[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 166 (Wednesday, November 2, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7016-S7019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REBUILD AMERICA JOBS ACT
Mr. BINGAMAN. Madam President, I rise today to speak in favor of the
Rebuild America Jobs Act. I, first, just clarify for folks, because it
is a little confusing, we have had several proposals to create jobs
that have come to the floor in the last several weeks, and they have
similar names. The one before us today is the Rebuild America Jobs Act,
and it is a portion of the larger American Jobs Act that President
Obama proposed and set out for the Congress to consider in September.
Let me talk first about that larger bill which the President
proposed. This American Jobs Act the President proposed would have a
very significant and beneficial impact on my State of New Mexico. Under
that legislation, there would be payroll tax cuts for about 40,000
businesses in my State. There would be an expansion of payroll tax cuts
for workers that would provide a typical household in New Mexico,
having a median income of $44,000, with a tax cut of about $1,360 per
year.
There would be support for up to 2,600 construction jobs in upgrading
public schools. There would be $20 million to revitalize vacant and
foreclosed businesses and homes. There would be over $49 million for
community colleges in New Mexico. There would be unemployment insurance
reforms that could help put 32,000 unemployed New Mexicans back to
work. And there is funding in that legislation for up to 3,100 teachers
and police officers and first responders to keep those people on the
job so they can continue to provide services to our schools, to our
students, and to our communities.
But despite the fact that all these important investments would be
fully paid for--and that is made clear in the legislation; not a single
dollar would be added to the national debt--this comprehensive
legislation was blocked by a filibuster by our Republican colleagues a
couple weeks ago. I commend Senator Reid for continuing to fight to
keep job creation on top of the legislative agenda and for bringing up
parts of this broader legislation independently to see if we can get
support for any of these individual parts because each of them has a
great deal of merit.
Two weeks ago, we voted on the Teachers and First Responders Back to
Work Act. This would have helped States and local governments keep over
400,000 teachers, police, and firefighters on the job during these
tough economic times. It was disappointing to me that this effort
failed to get enough votes so we could go ahead and consider the bill.
The legislation we are discussing would provide $50 billion in
infrastructure investments in highways and transit and in rail projects
across the country, and in doing those investments it would create
thousands of jobs. Among other things, it would put Americans to work
in improving 150,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of train tracks,
restoring 150 miles of airport runways, and in implementing the NextGen
air traffic modernization efforts that this Congress should be strongly
supporting. Those are efforts to improve air safety and to reduce
delays in air traffic.
So passage of this legislation would mean at least $284 million in my
home State of New Mexico in immediate infrastructure investments. That
investment of $284 million would support a minimum of 3,700 local jobs.
These resources are greatly needed in my State. The Federal Highway
Administration estimates that about 22 percent of New Mexico's major
roads are in poor or mediocre condition; 19 percent of our bridges are
structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to the
Federal Highway Administration.
In addition, the bill includes $10 billion to establish an
independent national infrastructure bank in order to leverage private
and public funds in advancing a broad range of infrastructure projects
through loans and loan guarantees. Under this proposal that was modeled
after bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Kerry and Hutchison
earlier this year, the bank would help finance large-scale
transportation, water, and energy projects that are of national and
regional significance. I am glad to see that the infrastructure bank
included in this bill would begin to address some of the significant
challenges we have of stimulating investment in new energy projects.
There is simply not enough capital available in the country to deploy
these technologies at the scale we need to deploy them to meet our
national security objectives and to remain competitive in growing
international markets for clean energy technologies. So the
availability of this type of financing through this national
infrastructure bank could be helpful in developing the transmission
capacity required to bring renewable energies developed in my State of
New Mexico to communities throughout the country.
Let me also briefly comment on the fact that there is revenue raised
in order to pay for this set of investments that are being proposed;
that is, there is a so-called offset for the cost of this legislation.
That is because I think all of us agree the deficit is at unsustainable
levels. We should not be committing to increased spending without
finding a way to pay for it, and that is why this legislation contains
a revenue-raising provision. The legislation would impose a 0.7-percent
surtax on income exceeding $1 million.
What does that mean? That means that if a person's annual income is
$1 million, then this legislation does not, in any way, change the
taxes they are required to pay. So any garden-variety millionaire who
only receives $1 million per year in income is not required to pay any
more under this legislation. But if they exceed that and their income
is $1,110,000, for example, they would have to pay an extra $700 toward
the cost of this legislation.
The reality is, modernizing our Nation's infrastructure and
stimulating job growth and enhancing policies to
[[Page S7017]]
assist with our economic recovery does cost money. We all wish it did
not, but it does. Frankly, if we are going to give more than just lip
service to addressing our persistent deficits, I think it is reasonable
to ask the wealthiest among us to pitch in to move America forward to
get this economy moving again.
