[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4303-H4308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle)
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous
consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend
their remarks and include any extraneous materials on the subject of my
Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this is
Infrastructure Week in the United States, and while Hallmark may not
quite yet be making cards to observe Infrastructure Week, I hope those
of us here in Congress can take a moment to recognize that this is a
unique opportunity to talk about the importance of the state of our
Nation's infrastructure.
This is a time, as I was mentioning, really to focus on all modes of
transportation and our utility systems that most of us only tend to
notice when they are broken.
Well, Mr. Speaker, there is a lot of broken infrastructure in our
country to notice lately. In fact, even President Donald Trump has
recognized that the roads, bridges, and all the other underpinnings
that make our modern world possible are crumbling and need urgent
attention.
So the President has vowed repeatedly, both as a candidate and as
President, to invest at least $1 trillion in our infrastructure system.
That was a key promise of his campaign and critical to his appeal to
working class Americans, including in my home State of Pennsylvania.
But that promise is, so far, as broken as our Nation's
infrastructure. Instead, 4 months into his administration, this
President is laying the groundwork to shortchange American workers and
manufacturers. Mr. President, it is most disappointing.
I stood Monday morning at Philadelphia International Airport. I stood
with the former Governor of our State, Ed Rendell, who is part of a
bipartisan group called Building America's Future. I stood with both
Democratic and Republican Members of this body who happen to represent
the greater Philadelphia area. I also stood with Senator Coons of
Delaware, who, himself, lives not too far from the Philadelphia
International Airport. We used that setting to talk about the
importance of Infrastructure Week and reinvesting in our Nation's
infrastructure today and for tomorrow.
I mentioned in those remarks something that I am going to mention
here tonight: 100 years ago, there was no doubt that the United States
of America was the leader in the world when it comes to infrastructure.
Our roads, our bridges, our waterway systems, our mass transit, and our
gas lines were rated number one. Today, if you seek out the report of
the American Society of Civil Engineers--these are not Democrats; they
are not Republicans; they are really nonpartisan; they are civil
engineers--we are rated a D-plus.
The International Civil Engineers do not rate the United States of
America in the top 20 when it comes to infrastructure. That should
bother all of us, whether you are Democrat or Republican or Independent
or nonpolitical.
I have to say, as someone who believes in this country and believes
that we should always strive to be number one, not even being in the
top 20 bothers me, and it is simply not good enough. It is unwise
economic policy.
Part of why the 20th century became known as the American Century is
because we were the number one world leader when it came to our
infrastructure. How are we supposed to compete today and in the future
if we are not even in the top 10 or the top 20?
Mr. Speaker, for the needs of our infrastructure and for a myriad of
other issues related to this, I have cofounded the Blue Collar Caucus.
I have spoken on this House floor about the need for our country's
leaders to pay attention again to our blue-collar workers and our blue-
collar economy.
I am so happy that, while tonight might be specifically about
infrastructure and that sliver of the overall blue-collar economy, I am
joined in this effort with my cofounder, the co-chairman of this
caucus, Marc Veasey of Texas. He will be speaking in a moment, as well
as a few other members of our caucus, about the importance of
reinvesting in our Nation's infrastructure and why that is critical to
our economy.
Mr. Speaker, if we really want to put Americans back to work and put
them back to work not in low-paid jobs but in good-paying jobs--family-
sustaining jobs--the way to do it is to reinvest in our Nation's
infrastructure. I have many other things to say on this topic that I
will be saying throughout the next hour or so.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey), the
co-chairman of our Blue Collar Caucus. He is someone who has been a
real leader on this issue and feels just as passionately about it as I
do.
Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from the great
State of Pennsylvania for helping cofound the Blue Collar Caucus and
just doing a tremendous job. As you know, the hardworking men and women
of Pennsylvania, and particularly the Philadelphia area, have been so
responsible for many of the things that have really made our country
what it is, many of the great public works, many of the amazing
museums, and many of the amazing things, bridges, just things like that
that people take for granted that there was someone that built those
things, there was someone that toiled possibly in the heat and in the
snow, but they were able to bring home a good wage doing it. They were
able to take care of their families. They were able to send their kids
to college.
