The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“REAL 21ST CENTURY GROWTH” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the in the House of Representatives section section on pages H6269-H6270 on Nov. 16.
The Department handles nearly all infrastructure crisscrossing the country. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department should be privatized to save money, reduce congestion and spur innovation.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
REAL 21ST CENTURY GROWTH
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) for 5 minutes.
Mr. COURTNEY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, November 15, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, President Biden signed into law the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which, for a lot of us who have been serving around here, was an incredibly gratifying and important moment in terms of really finally getting this country ahead of the curve in terms of critical investments for infrastructure.
Last Wednesday night, I held a telephone townhall on the infrastructure bill because the House had passed the measure on November 5. We had 7,000 people on the call who were either on the phone or streaming in. Lots of questions, lots of excitement. Connecticut is obviously a State that has been settled really since the origins of our Nation and has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country.
Mr. Speaker, I would note, however, that some of the questions that came in said, Well, only 10 percent of the bill is for hard infrastructure, for surface transportation. What's up with that?
And I was joined by Don Shubert, who is the executive director of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, who was quick to jump into the call and point out the fact that if you step back and look at this bill, it is a continuation of the last infrastructure bill which passed in 2015, the FAST Act, which passed on a bipartisan basis and was signed into law by President Obama, and was extended twice by President Trump.
Again, that baseline was kind of keeping the lights on for infrastructure. It was not, however, getting us ahead of the curve in terms of the changes that are happening in other countries around the world. And with the new money that was included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill, we are seeing a huge increase, both in roads and bridges, but also in rail, also in the electric grid, also in broadband, which is now critical for any economic development for small communities to be able to tell companies and businesses that they have high speed internet.
So what does that mean in terms of the State of Connecticut? It means that the roads and the bridges--which again is a big focus--got a 32 percent increase in terms of the State's allotment, which will flow through the State's Department of Transportation.
Some of the old bridges in our State--again, the largest vehicle bridge is the Gold Star Bridge, which is part of the I-95 corridor, has been getting a pounding since it was built in 1943. The northbound lane right now, quite frankly, is so compromised that large trucks are basically not given permits to travel across that bridge. Again, it is part of the Interstate Highway System. It is a $250 million job.
This bill will make sure that that funding is there. It is a project labor agreement, so it is going to be union labor and apprenticeship programs incorporated into the work that is there.
Again, there are countless other small bridges, medium-size bridges in the district. There is a swing bridge over the Connecticut River in East Haddam, Connecticut, that was built 108 years ago that breaks down, interferes with boat traffic going up and down the Connecticut River, that now has got full funding and is slated for repairs.
Also, in terms of the rail piece, which is separate from roads and bridges, $66 billion, a big investment in the Northeast Corridor. Across the Connecticut River, there is the Old Saybrook Bridge, which is 114 years old. Anyone who sails underneath it and sees, again, how fragile the supports are for that bridge, it is screaming out for repairs. That project now will be fully funded as a result of this legislation.
The Coast Guard Academy, which is in New London, Connecticut, is going to get $53 million to repair the barracks and the dormitories. Again, anyone looking at the age of those buildings, which some of our future leaders for the Coast Guard are going to school there, is getting a long overdue upgrade. As well as a city pier in New London where the USS Eagle--which is the proud sort of flagship of the U.S. Coast Guard--will now be able to tie up to modern infrastructure that is there.
There is a host of other smaller projects in Tolland and Windham Counties that are included in this package. Again, I would emphasize that the total funding amount is not what some of the stuff that is out there in the media in terms of small fractions for hard infrastructure. The fact is when you incorporate the FAST Act baseline that was passed in 2015, along with the bipartisan infrastructure funding on top of it, the roads and bridges is close to 40 percent of the package. It also includes increasing and boosting the electric grid; which as we convert to electric vehicle passenger traffic, as we convert to offshore wind, which is going to be transmitting voltage to the coastline, we need to have a stronger grid.
All of that is good jobs that is going to be, again, built-in, baked-
in over the next five years. It is not going to create inflationary pressures because of the fact that, again, it is spread out over a period of time.
It was a great day for our country. We came together on a bipartisan basis to get this done and now we are ready for a real 21st century growth that will be beneficial to all communities large and small.
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