[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 135 (Saturday, July 31, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5228-S5230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now resume executive session.
Ms. WARREN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
H.R. 3684
Mr. WARNER. First of all, Madam President, let me thank you and all
of the floor staff and others who are here. I think on a beautiful
Saturday at the end of July, we all wish, perhaps, we were somewhere
else other than on the floor of the Senate.
For the 30 years that I have been involved in political discussions
in Virginia and some on an international level, we have had President
after President and Congress after Congress talk about the generational
unmet needs in infrastructure. We have seen our roads and bridges start
to crumble. The estimates are that close to, depending on the survey,
14,000 bridges are in a decaying state, and in my State, over 700
bridges. We know the potholes in many of our roads and highways. We
know our airports resemble third world nations, not the United States
of America. We know our ports have not kept up with modern technology.
We know that many of our shorelines are dealing with the unprecedented
effects of sea level rise. We know after COVID that high-speed internet
connectivity is not a nice-to-have but essential. It is something the
Presiding Officer has taken a legislative lead on.
We know that it is time to get past talking about infrastructure and
finally doing something. That is why I have been proud to be part of
this bipartisan effort, working with the White House, to produce a
historic piece of legislation, $550 billion of new spending over 5
years that in every category I just mentioned will make historic
investments.
I have been a little surprised, to tell you the truth, that some of
our colleagues on the other side who were not part of the bipartisan
group have suddenly said: No, we can't do infrastructure now. They were
all for it when President Trump was in; now they find excuses why not.
I have to also say I have been a little bit surprised even with some
of my colleagues on my side of the aisle, when the deal that we have
structured is literally twice as much as where the earlier negotiations
were between President Biden and some of the Republican committee
chairs--committee leaders.
There has been some sense of, well, you know, infrastructure--that
shouldn't be that hard to do. If it wasn't hard to do, why has it taken
us 30 years to get to this moment?
I hope--and I know we are finalizing the last couple pieces of
legislative language--I hope that we will get that finished as soon as
possible so we can get this bill on the floor, have amendments, have a
debate, but at the end of the day, pass this historic legislation
[[Page S5229]]
and finally put our money where our mouths have been in terms of
talking about the needs of infrastructure in this country.
Now, I know, Madam President, that we do not have probably a lot of
people rushing to the floor today, so I am going to take an extra
minute or two. It doesn't mean you have to stay riveted to each moment.
But I want to talk about this for a few moments in terms of what this
will do for my State, for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, investment in infrastructure has
been something that has eluded us for years. I have to acknowledge that
when I was Governor, I tried to find funding, the funding needs,
particularly in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and put forward
bipartisan-supported tax referendums in Northern Virginia, Hampton
Roads. I was horribly unsuccessful at getting that done.
A number of years later, a subsequent Governor, Governor McDonnell,
managed to make a downpayment on some of the infrastructure needs in
Virginia but not really address in a more comprehensive way the
Commonwealth's needs.
So I am going to take a couple of moments now and talk about, section
by section, in Virginia, what this bipartisan, White House-supported,
record infrastructure investment will mean to the people of the
Commonwealth of Virginia.
Let me start with Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads, in a southeast
Virginia peninsula, is most at risk from concerns about sea level rise
and questions about resiliency, more than any other region in the whole
country, with the exception of New Orleans. In Hampton Roads, local
leaders, our Navy, nonprofits, and businesses have all come together
and said: We need to make sure that we grapple with sea level rise. It
is ranked, by most in those communities, as the No. 1 issue.
Well, if we pass this legislation, $47 billion will go into sea level
rise prevention and resiliency. That will mean that a whole host of
projects in Norfolk, in Portsmouth, in Virginia Beach, and in
Chesapeake will all be finally addressed. We have to make sure that
Hampton Roads is not subject to this kind of devastating effect of sea
level rise.