I love when the gentleman talks about his family and the sacrifices
that the gentleman's parents made working in a blue-collar job that
ultimately helped him go to one of the most prestigious universities--
Notre Dame. So I just really appreciate the fact that the gentleman
appreciates the hardworking men and women that really make this country
great.
We need to do more for them. One of the ways that we can do more for
them is to pass an infrastructure bill. I don't think that there is any
doubt about that.
We know that this is Infrastructure Week. With roughly $700 billion a
year that is being invested at the local, State, and Federal level,
infrastructure is vitally important to our economy. We have to have
good infrastructure to meet the basic needs of the American people.
That may sound like quite a bit of money, but we can't spend enough
[[Page H4304]]
money to repair and replace our crumbling roads, bridges, and other
critical infrastructure.
I listened to Elizabeth Esty last night, one of our colleagues from
Connecticut, talk about the dangers that are involved in not investing
in infrastructure and some of the deaths that tragically have occurred
on American roads because of collapsing bridges and things like that.
That is not what we want.
We need for the American taxpayer to have confidence that the roads
that they are driving on and that the airports that they are using are
up to date, that we have the best ports, that we have the best transit
systems in this country, and that we have the money to keep those
things world-class systems and efficient systems in our country. They
have to be safe.
{time} 2000
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, one out of
every five miles of highway pavement in our Nation is in poor
condition. That is an estimated 56,000 of the Nation's bridges that are
structurally deficient. Think about the truck driver who drives every
day, think about the person who makes their living on the road. Think
about how many families want their loved ones to travel on safe roads.
Think about all of the families who depend on their loved ones to make
a living on those roads. That is how they put food on the table at the
end of the week, at the end of every 2 weeks, at the end of the month,
however they get their check. They need to be safe. Those families need
to know that those hardworking men and women who work on those roads
every day and use them to help fuel American exceptionalism, they need
to know that those roads are safe.
Some estimates say that modernizing our infrastructure to meet our
needs is going to require an additional $5 trillion in Federal spending
over the next decade. Federal investment in infrastructure is an
economic boost that can also create good-paying jobs for blue-collar
workers.
I have to tell you, many were encouraged, a lot of people that I
know--Democrats, Republicans, Independents--they were very encouraged
when the Trump administration floated the idea of a $1 trillion
infrastructure plan. But instead of presenting a detailed
infrastructure plan that puts Americans back to work, the Trump
administration has basically offered a plan that lacks details. It
doesn't really go into how we are going to get this done.
The reports that I have seen say that the Trump plan, if you want to
call it a plan, like I said, contains very few details. It contains tax
incentives for private industries that make up as much as 80 percent of
the cost of the bill.
Let me tell you two reasons why that is bad. It would simply enrich
companies that would have built their projects anyway, and the only
private investment it would encourage is for projects that contain a
funding stream such as toll roads.
I have to say, if toll roads are the only choice that people have,
they will maybe take them. But I know that a bipartisan group of
Texans, and I saw this especially when I was in the State legislature
before I came to Congress, they are really upset with toll roads. They
feel we have too many of them, and they want to see the infrastructure
investment that we need in this country to get our roads back up to par
and to help relieve congestion.
Encouraging private investment in infrastructure is not necessarily a
bad idea, but it requires the proper oversight and the selection of the
right kinds of projects. I have to tell you, there is a bipartisan
group that believes in that. Both the Obama administration under
Secretary Foxx and the Bush Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, they
both agree that public-private partnerships are only able to address a
small segment of what is needed.