In New Mexico, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of taxpayers would be
impacted by this modest surtax. That means 99.9 percent of New Mexicans
would not be impacted at all, and the handful of filers who would be
impacted would only pay the surtax on the portion of their annual
income that exceeds $1 million.
I strongly believe this legislation, the Rebuild America Jobs Act,
that we are going to try to proceed to tomorrow--or whenever we can get
consent from our Republican colleagues to proceed to it--I believe is
important legislation. It is an important step in turning our economy
around, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. COONS. Madam President, I rise because this week, once again, the
Senate of the United States has the opportunity to create jobs, to find
a way to work together to make a real difference in the long-term
strength of this Nation, and to finally punch back against this
recession which has taken so much from the working families of our
States.
I rise in support of the Rebuilding America Jobs Act, a bill that
will invest $60 billion in our Nation's crumbling infrastructure and
put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work.
Investments in America's infrastructure are investments in America's
future, and they could not come at a more critical time for our
country, our communities, or our future.
The rest of the world is pouring money into its infrastructure
because they know it will not only make it easier for them to recover
from this recession; they know it will make them more competitive for
their long-term future, for their people, for their countries, for
their economies. So at a time when our competitors are pouring money
into fixing, expanding, building their infrastructure, we have turned
off the spigot. We are starving our roads and our bridges, our sewers
and our water systems, our tunnels, our ports, our runways, our
railroad tracks. We are starving them of the repairs they need to
function properly--not just today but to lay the groundwork for our
competitiveness for the next generation of Americans.
China, one of our greatest economic competitors, is spending 9
percent of its GDP on infrastructure. As anyone who has visited China
in recent years knows, all across the nation of China there are
gleaming new highway systems, brandnew ports, brandnew airports and
runways, brandnew transportation infrastructure that connects newly
built cities leaping from the ground as if by magic because they have
invested enormous amounts in a modern infrastructure. Europe broadly is
investing 5 percent of GDP in modernizing their infrastructure. In the
United States, where modern infrastructure has for a generation made us
the envy of the world, we are investing just 2 percent--just 2
percent--of our GDP. This is foolish.
Few people argue that infrastructure isn't important. In fact, it is
one of the few things that seem to enjoy broad support in this Chamber,
in this city, and in this country. Folks as disparate as the AFL-CIO
and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce agree that investing in modernizing
our infrastructure is critical, not just for putting Americans back to
work but getting America working for our country's future. They both
support the idea of an infrastructure bank because they know investing
in infrastructure isn't just about rebuilding our roads, it is about
rebuilding our economy.
When companies make decisions about where to locate, about where to
build a new factory, about where to expand production, about where to
lease a new office, infrastructure is always at or near the top of
their list. Proximity to a highway means everything if someone is going
to run or expand a factory. Being close to a port is critical if their
products need to be exported overseas. Access to airports and railways
is imperative if someone wants to do business outside their community
or our country. High-speed Internet can be every bit as important as
these century-old transportation technologies and can be every bit as
important as clean water, modern ports or new railroads.
Infrastructure is important in every State of our Nation and
especially so in my coastal State of Delaware. The Port of Wilmington
brings 4 million tons of goods through Delaware each year, providing
high-wage, high-skilled jobs for the longshoremen and the communities
immediately around our port that rely so much on its vital link to the
global economy. Railways allow Amtrak to connect businessmen and women
from New York to our financial services sector, to our legal and
banking community in Wilmington, and it is one of the busiest railroad
stations in America. I-95, the east coast corridor, connects truckers
and motorists up and down the east coast to our little State.
But as folks have known for too long, one of the worst choke points
in the whole East Coast on I-95 was in our State. I used to get calls
all the time in my role as county executive because folks mistakenly
thought it was somehow my role to modernize this highway. It was John
F. Kennedy who cut the ribbon on this modern interstate highway, and
we, frankly, have failed to invest in keeping up with the times, in
keeping up with the growth in traffic, in keeping up with the tempo of
global commerce since then.
Delaware has finally solved these problems. With the leadership of
the Obama administration and this Chamber, the investments that were
made in infrastructure over the last 2 years, we finally have solved
that chokepoint on I-95. Today, motorists move through at great
speeds--pay their tolls to Delaware, yes--and are able to get on their
way, north or south, and engage in commerce at the speed that the
modern economy demands. That is what we seek to do nationwide. That is
what the Rebuilding America Jobs Act can do.