We also know that Hampton Roads needs more rail. We have opened
recently some rail down to the peninsula, but not enough. We have to
make sure that the rail that goes from Richmond doesn't leave off, as a
cul-de-sac, the peninsula in South Hampton Roads. With a $66 billion
investment in rail, we may soon be able to see that become a reality.
Hampton Roads is home to the Port of Virginia. The Port of Virginia
is one of the biggest ports on the whole east coast. But if we don't
continue to upgrade that port, if we don't continue to deepen the
channel, if we don't make the investments in the Craney Island
expansion, and if we don't stay competitive, that port, which is the
economic engine driver not just of Hampton Roads but, in many ways, of
most of the Commonwealth, will not stay competitive. This legislation
will provide $17 billion, a record amount of investment, in our ports,
and I can promise you the Port of Virginia will get a share of those
resources.
And, finally, on just the plain old issue of roads, Hampton Roads is
disconnected from what we call the Peninsula in Virginia, and we have
gotten two crosslinks, which oftentimes, during the summer months, can
lead to multiple-hour backups to our bridge-tunnels. If we make this
$110 billion investment in roads and bridges, we can potentially see
that third crossing come into reality. But what we could also make sure
is that we could finally finish the widening of Interstate 64 between
Norfolk and Richmond.
I talked about this when I ran for Governor, and as Governor I said:
Wouldn't it be great if in our lifetime we could actually finish this
project? Well, if we pass this bipartisan piece of legislation, the I-
64 project widening from Norfolk to Richmond will be finished. This is
incredibly important for the people of Hampton Roads, the Eastern Shore
peninsula, and the Northern Neck to make these investments.
Let's move up the road to our capital, Richmond, and the Richmond
area. Last week, as I was looking at the Mayo Bridge--one of the
historic bridges, over 100 years old--I saw how decaying it was. I saw
the water damage that was taking place. That bridge, without
remediation, could be forced to close if we don't make the needed
investments. Well, this bipartisan legislation will commit $110 billion
for highway and bridge improvements. Mayo Bridge, and a host of the
other 700 bridges in Virginia that are decaying, will get fixed. We
need to make that happen.
Richmond, as well, has got one of the most impressive bus transit
systems not only in Virginia but in the whole country. We have made
huge investments, close to $40 billion, in transit in this legislation,
and some of the Richmond bus transit needs will be addressed.
We also know, in the Richmond area and across the Commonwealth, that
we have a lot of airports. One of the things we need to continue to do
is invest in our airports. The Richmond airport is always in need of
additional expansion. There is $25 billion to improve our airports
across the country. The Richmond airport, the Norfolk airport, the
Newport News airport, and, obviously, the Roanoke airport and others--
Dulles, National--will be improved, as well as a host of smaller
regional airports across the Commonwealth, if we make this investment.
We come up to our region here, where I live, in Northern Virginia. I
am very proud of working with Tim Kaine and the Senators from Maryland.
We made sure this legislation included a full 8-year reauthorization of
our Metro system. We made sure that we are making record investments in
transit so that we can get Metro back up operating again on a full
schedule and we can make the needed safety improvements that have been
plaguing Metro for a number of years.
We also know that we have to continue to build out additional Metro
stations in Northern Virginia. The one at Potomac Yard will be
extraordinarily important to the Innovation Center and the Amazon 2
headquarters.
We have to make sure, as well, because Metro is moving to zero-
emission buses--that is good news for our climate and for our
community. The question is where are those zero-emission buses going to
be built? This legislation, as well, makes record investment in
electric and other low-carbon and no-carbon buses, so they can be built
here, not in China.
Our record investment in transit will also make dramatic improvements
to the VRE for the Manassas Line. Let's get more people out of their
cars and into VRE, whether it is the Manassas or Fredericksburg Line.
Needed investments will be made if we pass this legislation.
Another project, if we are going to open up rail in Virginia, we have
to make sure that we have another rail bridge across the Potomac. So
for the Long Bridge Project, which I have been working with
Governor Northam and Senator Kaine on, this kind of investment will
make that happen.
