INVESTING IN A NEW VISION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND SURFACE TRANSPORTATION IN AMERICA ACT; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 121
(Extensions of Remarks - July 01, 2020)
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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E607-E608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INVESTING IN A NEW VISION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND SURFACE
TRANSPORTATION IN AMERICA ACT
______
speech of
HON. ANNA G. ESHOO
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2, the Moving
Forward Act, a transformative investment of $1.5 trillion to create
jobs, protect our climate, and modernize our highways, hospitals,
schools, broadband connectivity, housing, clean water, and energy
infrastructure.
The American Society of Civil Engineers evaluated the state of the
nation's infrastructure in 2017 and gave the U.S. a D+ grade. They
estimated that we need to invest $2 trillion more than we are today to
bring our infrastructure to a good state of repair. While this is a
significant amount, failing to act will lead to an estimated $4
trillion in lower economic output, including the loss of 2.5 million
jobs. With the economy still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, this
legislation takes on an even greater urgency.
The Moving Forward Act is not only big, it is green. Climate policy
is a cornerstone of the bill because the transportation sector
contributes nearly one-third of our country's greenhouse gas emissions.
The legislation invests $100 billion to make our public transit faster,
cleaner, and more reliable, taking cars off the road and reducing
greenhouse gas emissions. These investments include significant funding
for electric buses which will help transit providers such as SamTrans,
VTA, and Santa Cruz METRO transition their bus fleets to all zero-
emission vehicles by 2040. The bill also provides $1.4 billion to
deploy electric vehicle charging stations across the country, $8.3
billion for state carbon reduction grants, and $70 billion to modernize
the electric grid to support additional renewable energy, improve
energy efficiency, and support an expansive electric vehicle charging
network. Together these investments make the Moving Forward Act one of
the most significant bills to address climate change ever considered in
Congress.
In addition to emission reductions in the transportation and power
sectors, the Moving Forward Act also includes significant funding for
environmental restoration, including $125 million for the San Francisco
Bay. These funds will support ongoing work to restore habitats for
endangered species and protect cities like Mountain View, Palo Alto,
and Redwood City from sea level rise. The bill also provides funding to
reclaim abandoned coal mines, increase drought resilience, and clean up
drinking water contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
(PFAS).
I'm pleased that the Moving Forward Act provides $3.6 billion in
guaranteed transit funding for the Bay Area, a 50 percent increase from
the last highway bill in 2015. It also adjusts the criteria for several
discretionary grants that will make Bay Area transit projects more
likely to receive additional federal funding. The dedicated $2.5
billion for grade separations nationwide will benefit both Caltrain
riders and communities along the Caltrain corridor which has 42 at-
grade crossings, including the crossing at the top of the California
Public Utility Commission's priority list. This funding will be a
welcome relief to my constituents who are choking in traffic, with
commute times in the Bay Area prior to the pandemic nearly twice as
long as they were ten years ago.
The Moving Forward Act also provides $100 billion to ensure every
American has internet connectivity. Tens of millions of Americans
across the U.S. still lack basic access to high-quality broadband
internet service. Access to high speed internet service is essential in
the 21st Century, particularly as Americans are conducting more of
their lives online during the COVID-19 public health emergency. I'm
pleased that two of my broadband bills are included in this
legislation. My bipartisan Nationwide Dig Once Act of 2020 is
commonsense legislation that requires the inclusion of conduit--plastic
pipes that house fiber optic cables--during federally funded highway
construction. My Community Broadband Act protects municipal broadband
networks from state laws that thwart the efforts of communities
establishing their own networks.
The Moving Forward Act provides $10 billion for hospitals and
community health centers to make critical capital improvements and
rebuild their infrastructure to meet the growing demands on these
health care facilities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Importantly, the bill also creates a pilot program to
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fund upgrades to state and local public laboratories, which are
essential to our nation's testing capacity as we work to control and
respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The infrastructure investments in the Moving Forward Act create good-
paying jobs that cannot be outsourced, promote economic growth, reduce
our greenhouse emissions, and expand broadband to communities across
the country. I'm proud to support this legislation and urge my
colleagues to join me in voting for it.
____________________