[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 15, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4527]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INFRASTRUCTURE
Mr. CORNYN. At the same time, Madam President, America's roads and
bridges are in dire need of attention by Congress. Every year, the
American Society of Civil Engineers evaluates the state of our
infrastructure and issues a report card to let us know how we are
doing. Well, America is barely passing with a ``C-minus.'' Texas is
faring slightly better than the rest of the class, with just a ``C.''
I believe Republicans and Democrats alike think that rebuilding our
roads and bridges is important. We even share the same goal of
expanding the definition of ``infrastructure'' to include broadband
because we saw during the current pandemic that broadband is no longer
a luxury. It is an absolute necessity, whether it is for telehealth or
whether it is for our children learning remotely or for people working
remotely from home.
Even as bipartisan negotiations continue, though, the majority leader
is eyeing the prospects of a partisan bill that would circumvent the
normal legislative process and would be entirely a partisan product.
But we know that in a 50-50 Senate, bipartisan work on shared
priorities is not impossible. In fact, we did it just last week.
Last week, we saw a great example of what can be accomplished if we
will work together to achieve an outcome.
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