Without careful attention, we risk wasting taxpayer funds by giving
big tax breaks to companies on the backs of hardworking American
families.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk some more later about job creation
and about Davis-Bacon and about some other things that need to be
addressed, but I want to be sure that we hear from another one of our
colleagues and friends from the Rust Belt, Ms. Marcy Kaptur who is
here. So I am going to turn it back over to you so you can introduce
her. When she talks about what is going on in the heartland and in
Ohio, she works directly with those men and women who work in
manufacturing and who work in construction. I bet you she has some
things that we need to hear about dealing with infrastructure and how
it can help our States and help our country.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank the
gentleman. As my colleague was just mentioning, someone who has really
been a champion on these issues for decades, someone who intellectually
gets it, but also speaks on these issues not just with her head but
with her heart, and now as the climate in our country has, I think,
evolved on some of these issues, some people are recognizing that what
she was talking about for quite a while has been proven to be correct.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) who I
am honored to serve with.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Boyle and Congressman
Veasey for their leadership and the new energy and the innovative ideas
that they bring here from their constituency on behalf of our country.
It is a privilege to join you tonight and talk about the infrastructure
of our country, a major infrastructure bill, and it is certainly
appropriate during this infrastructure week.
The whole vital topic of investing in a national infrastructure plan
and investing in those who will help to modernize America translates
into good jobs, as Congressman Veasey has talked about, and progress
for America that Congressman Boyle has talked about.
When we think about infrastructure, some people only think about
roads and bridges, and we certainly need attention to those across our
country. So many places throughout our Nation are in desperate need of
repair. Frankly, the street I live on, there is a big sinkhole at the
end of the street.
Mr. Speaker, 17 percent of the roads in Ohio, my home State, are in
poor condition, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.
They estimate that the average Ohio driver pays an extra $475 a year
from driving on roads in need of repair. Look no further than me. I had
to pay $500 for a whole front end because of hitting a big pothole
driving at home at night. So we know how much it costs.
Let me urge President Trump and the administration not to limit their
thinking on an infrastructure bill. Infrastructure should be about our
roads and bridges for sure, but it should go far beyond that for
modernizing the Nation.
As the ranking member on the Appropriations Subcommittee for Energy
and Water Development, I take very seriously America's responsibility
to modernize the country for this new century.
Our energy grid desperately needs an update, and power outages across
this country attest to that. Our waterways need help, too. And our
drinking water infrastructure, just in Ohio it is estimated will cost
$12.2 billion over the next 20 years.
As hard as it is to fathom, and I am sure the President hasn't had a
chance to read the fine print on this, but the President's budget
office proposed to zero out the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
which is so vital to fresh drinking water in our vast region. The
President has said he wants to help the people in Flint, Michigan. He
campaigned there several times. But it is not an either/or. It is both/
and. You have to have funding in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
to take care of the water issues confronting the Great Lakes where
algal blooms get larger and larger every year due to phosphorus and
nitrogen runoff.
Our waterways, our drinking water, are vital components of our
national infrastructure. Over 11 million people just on Lake Erie
alone, the lake that I represent, need that fresh water. The systems
are very old. Some estimate in the cities, cities are losing 30 percent
or more of the water distribution underground because of aging
pipelines. We truly need to look both above the ground and underneath
it.
Through many of the counties that I represent, there are old septic
systems in place, and 40 percent or more of
[[Page H4305]]
them are leaking. They contribute to some of the problems that we are
having in our fresh water systems. These communities need a helping
hand and extra financing to help put their wastewater systems into
compliance.
I have also proposed a bill for a 21st century civilian conservation
corps for needed investments in our States and national parks and
forests. Ohio and Michigan alone need to plant 20 million trees to
replace those that have been damaged by invasive species.
I wanted to also mention, I represent, and I know Congressman Boyle
and Congressman Veasey, we represent urban communities, and many of
those communities have housing that is 100 years old. Some a little
more, some a little less. Imagine if infrastructure could include
weatherization so we could place new roofs on millions of homes across
this country. We could train people how to do this. We could help bring
up the younger generation.
Also windows and insulation. If we look at the condition of America's
housing stock, particularly following the collapse of 2008, if we look
at saving Americans money that they currently spend on wasting energy
because they can't afford to put on a new roof, windows, or insulate
their homes, we could help millions of Americans. As we help to improve
America's infrastructure, I really believe housing has an important
role to play in this regard, especially with energy conservation.
Honestly, as I close my remarks tonight, and I thank Congressman
Boyle and Congressman Veasey for their leadership, Mr. Speaker, it is
not only rewarding to work with them, it is fun, too.