For the last 25 or 30 years, we have been building off the
infrastructure built by our parents' generation, hoping that a little
bandage here, a little ointment there, a little wire, a little bubble
gum would be enough to get us through another year. But that is not a
strategy for laying the groundwork for a great future for our children.
It is not even a strategy for keeping up. The chokepoints on America's
roads can't be allowed to choke America's economy for the next
generation. One-third of our Nation's major roadways are in poor or
even mediocre condition, and one-quarter of our bridges have been rated
structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. We have even faced the
human suffering and the reputational disaster of having bridges
collapse across this country in recent years. We have failed to invest
in our future. As a country, we can keep swerving to avoid these
potholes, but eventually we are going to hit them.
The Rebuilding America Jobs Act would fill that pothole, would make
smooth the rough places of this Nation, and accelerate our economic
growth for the future. I am a cosponsor of the Rebuilding America Jobs
Act because this bill would fill the pothole we have been avoiding for
decades. It would rebuild 150,000 miles of American roadways, maintain
4,000 miles of train tracks, upgrade 150 miles of airport runways. It
would restore critical drinking water and wastewater systems for our
communities, and strengthen our energy infrastructure. In short, it
would make us competitive. It would put people back to work. It would
get us on the right road to a sustained recovery. It would put hundreds
of thousands of Americans back to work in that sector of economy that
took the first and hardest hit from the recession.
More than 2 million Americans who worked in construction have lost
their jobs since this tragic recession hit, including 8,000 in my home
State of Delaware alone, and we have thousands of folks in the skilled
building trades ready to go. They need us to get over our differences,
find a way past these endless, mindless filibusters, and get them to
work. This week we have an opportunity to invest in those people and
invest in our country. Infrastructure is such a smart investment, and
in this economy and in this competitive
[[Page S7018]]
global environment where our allies and competitors are outstripping
our investment because they see clearly the road to the future, we
simply cannot afford to continue to refuse to act.
It was 1 year ago today that the people of Delaware elected me to
represent them in Washington. Every day since I have wondered when this
Chamber was finally going to come together across the partisan divide
and start moving on jobs. The persistent partisanship here that has
plagued this body is in my view not worthy of the very real human needs
of the people who sent us here.
Last month, folks in this Congress, mostly from the other party,
prevented us from acting on jobs--not once, not twice, but several
times. I do not understand the strategy here, but the endless
filibusters must stop. I know there is debate over how we are going to
pay for this particular proposal to put $60 billion into
infrastructure, but as Senator Bingaman commented just before me, this
is a modest increase in revenue from the very wealthiest Americans that
I believe is justified in this critical economic time. Too many of my
neighbors, too many of my constituents, are out of work.
I don't think we have a choice. We need to act. The President is
right, we cannot wait to act. The Rebuilding America Jobs Act not only
invests in America's jobs for today but in our economy tomorrow. We
cannot wait any longer to fill this pothole. This bill deserves
bipartisan support and I hope my colleagues will join me in voting for
it this week.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. BEGICH. Madam President, I rise to speak also on the Rebuild
America Jobs Act. Our Nation's infrastructure is in a state of
disrepair. We see it in the potholes in our streets, in the congested
highways of public transit that lack the capacity to safely and
efficiently get Americans where they need to go. The American Society
of Civil Engineers gives our Nation's infrastructure a D grade. One in
four bridges in the United States is structurally deficient. Our
deteriorating infrastructure has negative impacts on commerce and our
economy. We no longer have an infrastructure system that is the envy of
the world.
When you invest in public infrastructure, you have two results: You
create immediate construction jobs and you lay the foundation, the
groundwork, to improve communities and facilitate commerce. That was
certainly my experience when I was mayor of Anchorage.
I became mayor in 2003 at a time of economic slowdown--not quite as
bad as the national recession we face today, but we inherited huge
budget deficits and a dramatic slowdown in our economy. Our answer to
turn Anchorage around was to invest in our basic system of roads and
water and sewer and power--basic infrastructure. One of the best
examples of the public infrastructure investment was a small community
in the northern part of Anchorage called Mountain View. We knew there
was great potential for economic turnaround in this community. We knew
it because the community was interested. But in that community the
public infrastructure hadn't been invested in for decades. We did some
simple things at first--upgraded the roads, basic systems that move
people from one end of Mountain View to the other. We invested in
schools. Then we invested in some public facilities. Today, Mountain
View is the home of a branch of one of our large credit unions which is
now their top performer in new accounts. Also new retail was
established there--restaurant, phone store--and housing developments
where no housing was being developed in this neighborhood. As a matter
of fact, this neighborhood--I know it well because I grew up not far
from there--was the neighborhood where people lived and then they tried
to figure out how to move out of the neighborhood. Today it is a
community of choice, a place where people want to go. Well over 140
housing units have been developed in this community in the last 5
years. Also additional public offices and a library were developed
there for the first time in over 22 years. Simple investments created
private sector investment along with it.
