Accomplishments of the 117th Congress

Floor Speech

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Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for this great opportunity.

Last Congress was the most productive in over 50 years. With the leadership of President Biden and Democrats in the House and Senate, and with the help of some moderate Republicans, we were able to pass landmark legislation, the core of which in our economic agenda was the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which had a bipartisan vote; the CHIPS Act, also a bipartisan vote; and the Inflation Reduction Act.

I am honored to serve on the Regional Leadership Council as we talk about investing in America. This is about progress, and I am honored to represent on that council both my home State of Florida and Georgia.

In Florida, we are slated for up to $50 billion in infrastructure improvements. It means roads and bridges in places like I-4 in central Florida, which has been mired in traffic for years because of our great growth. It means a new airport tower in Tampa that Representative Castro worked on for their growing city. Across the State, we literally quadrupled the budget for ports in Florida because of these efforts.

I got to visit Cape Canaveral and see the work they are doing there in the top cruise line destination port in the world, the expansions there.

In south Florida, water projects to help with clean water as well as ports have also been huge, and we see these types of expansions at our airports, like Orlando International Airport with a new Terminal C and expansions there.

We have seen hundreds of thousands of jobs created in Florida because of these infrastructure projects. We are seeing local ironworkers, electrical workers, and local operating engineers working on these major projects as central Floridians are gathering together as well as Floridians from across the State.

A surprising fact: Florida had more lead pipes than any other State. That was a big surprise. Now, we have funding coming in to help out everything from schoolkids to seniors who live in mobile home developments.

We are also seeing a huge amount of work around the Inflation Reduction Act. Georgia is cleaning up right now in making electric vehicles, electric batteries, and even recycling EV batteries, with both Hyundai and Rivian joining in those areas.

In fact, when we were in our Energy and Commerce Committee, we had gentlemen from Georgia who had to change their tune on the very bill attacking EVs that was being discussed because there are so many jobs coming into Georgia to help out.

Of course, the Chips and Science Act coupled with these other bills are doubling the amount of manufacturing, construction, and investment in our Nation. We are the envy of the world right now in the manufacturing that we have going on.

In our own State, we focus on aerospace chips, chips to help out with satellites and rockets and with the harsh conditions of space and aerospace. In central Florida, we were just named a finalist for the biggest CHIPS Act project in the State. We are going to continue to work with them and also with Green Garden Village, the biggest Inflation Reduction Act project making EV batteries.

I thank the gentleman, my leader--he always will be my leader--Steny Hoyer, for bringing us together to talk about progress, to talk about jobs, to talk about manufacturing and clean energy as we continue to invest in America and move our Nation forward.

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