Mr. Speaker, Americans have been waiting for us and the Federal
Government to really give them a helping hand up. I know working
together on a bipartisan basis, we can produce an infrastructure bill
that the country has been waiting for, as Congressman Boyle says, for
decades. I know that our mayors, our county commissioners, and our
Governors across the country would work hand in hand with us, and I
think Americans from coast to coast would applaud what we are able to
do here in order to help our country rebuild itself in this new
century.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I thank
Congresswoman Kaptur.
I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, at the very beginning of my remarks that we
kicked off infrastructure week on Monday morning at an event at
Philadelphia International Airport. One of those Members of Congress
who joined me for that event is the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Norcross), someone who practices what he preaches when it comes to the
issues that most concern the Blue Collar Caucus, and someone who can
really speak about infrastructure from many different perspectives.
I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Norcross).
Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that kind introduction. It
was a remarkable time sitting at the airport right there on the
Delaware River and understanding how much we depend on safe, secure
travel in those airports around the country.
But to both Marc and Brendan, thank you for the Blue Collar Caucus
and bringing to light many of the issues that at times we as a nation
might have forgotten, quite frankly, those who work with their hands,
those who are getting up each and every morning and going to work,
having a job, taking care of their family, and I think focusing on that
is so important.
I am myself involved with the Building Trades Caucus, and we are
talking about something that is near and dear to everybody's heart, and
it is called infrastructure.
In this day and age when people are wondering about what is going on
in the country, I want to talk about the ``t'' word. No, it is not
Donald Trump; it is a trillion dollars, and that is the number that
people have been talking about that we need for infrastructure.
Infrastructure means many things to many different people. If you are
in Flint, Michigan, it is about having clean water. The pipes need to
be replaced. We have a growing infrastructure that is many years old.
When we think back about one of the major components of
infrastructure in this country, during the Eisenhower administration,
it was building the interstate system, from north to south, from east
to west, connecting coasts, connecting cities, connecting States. And
that is something that has been so important to us. But apparently not
important enough to keep and maintain.
I am very familiar with the systems that we have. I went to the other
4-year school; it was called an apprenticeship program, an electrical
apprenticeship that I spent 4 years in. After graduating, I worked up
and down the Delaware River at refineries, on bridges, and on our
infrastructure. We know how important it is.
But in Congress, because of the Blue Collar Caucus and many others,
we need to remember that the dignity of a job is so important. We have
211 attorneys here in Congress, but there is only one electrician.
There is only one carpenter. There is only one ironworker, and there is
only one painter. Diversity comes in many shapes and sizes, and our
Founding Fathers understood how important that was. They were farmers,
printers, attorneys, doctors, all coming together and bringing those
experiences into this very House, this very floor, to remember why we
are here.
Anybody who drove on a road to get here today understands what
infrastructure means.
{time} 2015
But somehow we haven't paid attention. We had the American Society of
Civil Engineers brief us a few weeks ago to the Building Trades Caucus
on the report card that they give each and every year: aviation, a D;
bridges, a C-plus; ports, a C-plus; energy, a D; transit, a D. The
overall report card was a D.
If I had come home with a D on my report card, I know what my parents
would have done to us. But somehow having the D on the report card for
the very infrastructure here in the United States has been acceptable.
Well, it is not. We are deferring this problem to the next generation
when we owe them a responsibility of turning over our world to them in
a little bit better shape, not worse shape.
So when we look at that investment in roads, rails, ports, airports,
it does something more than just to fix the very problems that we look
at each and every day. It is about a job. What better way to put
America back to work than fixing our own infrastructure. Nobody does it
better than the building trades who have the training programs second
to none and does not use one dime of public investment. All funded
privately. Fifteen different trades coming together to fix our
infrastructure.
In addition to that, they do something that is really special. We all
know the figure when it comes to those who put the uniform on to help
protect our country is less than 1 percent. We have so many of those
men and women who are coming home today, and there is a program that
the Building Trades Caucus have put together called Helmets to
Hardhats. Taking those who want to come home and start a career, took
their helmet off and go right into an apprenticeship program, put the
hardhat on. What better way to say to those veterans they are welcome
home than to give them a job? But not just a job, a career.
