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VALUE OF INFRASTRUCTURE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) for 5 minutes.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, as the son of a civil engineer, I was raised with an understanding of the value of infrastructure that serves people and benefits communities. My commitment to infrastructure has spanned decades. As a young man, I put shovel to the road for the construction of highways and bridges; and now, today, I advocate for infrastructure improvements in Congress.
As we know all too well in rural Pennsylvania, infrastructure has real-life consequences for communities. At its core, improving roads, bridges, and other key infrastructure should be a commonsense, bipartisan priority. Failing infrastructure does not discriminate. A broken bridge can harm Democrats just as it can harm Republicans.
Unfortunately, the so-called infrastructure reform put forth by President Biden fails to take seriously the challenges that we are currently facing in Pennsylvania and around the entire country. In the rural district that I represent, we know the importance of true infrastructure. We need to make our roadways and bridges safer, we need to improve our transportation systems, and we desperately need to deploy reliable internet to those lacking access to broadband. This is what true infrastructure is. But, unfortunately, that is not the Biden plan.
Let's look at the facts. In President Biden's infrastructure plan, less than 6 percent would go to roads and bridges; less than 2 percent would go to waterways, locks, dams, ports, and airports; and less than 5 percent, unfortunately, would go to broadband.
With $600 billion devoted to the Green New Deal, this has never been about infrastructure. In Pennsylvania, the extreme policies championed in the Biden plan will crush our vital manufacturing and energy industries. This plan prioritizes the progressive agenda over the needs of the American workers and small businesses.
In the name of infrastructure, Democrats want to kill jobs, raise taxes, burden families, and stunt our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, I ask a very simple question: Is it worth it?
As we seek to define infrastructure and consider improvements to our Nation's fundamental infrastructure needs, I urge all of my colleagues to dispense with the political games. We need roads, bridges, and reliable internet. We do not need the Green New Deal. Stop calling this infrastructure. Stop hiding progressive policies in trojan horses. Stop trying to trick the American people.
While I stand ready to work with the President and House Democrats on what is true infrastructure reform, this plan is further evidence that the Biden-Harris administration are more happy to push their radical agenda at the expense of hardworking Americans.
Instead of propelling these radical policies, this could be a good-
faith opportunity to deliver results for the American people. If we work together, we can get this job done. From deploying rural broadband to sustaining our basic roads, we must bridge this divide.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 67
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