, which is the most overcrowded subway line in the city, if not the country.

East Harlem, as I said earlier, is currently a transportation desert, and this second phase will change the lives of over 100,000 New Yorkers who will use it on a daily basis.

This phase will extend train services to 96th Street and 125th Street, a 2-mile stretch, and benefit thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers. But it would also connect to Metro-North, a total of 124 stations in seven different counties in upstate New York, suburban New York, as well as Connecticut. As such, it will also connect folks to LaGuardia Airport via bus and future water transportation in the Hudson River and Harlem River.

This is truly a regional project that will connect Harlem and East Harlem, El Barrio, to the rest of the world.

I am happy and proud that President Biden included $400 million for the second phase of the Second Avenue subway.

The first phase saw 160,000 people benefit on a regular basis, $842 million in wages, and $2.87 billion in economic activity in that region.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to see this new initiative.

I thank President Biden for bringing the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway to the 13th Congressional District.

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