So as we continue to have the discussions day-to-day, the ``t'' word
is about trillion dollars. It is about putting back into our country
the investment that it is due.
Mr. Speaker, I again want to thank my colleagues for coming here
today to make sure that we remember those men and women who don't
necessarily put on a suit and tie but have the dignity of going to work
each day as blue-collar workers, and we are damn proud of it.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. I should have mentioned when I
was introducing Mr. Norcross that he is the founder and the chairman of
the Building Trades Caucus. When he talked about that one electrician,
he was talking about himself. I understand from some of his former
electrician buddies that he was a top-rated electrician. He is someone
who has literally walked the walk.
It now gives me a real pleasure to introduce someone who has
represented Chicago and the Chicagoland area for a number of years,
someone who also gets it when it comes to the issues that most concern
the Blue Collar Caucus,
[[Page H4306]]
and then specifically what we are addressing tonight in the Special
Order, the need to reinvest in our Nation's infrastructure and put
people back to work.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski).
Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I want to say, first of all, it is an
honor to follow Mr. Norcross. As Mr. Boyle said, one of the very few in
this body who is an actual member of the building and construction
trades. I didn't intend to talk about this originally, but I just want
to say it is very important that all of us in this Nation give more
respect to the building and construction trades, and all the men and
women in the trades who have built this Nation. These are great jobs
that provide a good living for families, and they are building our
Nation. We need to encourage more young people to go into the building
and construction trades.
I used to teach college. I was a college professor, but I know we
need to make sure that young people today understand what a great life
they can have, what great jobs these are in the trades.
I want to thank Mr. Norcross for the work that he has done helping to
build this Nation and now working here in Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Boyle and Mr. Veasey for their work
on the Blue Collar Caucus. There are a lot of people in this country
who think Washington has forgotten them, many blue-collar men and women
who turned out in the election and I think were motivated in many ways
by that feeling that they have been forgotten. Many of these are the
blue-collar men and women who work so hard every day.
We are here tonight to say we have not forgotten. We understand how
important you are to our Nation and the work that you do, and
especially tonight to talk about how important the work you do building
and repairing our infrastructure is to all of us.
There is a lot of infrastructure we have in this Nation that needs to
be fixed, to be built. Ms. Kaptur talked about many of these different
areas. One of them, of course, is in drinking water and sewers. So much
of it was built right after either the early part of the 20th century
or after World War II, and now it is deteriorating. I hear the stories
all the time from some of my municipalities back home, saying that they
are afraid that the pipes are completely gone, the water right now is
just running through the hole that was left from the pipes. There is so
much infrastructure we need to build.
I want to focus especially tonight on transportation. I sit on the
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. President Trump promised
that he would have a $1 trillion bill to fund infrastructure. I think
it is critical that, in these days where we have so many other things
that we are focused on, we don't forget--and we have not forgotten--the
fact that we need to do this infrastructure bill.
Focusing on transportation, we all know we need our transportation
infrastructure to get anywhere we are going. You get up in the morning,
you take your kids to school, you go to work, you are going to the
store, you are going to church on Sunday, anywhere you go, you need the
transportation infrastructure. If it wasn't there, you couldn't get
there.
So we are talking not just about roads and bridges, we are talking
about public transit. Public transit systems in many of our big cities
are crumbling. We know that in Chicago. We know all the problems right
now from that crumbling infrastructure. Something we oftentimes don't
think about is that public transit, how critical it is, how important
it is. So let's remember all of that. Let's remember the sidewalks, the
bike and pedestrian paths, everything that gets people to where they
need to go.
Everybody knows the problems that we face. Everyone knows in their
daily lives what we need to do, how much transportation infrastructure
needs work. Chicago is oftentimes labeled the most congested city in
America. If it is not number one, it is in the top three. We know it,
but people all across the country know it. We need to do this work. If
we do this work, first of all, we are putting people to work
immediately building the roads, bridges, repairing the infrastructure,
the rails.
