[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 21, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4991-S4992]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Infrastructure

  Mr. President, now, let's get into what is happening here in the 
Senate this afternoon.
  The Senate will hold a procedural vote to get the legislative process 
started on a bipartisan infrastructure bill. I have been very clear 
about what this vote is. This vote is only the first step in the 
legislative process on the Senate floor. It is merely a vote about 
whether the Senate is ready to begin debating a bipartisan 
infrastructure bill.
  I have also been very clear about what this vote is not. This vote is 
not a deadline to have every final detail worked out. It is not an 
attempt to jam anyone. If Senators agree to adopt the motion to 
proceed, the bipartisan group of Senators will have many opportunities 
to make their agreement the base of the bill, even if they need a few 
more days to finalize the language
  My colleagues are well aware that we often agree to move forward with 
debates on issues before we have the final text of the bill in hand. We 
have done it twice this year already: the anti-Asian hate crimes bill 
and the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Both times, the Senate 
produced successful bipartisan legislation. There is no reason we can't 
repeat that process here on infrastructure.
  We are now in the fourth week of negotiations since the bipartisan 
group of Senators reached an agreement with the White House on an 
infrastructure framework--4 weeks. According to the negotiators, 
spurred on by this vote this afternoon, they are close to finalizing 
their product. Even Republicans have agreed that the deadline has moved 
them far more quickly.
  Given the process of the bipartisan negotiations, I believe Senators 
should feel comfortable voting to move forward today. I know that, 
since I set a

[[Page S4992]]

date for the vote and announced it, my colleagues on both sides have 
worked very hard on finishing this legislation. I am grateful for their 
work. We all want the same thing here: to pass a bipartisan 
infrastructure bill. But in order to finish the bill, we first need to 
start.
  So I hope my Republican colleagues will join Democrats this afternoon 
in voting to move forward on an infrastructure package. As majority 
leader, I have every intention of passing both major infrastructure 
packages, the bipartisan infrastructure framework and a budget 
resolution with reconciliation instructions, before we leave for the 
August recess. That is the schedule I laid out at the end of June, and 
that is the schedule I intend to stick to.
  Now, if Senators had any doubt about the impact of this important 
work, they should be assured by a new report this morning by the chief 
economist at Moody's, Mark Zandi. Having analyzed both the bipartisan 
bill and the agreement by Senate Democrats on the Budget Committee, 
Mark Zandi concludes that the twin legislative packages will provide a 
massive boost to the economy and that both--both--are essential.
  Specifically, his report says that the two bills are ``designed to 
lift the economy's longer-term growth potential and ease''--ease--
``inflation pressures.'' Again, despite the sometimes hysterical 
warnings about inflation from Republicans, the chief economist at 
Moody's concludes that those concerns are ``misplaced,'' ``overdone,'' 
and that our two infrastructure bills are designed to ``ease''--his 
words--``inflation pressures.''
  The report goes on to say that our investments in infrastructure and 
social programs will ``lift productivity and labor force growth'' and 
``direct the benefits of the stronger growth to lower-income Americans 
and address the long-running skewing of the income and wealth 
distribution.''
  In other words, it will help strengthen the middle class and those 
trying to get there and not have all the income, so much of the income, 
disproportionately flowing to the top 1 and 10 percents.
  I hope my colleagues are listening to those benefits: long-term 
economic growth, easing inflation pressures, lifting productivity, 
strengthening the labor force, reducing income inequality. That is what 
one of the Nation's leading economists predicts our two infrastructure 
bills will achieve.
  The report by Moody's should light a fire under all of us. I will be 
sending the full report to the Senate Democratic conference, and I 
commend it to my Republican colleagues to read as well.
  It has been decades since this Chamber has made significant stand-
alone investment in our Nation's infrastructure. We are the largest 
economy in the world, but our infrastructure ranks 13th. You would find 
better infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates than in the United 
States. Meanwhile, middle-class and working Americans have watched the 
American dream fall out of reach as globalization, technology, and 
vicious inequalities of income have sapped much of America's 
fundamental promise of equal economic opportunity.
  We must restore that promise, that hope, that American dream. If we 
want Americans to prosper in the 21st century, if we want to restore 
that fundamental promise, we need to invest in our infrastructure, 
create jobs, support families, strengthen the backbone of the middle 
class, help underserved communities, and rekindle the sunny optimism 
that has been a hallmark of the American spirit for more than two 
centuries.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.