[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[House]
[Page H4670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REBUILDING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, the poor condition of America's 
infrastructure costs our economy hundreds of billions of dollars each 
year. Freight bottlenecks, aviation congestion, inadequate ports, and 
deteriorating roads will cost 2.5 million American jobs over the next 
10 years unless we address it.
  Meanwhile, interest rates are at a historic low. The yield on a 10-
year Treasury bond is 1.4 percent. Indexed for inflation, the interest 
rate is negative.
  Observing this, Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman wrote: ``They say 
that money talks; well, cheap money is speaking very clearly right now, 
and it's telling us to invest in our future,'' to nation-build in 
America.
  Increasing spending by $250 billion a year, the amount needed to 
bring our infrastructure to a state of good repair, would create 3 
million jobs and would improve America's competitiveness in the long 
term.
  We should use today's record low rates to finance this inevitable 
spending. Refusing to do so makes no economic sense. I encourage this 
Congress to reconsider before this opportunity is lost.

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