We also need to talk about the locks and dams on our inland
waterways, things that many of us never see because we just pass over
our waterways on the road, on bridges, and don't even see the vital
waterways that also serve important roles in our country. And the
ports. We need to invest in all of these.
We put people to work immediately. But also what is important,
besides the fact it helps us get around, helps us get to wherever we
are going every day, is it also makes our economy more efficient. It
makes American business more efficient. If we have an efficient
transportation system in our country, American business is more
efficient. And that is why so many of them, including the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce, have been on this for a number of years, that we need to
improve our transportation system so American business can thrive. And
if American business thrives, more Americans get hired by businesses.
Not just building the transportation infrastructure, not just working
on it, but all businesses in America are more efficient, can hire more
people. It makes our economy run.
This is something critical. With everything else that is going on
right now--and we know what that is, and we never know what is coming
day-to-day--all these other things are important that we are talking
about and that we are looking at. But we cannot forget--and the
American people know this--that we need to do our work here and we need
to pass an infrastructure bill, including a big transportation
component to that.
We are going to continue to fight for that. No matter what else is
going on here, no matter what else you hear people talking about, we
are here to say we need to do this. The American people know we need to
do this. It helps all Americans, but especially the blue-collar
Americans, the ones who have been suffering for many years in our
country.
One other thing. President Trump talks about buy American. I am happy
that he came out last month and said the administration is going to
look at how we can improve our buy American law so that when the
Federal Government buys things, they are going to buy American-made
products.
But I have to say, if we want to do something immediately, I have a
bill that I introduced, the Buy American Improvement Act, which closes
a lot of the loopholes that exist right now in our domestic content,
buy American laws. It extends buy American laws, domestic content laws
to Federal spending that it is not applied to right now. For example,
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for drinking water.
It is important that we use American tax dollars to put Americans to
work. It is great that the administration is looking at what can be
done; but I have to say, this bill, the Buy American Improvement Act,
we can get this done, get this passed, get this into law. When we pass
that infrastructure bill, we will make sure Americans are being put to
work with American taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank the Blue Collar Caucus and Mr.
Boyle and Mr. Veasey for all the work that they are doing, and the most
important thing is for the American people. The American people need to
know that we are here fighting for them, especially those blue-collar
workers who think they have been forgotten.
You have not been forgotten.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank
Mr. Lipinski for his words, and I appreciate his membership in the Blue
Collar Caucus.
In going through this entire discussion on infrastructure, because
there are so many things that we could talk about as part of this,
certainly I would encourage those interested in this topic to read the
report of the American Society of Civil Engineers. It is an
overwhelming case for why we need at least a $1 trillion infrastructure
plan really making up for decades upon decades of underinvestment in
our Nation's infrastructure. We could certainly talk about that and
talk about many different aspects of it.
In the few minutes that we have remaining, I want to talk about its
overall effect on our country. I am not talking about dollars and
cents. I am not talking about in a tangible way. I
[[Page H4307]]
mean something that is not tangible, that you can't exactly put your
fingers on; and that is the spirit of America.
Mr. Speaker, something that Americans have always been known for is
our eternal optimism. So much so that if you are friends with folks in
Europe and in other places, they would always gently make fun of
Americans for being so optimistic, for our undeniable, unending belief
in the power of the future; that tomorrow will always be better than
today.
{time} 2030
Yet we know, Mr. Speaker, in recent times too few Americans are
feeling optimistic about our country's future. All the polls are
showing that. There has been a pretty dramatic turn in just the last
20, 30 years in how Americans feel about their own personal futures and
the future of this country.
Part of what leads to that, part of it is stagnant economic wages. I
have talked about that at length on the floor as part of a previous
Blue Collar Caucus hour. Part of that also, though, is the sense that
we are not building anymore; that 100 years ago we were building, that
we were launching the first airplane; that 50 years ago we were going
to the Moon.
In the Eisenhower era we were building the world's best highways. But
in today's day and age, we don't build anymore. That growth is
happening in Asia and in other parts of the world.
So just imagine what that would do not just for the economy, not just
for our infrastructure, but imagine what it would do for the spirit of
America if they saw a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill take hold, if
they saw our roads being rebuilt and new roads being built, if they saw
the investments that we can make in our mass transit and our intercity
rail.
