Investing in Rural Communities
Floor Speech
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Mr. VASQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to proudly announce that two of my communities in various parts of southern New Mexico will receive $63 million in Federal investment to construct two medium- and heavy- duty commercial electric truck charging stations along Interstate 10 thanks to the bipartisan infrastructure law.
Lordsburg, in Hidalgo County, is home to only 2,300 people, and Vado in Dona Ana County is home to nearly 3,000 people.
This type of investment in these small, rural communities will spur economic development in these places for generations to come.
While we talk about these new electrification opportunities across the country, I am always asked: What jobs will this bring to the rural communities like mine?
This $63 million award coming to New Mexico is the largest award in the United States and will go a long way to not just helping us transition to cleaner trucks and transportation but it will also boost economic development in rural communities.
Larger metropolitan areas continuously benefit from Federal investments, so this is why I fight to make sure that towns like Lordsburg and Vado are not being left behind by the decisions here in Washington.
The construction of these new charging centers will provide critical resting places along the I-10 corridor, a route that facilitates the transportation of millions of dollars in goods from the Ports of Los Angeles through New Mexico and through the rest of the country.
Along with this project comes new jobs and other investments like lodging, food services, and fuel stations that will serve the truckers who are utilizing the new center.
This critical funding is also helping grow American manufacturing, including in my district in New Mexico. In fact, in September, Hota, an auto parts maker, announced that they are opening a factory in Santa Teresa that will support 350 new jobs building these parts for electric vehicles.
I am committed to growing the rural economies in my district, whether that is supporting new manufacturing jobs or establishing new charging hubs along I-10. This shows that we can work together in a bipartisan way and deliver for the American people and for our rural communities.
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