[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 207 (Wednesday, December 1, 2021)]
[House]
[Pages H6845-H6846]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE BENEFITS OF INFRASTRUCTURE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
General Leave
Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. CARTWRIGHT. Madam Speaker, together with President Biden, this
country has already created 5.6 million jobs this year alone. Growth is
up, wages are up, and unemployment is at a figure that is at a low of a
couple of generations at this point.
And in the middle of all of this, Democrats had the temerity to enact
the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a historic
occasion.
The infrastructure law the Democrats delivered will create millions
more good-paying jobs--American jobs, union jobs, family-sustaining
jobs, jobs that cannot be outsourced or sent offshore.
The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed
into law the week before last makes the largest Federal investment in
public transit ever. It makes the largest Federal investment in
passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak. It makes the single
largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the
Interstate Highway System. It makes the largest investment in clean
drinking water and wastewater infrastructure in American history. It
ensures
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that every American has access to reliable high-speed internet. It
helps tackle the climate crisis by making the largest investment in
clean energy transmission and electric vehicle infrastructure in
history.
Madam Speaker, rebuilding our infrastructure means shoring up our
American middle class. It means jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, and more jobs.
It means, maybe most importantly to a lot of us, honoring the work and
the sacrifices of the Greatest Generation, those folks that Tom Brokaw
called the Greatest Generation. They came back from World War II, from
defeating fascism in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and they came back
after making all of those sacrifices, suffering all of those hardships
and deprivations and what did they do? They immediately set to work
sacrificing more for their children and their grandchildren, for us.
They sacrificed for us, and they didn't stop sacrificing.
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