I happen to represent a district smack dab in the middle of the
Northeast corridor. I met today in my office with the chairman of The
Northeast Maglev project, a project to take a technology that exists
today in Japan, build it here in the United States, and make it
possible that you could get from New York City to my district in
Philadelphia in a half hour, that you could get from New York City to
Washington, D.C., in 1 hour instead of the 3 hours that it takes today.
That would have a transformative effect. No other place in the world
has the maglev. Even in Japan, which has invented the technology, it is
only in a small snippet.
So making sure that we can move forward in a bipartisan way, actually
achieving something with Democrats and Republicans working together
with this administration, we would send such a signal beyond the
substance of the issue itself. I believe that we would have a dramatic
effect in improving the way that the American people feel about their
future and the future of our country.
Mr. Speaker, literally, over a million jobs will be created by a $1
trillion infrastructure bill. I wanted to speak about the importance of
making sure that those are high-paying jobs and why the Davis-Bacon Act
is linked to that, but knowing that my co-chairman will speak about
this issue, I am happy to turn that over to him now to speak about that
issue and others that are affected by this.
As it may be my last time speaking on this, I thank my colleagues for
their passion on this issue. I appeal to the White House, to President
Trump specifically: Please work with us on this issue. It is, I
believe, the single best way we could unite Democrats and Republicans
in the House and the Senate. We can get this done. It is something that
must get done. It would put millions of Americans--that is not an
exaggeration, by the way. It would put over a million Americans back to
work. It is critically needed for today and tomorrow, and I appeal to
this White House, even in this hyperpartisan, fractured time, to work
with us on this issue and finally, 4 months after taking office, unveil
your infrastructure plan.
I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey), my colleague and
co-chairman.
Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Boyle. I really
appreciate the points he has made tonight, just so timely. It is so
important that we talk about those things during Infrastructure Week
and the Blue Collar Caucus and the role that the caucus is playing in
pointing out a lot of these things that need to be talked about.
Again, when you talk about the infrastructure bill, if we had a
legitimate trillion-dollar infrastructure program and it were enacted,
we could put the United States back on a prerecession job growth path
and, some people say, create close to 11 million jobs.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, infrastructure spending
today--that is what we spend on infrastructure spending right now--is
directly responsible for about 15.5 million direct and indirect U.S.
jobs, and you are talking about average salaries of $68,000 per year.
That is 28 percent above the U.S. median income. We know that
infrastructure jobs pay well. There is absolutely no doubt about that.
Investment in infrastructure also adds more indirect jobs in
manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and an increasing demand for
steel, glass, concrete; and all those things get the job growth growing
in America.
According to Georgetown University, more than half of the new
infrastructure jobs will go to high school graduates and even high
school dropouts. So many of our young men who find themselves dropping
out end up in the incarceration system, but we know that, if we can
find high school dropouts a job and they are not left behind due to
economic changes and economic factors, we can help those young men.
According to that same analysis, jobs and occupations that are
expected to grow with greater infrastructure investment pay more than
typical wages for high school graduates. Engineering and management
jobs, which usually require higher levels of education, also offer good
opportunities. However, even construction and transportation jobs
associated with infrastructure projects provide higher earnings than an
average job for high school graduates. The Blue Collar Caucus advocates
not only more jobs but, again, better quality jobs.
I used to hear people talk around the dinner table or the domino
table or the card table when I was growing up. People wanted to know
where the good jobs were, how can you get on at a good job. That is
what I am talking about: how we are going to create more of those.
The Davis-Bacon Act, you heard Representative Boyle talk a little bit
about that earlier, about how important that is. We should be troubled.
When you start talking about good jobs, good-paying jobs, we should be
troubled that congressional Republicans have taken steps to repeal the
Davis-Bacon Act.
I want to talk a little bit about the Davis-Bacon Act, but first I
want to talk about why the Davis-Bacon Act is important. A lot of times
in Washington, D.C., we start talking about these terms. People at the
Chamber of Commerce, they know what Davis-Bacon is, but maybe the
average person has no idea what Davis-Bacon is.
