[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for the quorum call be rescinded.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.

                          ____________________