Another example is, we built a new $100 million convention center in
our downtown Anchorage. The new Dena'ina Center is now an economic
engine attracting bigger conventions and meetings and tens of thousands
of visitors a year. In September alone the new convention center
generated almost $12 million in revenue supporting restaurants, shops,
and hotels.
Again, as someone born and raised in Anchorage, I remember when
businesses were fleeing the downtown. They saw it as not an opportunity
for economic development. By making these simple investments, we can
have a long-term impact. This $100 million may sound like a lot of
money. Let me give another example--$40,000 we invested in improved
street lights in a small part of downtown along G Street. Property
owners had legitimate concerns of safety after dark. When winter hits
in Alaska, there is a lot less light, so we invested about $40,000 per
street light, installing some simple street lights, a dozen or so along
the road there. As a result, the character of the street has
dramatically changed. We have seen 10 new businesses spring up in a
three-block section of G Street because it is safer. People move freely
at any time of the day. There are year-round retail and restaurant
businesses such as an Urban Greens, Jo Jo A Go Go, Modern Dwellers,
Alaska Cake Studio, and Octopus Ink--a variety of new businesses.
Retailers are investing their hard-earned capital, reaching out to
expand opportunity for Anchorage. These businesses probably would not
have made the investment without the small investment of the public
infrastructure.
In my view, we need to follow this model on a national level. Failure
to invest in our crumbling infrastructure--our roads, bridges,
airports--will cost us nearly a million American jobs without this
investment. It is incredibly important to move our economy forward by
legislation such as the Rebuild America Jobs Act. We have an
opportunity to reverse this trend while helping to put hundreds of
thousands of people back to work. This could put Alaskans back to work
on important projects--bridge repairs outside the Denali National Park,
a critical route between Alaska's two population centers and a heavily
traveled route for tour operators and shippers; intersection upgrades
on two of the busiest roads in downtown Fairbanks; highway safety
improvements along the Seward Highway outside of Anchorage that reduce
deadly traffic accidents and delays; safety improvements along the
Sterling Highway on the Kenai Peninsula--other areas of high visitor
traffic in the summer.
We know these improvements will support local economic growth all
around Alaska, which is still a very young State compared to many
States, and has tremendous transportation needs. Two years ago, this
Congress approved the Recovery Act which funded sorely needed projects
across my State--projects such as the Gustavus dock, Alaska Railroad
line improvements, Glenn Highway repairs, and airport upgrades. These
all created immediate construction jobs and have also improved access
points so private companies can increase revenues and create long-term
jobs.
The Rebuild America Jobs Act not only provides desperately needed
repair funds, it also provides the seed money for the National
Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will attract private sector
capital to help fund a broad range of nationally significant projects.
The concept for the infrastructure bank has broad bipartisan support
and is currently being championed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Moody's estimates for every $1 spent on roads and water and sewer--
the basic infrastructure of this country--GDP is raised by $1.59. The
Rebuild America Jobs Act would make some key investments--$27 billion
to rebuild roads and bridges; $9 billion to invest in public transit;
$3 billion to invest in our airports and modernization of our air
traffic control system, which will make aviation more efficient and
safer.
For Alaskans, this investment would fund $220 million in much-needed
transportation improvements and modernization which of course means
good jobs--an estimated 2,900 jobs in Alaska from this bill.
Infrastructure development and investment has historically been a
bipartisan effort. The American people want
[[Page S7019]]
Congress to work together. This is a good bill to deal with our
Nation's roads, bridges, rails, ports, and runways.
Let me close by saying I have been here almost 3 years. We have some
good bills that passed and we argued over some that we wished would
pass. We have had some success over the last couple of weeks here, when
you think about the China currency bill, the three trade bills. Now we
have this bill. We have put three jobs bills up. Two have not been able
to pass because of opposition from the other side but here is one that
we know has bipartisan support. The infrastructure bank, the Chamber of
Commerce is actively promoting this because they see the melding of the
public and private sectors moving together to invest in the future of
this economy. They also know when you lay down those roads or that
better infrastructure on rail or transit, the net result is private
sector investment will occur either right after it or simultaneously.
I hope folks on the other side will make the decision that it is wise
to invest today and move this bill forward so we can have a long-term
economic impact for our country.
I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the
quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
____________________