Accomplishments of the 117th Congress

Floor Speech

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Mr. HUFFMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for doing such a great job steering this Regional Leadership Council through our work so that we can highlight how Democrats are investing in America and putting people over politics.

Others have mentioned the legislative packages that we were able to put on President Biden's desk in the last Congress, all the transformative, historic bills--the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and much more.

We are bringing down inflation. We are growing the economy. We are rebuilding this country for the 21st century, lowering prescription drug costs, and a lot more.

During that incredibly productive 2-year period when President Biden had a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, we also showed you can govern in Congress and do big things that matter to people, contrary to what we are seeing with this ``Keystone Cops'' episode and the Republican majority in this Congress.

Now, as the representative for Region 2, which is northern California, Alaska, and Hawaii, I have had a laser focus on bringing these investments home for some of the most consequential issues that we are up against. Today, I want to highlight two of those big priorities: Investments for Tribes and solutions to manage our increasingly difficult water challenges in the West.

I proudly represent a region rich with indigenous diversity. Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked with Tribes to address the various issues affecting these communities, from critical infrastructure to revising ecosystems on the brink of collapse.

One element of critical infrastructure that has been neglected for way too long is broadband expansion. In today's digital age, access to affordable high-speed internet is not a luxury but a necessity. Yet, there is still a staggering digital divide, especially in Indian Country.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, we are beginning to change that. We have been building out broadband infrastructure to connect Tribes with internet access that is essential to economic development, education, public safety, and quality of life.

A lot of the grants are flowing to our communities, thanks to the $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program that we created last Congress.

Just last month, I got to tour a local project in Covelo with the Round Valley Tribe, a very remote part of my district. They are working with this grant funding to expand broadband and connect 726 Tribal households, 3 Tribal businesses, and 7 Tribal community anchor institutions, including a health clinic. This is game-changing stuff.

The infrastructure law is also helping with a project that is incredibly important to Tribes in my region, restoring the Klamath River Basin. The Karuk, Hoopa, and Yurok Tribes' way of life has revolved around the Klamath River since time immemorial. Four dilapidated dams on that river have decimated it. With the help from the bipartisan infrastructure law, those dams are finally coming down. They don't impact anyone's water supply, but they are going to help bring this river back to life, thanks to the work that we have done.

On top of all that, the Interior Department just announced $150 million from the IRA to electrify homes in Tribal communities.

These are real results happening for populations that have been underserved and left to the wayside for far too long.

Now, let's switch quickly to talk about the looming crisis with water infrastructure and resiliency in the West.

Every community in our region, rural or urban, has to deal with the impacts of crippling droughts year after year. The climate crisis is driving severe conditions and historically low water allocations. We have our work cut out for us.

We need to prioritize equitable green and proven-to-work solutions that help communities adapt, like large-scale water recycling, and that is exactly what we are doing.

We included the largest investment in Western water infrastructure in decades in our work in the last Congress. To date, we have invested $310 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law for projects that advance water recycling and reuse. In fact, in the North Bay, where I represent a reuse authority program, we just received $6.9 million for these types of projects.

There are a lot of groundbreaking initiatives underway right now to combat drought in the West because of the work that we did. Under the IRA, we made a $25 million investment to fund a pilot project that just makes so much sense. In California, we have all of these aqueducts and canals that have evaporative water loss and could have solar panels covering them to reduce that loss and generate clean, renewable energy. We now have a pilot project to enable that kind of innovation, a win- win solution because of the work we did.

All of this is happening on the ground in our communities, and it is proof that investing in America pays off. We should all take note.

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