People don't come up to me at the Dollar Store in Fort Worth and say:
Hey, Congressman Veasey, hey, Marc, what are we going to do to protect
Davis-Bacon? But people do stop me at the Dollar Store and say: Hey,
Marc, what are we going to do about putting some more money in our
pockets?
That is what Davis-Bacon is all about. That is where the Republicans
fail the American worker.
The Davis-Bacon Act requires that certain contractors and
subcontractors responsible for carrying out Federal contracts pay their
laborers and mechanics the prevailing wages for the area. That is what
I am talking about when I say putting more money in your pocket,
putting more food on the table, being able to make that light bill,
being able to make that car bill, being able to make that truck
payment.
I want to sell more cars. We have a General Motors plant in
Arlington, Texas, that makes some very good SUVs, good-paying union
jobs, good union-made SUVs, American-made SUVs, and you don't get that
with lower rates. You get that with the prevailing wage rates that
Republicans are trying to do away with. That is what everybody needs to
understand.
Ensuring workers are paid a fair wage is extremely important,
especially for blue-collar workers. Prevailing wage laws provide
protections for both construction workers and the taxpayers. They
ensure that all contractors bidding on public construction
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projects will pay family-supporting wages and that they also ensure
projects will be built to the highest standards by skilled, safe, and
well-trained construction workers.
Numerous studies have shown, contrary to the claims of corporate
interests, that Davis-Bacon wage protections do not increase taxpayers'
costs. That is the one thing that you are going to hear from
Republicans and downtown business interest people when they want to
keep income inequality growing in this country instead of trying to
stop income inequality is that Davis-Bacon drives up wages because it
allows families to put more food on their table. I think that is a
doggone shame.
Fairly paid craftsmen added value to our investments in
infrastructure, and Davis-Bacon must continue to be included in any
infrastructure plan. Repeal of Davis-Bacon would decrease the quality
of blue-collar jobs, and that is a loss that we cannot afford. A repeal
of Davis-Bacon would decrease the amount of money that you take home
every week or that you take home every 2 weeks, however often you get
that check, however often you look for that direct deposit so you can
make those bills. If we repeal Davis-Bacon, you will not be making
those bills as easy as you were before.
You need to let your Republican Member of Congress know that you want
to bring more money home, that you want these prevailing wages, that
you do not want to lose these, that it would be absolutely devastating
for your family.
Another area that Blue Collar Caucus has talked about, another area
that we are going to continue to talk about and that Congress should
press forward on in great speed is the Buy America provisions. They
have to be in any infrastructure package that we pass.
Buy America generally requires that projects carried out by State and
local governments use U.S.-made iron and steel and that they also
require domestic production and assembly of other manufactured goods be
made right here in the good old USA.
These projects--again, mainly highways, public transportation,
aviation--are vitally important to our economy, and ensuring that these
projects are made with quality American-made goods means that we get
better value and that we put our own people to work. All of this means
more and better jobs for hardworking Americans out there.
As we set about rebuilding America's infrastructure, we have to make
sure that we are building an economy that works for everyone and not
just the corporate interests in this country because, again, we have to
do something about income inequality in this country. It is very real.
Productivity is up. People's paychecks are stagnant. That is why people
still feel the economic pinch and the economic pain, because they see
the growth, they see the technology, but they don't see their paychecks
getting any fatter--but they do feel themselves struggling more and
more and more. We have got to change that.
I would like to again thank Representative Boyle just for being an
advocate for the hardworking citizens in the Philadelphia area in his
district, just for being a voice on this, and other Members of Congress
that came out tonight--Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Lipinski, and others--because we
know that this is important.
We have to keep talking about this. We cannot continue to let the
American worker fail. We cannot continue to let the American worker's
dollar not grow while we see our economy grow and while we see new
technology and fat cats getting rich, seeing corporate America getting
rich but the average, everyday American just continues to fall further
and further behind. It has to end. It has to end.
Congress needs to work together to do something about that. I am glad
that the Democratic Party in the United States House of Representatives
is taking the lead on this issue.
Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the
balance of my time.
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