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




                               H.R. 3684

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am very proud to be here with the rest 
of my colleagues to present this bill that will make the biggest 
investment in infrastructure, as Senator Collins said so well, since 
the Interstate Highway System back in the 1950s.
  This is really an extraordinary work product that results from the 
leadership of Senators Sinema and Portman and from the cooperation of 
everybody on this floor. There were an equal number of Democrats and 
Republicans--a number who are not here tonight who have worked on this 
bill--the work of committee chairs and ranking members in the Senate 
who have done so much to put together underlying bills that we used in 
moving this forward and, of course, all of the staff from our personal 
offices, from the Appropriations Committee, from all of the committees 
that worked on this bill.
  As has been said, this is the biggest investment in infrastructure 
with $550 million--billion in new spending over the next 5 years. It 
builds on annual appropriations. It is an investment in roads and 
bridges, in water and wastewater, and transit, the electric grid.
  We have got to do this because right now we are investing less than 
our competitors--less than China, less than India, less than Europe; 
less than we were spending in the United States in the 1960s. And if we 
are going to stay competitive, if we are going to provide opportunities 
for the people in this country, we have got to make these investments.
  As my partner in broadband said, if kids are going to have an equal 
opportunity for the future, then they need to have access to high-speed 
internet.
  More important, I think, is the point that all of my colleagues so 
far have made, and that is that this bill shows that Republicans and 
Democrats can work together to address the needs of this country; that 
our government is not broken. We can make it work if everybody works 
together.
  So I know we have a lot of work ahead of us to get this bill through 
the floor of the Senate and then through the House, and get the help 
out to the American people. But I know that in this Chamber we are 
committed to getting that done and to making sure that we make these 
investments to move the country forward.
  So thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield to my colleague from Alaska, Senator Murkowski.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kaine). The Senator from Alaska.

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