And as anybody who lives in Northern Virginia knows--where I live,
and somebody who lives in Alexandria--traffic is the bane of our
existence. There will be a host of improvements that will get done if
we pass this legislation. Let me talk about one in particular.
Route 1, from Alexandria through Fairfax and into Prince William
County, we know how clogged and congested it has been. We have been
looking for additional funding, literally, for decades on Route 1. If
we pass this legislation, it will get done.
Let me move a little bit further west in our State, out toward the
Shenandoah Valley and Roanoke and Southwest. For years, we have been
talking about the danger on I-81. Literally, there have been prayer
groups formed to pray for people who would travel on I-81 because there
was so much truck traffic there that it has, frankly, impeded the
safety of the traveling public. We have been talking about making
improvements and expansions to 81 capacity for 20 years. We have been
talking about how do we get the trucks off of I-81, and how do we bring
more rail down to Southwest and Southside. Well, if we pass this
legislation, we will see those 81 corridor improvements that we have
all been waiting for. We will see rail not only going from Lynchburg
and Roanoke but extend on
[[Page S5230]]
down to Blacksburg and Christiansburg and, hopefully, all the way down
to Bristol. This is terribly important to make sure that those
communities have a multimodal form of transportation opportunities and
making sure we get those trucks off of I-81, something we have been
talking about for a long time. If we increase the rail capacity, both
freight and passenger, we will be able to do that.
We also know in Southside and Southwest, post-COVID, that high-speed
internet connectivity is not a ``nice to have'' but an absolute
necessity. A top priority of mine, as somebody who has spent more years
in the telecommunications industry than I have in politics, is to make
sure that we make those connections. This legislation--historic
legislation--has $65 billion for broadband. That investment, building
on Governor Northam's $700 million investment from Virginia and
American Rescue Plan funds, will make sure that every household across
the Commonwealth has access to high-speed internet connectivity, not 5
years from now or 10 years from now but in the next couple of years.
And, finally, across Southwest Virginia--and for that matter, across
all of Virginia--we still have families in far Southwest that don't
have access to clean drinking water on a regular basis, that still have
to sometimes haul their water in the back of a pickup truck up to some
cistern, and they don't have access to clean drinking water in 2021.
Well, $55 billion will go to water projects in this legislation. And
whether they be access to clean drinking water on a regular basis or
whether it be taking out the lead pipes that haunt too many of our
urban communities, or the storm and sewer systems that are, frankly, in
some cases, 60, 70, 80 years old and simply wearing out, we can make
that investment as well.
Now, there are a series of other areas in this legislation that are
equally important, but at the end of the day, I can't think of a bill
that I have worked on that will have more direct effect on the lives of
every Virginian over the next 5 years in terms of how you get to work,
how you get to school, how you manage to take the kids out on the
weekends, how our commerce moves, how we get our water, and how we get
our internet than this record-setting $550 billion bipartisan
investment in infrastructure.
It is time for the Senate to take this bill up. I again commend all
of my colleagues who have been working on this legislation, not just
the so-called G-10 but the G-22. I thank Leader Schumer for his good
work, continuing to push this legislation forward. I want to thank the
White House for its constant involvement. I even want to commend Leader
McConnell for voting with this bipartisan group to move this
legislation along. We have talked about this for 30 years. We are
literally days away from this passing the U.S. Senate. We have got to
finish the job and get it done.
With that, I hope I have kept you riveted and now you are fully
familiar with all the needs of Virginia. I am sure you can address
similar needs in Minnesota. But I thank the Presiding Officer and all
of the staffs who are here working on this Saturday, the last day in
July, in the summer, to get this job done.
With that, I note the absence--I don't yield the floor.
I would have been surprised if the Presiding Officer had asked me to
speak for another 30 minutes, but I will choose not to do that because
I have great respect for the floor staff.
So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess subject to the call
of the chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________