[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 136 (Sunday, August 1, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5236-S5237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               H.R. 3684

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, I concur with the comments of my 
colleague from Arizona. She put it well.
  This is a really important bill because it takes our aging and 
outdated infrastructure in this country and modernizes it, and that is 
good for everybody. It is good for the truckdriver who can leave home, 
knowing he is going to be safer on our roads and bridges. It is good 
for the mom who commutes to work and is sick of waiting in rush-hour 
traffic on the way to work and on the way back because she would rather 
spend more time with her kids. It is good for the factory worker in 
Ohio who makes things that need to be transported. We make tanks in 
Ohio; we make cars in Ohio; we make washing machines. They go all over 
the world. Our ports--our land ports and our seaports--are inefficient 
and backed up. It is good for our consumers who are waiting for 
products from all over the world because our ports are backed up.
  Our infrastructure is way behind, and we will talk a lot more about 
that over the next couple of days with some very specific data as to 
how we have fallen behind, how we are not competitive anymore, how 
China has surpassed us in terms of infrastructure. As a percent of 
their economy, they spend about four times more than we do. Why? 
Because they get it. This helps make the economy more efficient, more 
productive, and, therefore, it actually returns an investment to the 
American people.
  We are also going to hear about how it is not going to increase 
inflation like some of the other spending that is being talked about 
around here, partly because it is long-term spending for capital 
assets. It is spending that is going to add to the supply side, meaning 
it is actually going to be counterinflationary and create more jobs. We 
hear all about that, but one thing that I do want to make sure that we 
hear about tonight is the fact that this process of starting from the 
center out has worked.
  People have talked about infrastructure in this city forever. 
President Trump had a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package. Ours is 
$550 billion, by the way. Five percent of his was paid for. Ours is 
paid for. We made a commitment early on that we were going to do two 
things: One, we were going to focus on core infrastructure. So, when 
President Biden introduced a $2.65 trillion bill and called it 
infrastructure, we said: Well, there is some good stuff in there, but 
let's pull out the good stuff, the core infrastructure because a lot of 
it had nothing to do with infrastructure. And, second, we said: You 
know what? We are not going to do it by raising taxes. We are not going 
to hurt the American worker more and make America less competitive in 
this; we are going to do just the opposite.
  We kept to those two principles, and I am so proud of that; that 
tonight we can say the amendment, the substitute amendment, is going to 
be offered, and it is going to keep to that commitment of $555 
billion--no new taxes, core infrastructure only--and it is great for 
the American people.
  I want to thank a few people who got us here who are going to be 
able, over the next few days, to tell us in great detail of the role 
they played because it was significant on every one of their parts.
  First, of course, Senator Sinema; she has been the one who has kept 
us on track, and that has been very important, but also to my 
colleagues who are here tonight on the floor, Senator Susan Collins, 
Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senator Mitt Romney, Senator Bill Cassidy--my 
Republican colleagues whom we have worked with over the last 4 months--
and each has made huge contributions to this.
  I want to thank the White House for their work with us because they 
said early on: OK. We want to do this, too, in a bipartisan way.
  We said: OK. If you are serious, we do too.
  And, sure enough, we negotiated. It was tough, and we had a lot of 
differences, but we were able to get to this point tonight.
  Just as important is the group on the other side of the aisle who 
made this work, and I see my colleague Senator Manchin here. I see 
Senator Warner here. It looks like he really wants to speak. I see 
Senator Shaheen here, who is about to speak, and I see Senator Tester 
wandering around here somewhere. These are the folks on the other side 
of the so-called G-10 who made it happen.
  And then a much bigger group. So to my colleagues who also helped in 
the 22 working groups we had in putting this together and did such a 
great job, Richard Burr, Lindsey Graham, Mike Rounds, Thom Tillis, 
Jerry Moran, Chris Coons, Maggie Hassan, John Hickenlooper, Mark Kelly, 
Angus King, Jacky Rosen--11 Democrats and 11 Republicans.
  And then, to my friends who took us over the top the other night on 
the first vote we had on this, I appreciate them because they were not 
involved as much on the details, but they know this is the right thing 
for the country, and many of them did help to get us where we are: 
Kevin Cramer, Mike Crapo, Mitch McConnell, Roy Blunt, Chuck Grassley, 
John Hoeven, Jim Risch.
  Folks, we wouldn't be here without every one of them, and we thank 
all of the folks who have put so much time and effort into this.
  And, mostly, we got to thank our staffs because none of us would be 
here standing tonight, doing this, if we didn't have staff who had been 
working their hearts out, staying here until 12

[[Page S5237]]

midnight, ensuring that every single thing in this bill has been looked 
over carefully to make sure that we got it right.
  And we are getting it right tonight for the American people, for our 
economy, and for the future of our great country.
  I yield to my colleague from Virginia.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia

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