[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 20, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H1242]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         CELEBRATE THE BICYCLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, I am here this morning on the occasion 
of the 24th annual National Bike Summit to celebrate the bicycle. It 
was an honor to kick off the annual bicycle ride through the Capitol 
this morning with several hundred enthusiasts.
  We had a lot to celebrate. The infrastructure bill, the Inflation 
Reduction Act, has unleashed unprecedented investments. We have $1 
billion a year for the Safer Streets for All Act, and we have already 
$1.7 billion committed. There are over 1,000 communities that are 
dealing with plans for their bicycle network.
  Madam Speaker, there is a lot of dissension here on Capitol Hill. You 
may have noticed that it is hard sometimes for people to agree, but we 
are celebrating bike partisanship.
  The bicycle brings people together to be able to burn calories 
instead of fossil fuel. It is the most efficient form of transportation 
ever designed.
  There are exciting programs internationally. The World Bicycle Relief 
program has distributed three-quarters of a million bicycles to 
developing countries. A health professional in sub-Saharan Africa with 
a bicycle can see three times as many patients and do so more safely.
  We have opportunities in terms of being able to extend the range of 
activities for our children. Legislation I have been working on for 
years in terms of the Safe Routes to School Program has been extended 
to include high schools now.
  I started the week watching grade school bike bus with young people 
surrounded by a rope moving as a bus on their way to school.

                              {time}  1030

  The bicycle helps eliminate the congestion around our schools in the 
morning, and it gives young people a sense of freedom while it 
encourages their health.
  During the pandemic, people turned to the bicycle for recreation in a 
way that was safe, and it extended their recreational experience.
  Bicycle tourism is having a profound effect in rural and small-town 
America as people discover the joy of looking at the countryside at 10 
miles an hour instead of 70. It is also good for the economy because 
people on bicycles tend to actually spend more than people who are 
racing through neighborhoods.
  This notion of burning calories instead of fossil fuel, I think, is 
profound. We are working to extend activities for e-bikes. Part of our 
legislation has more e-bike charging stations, and the e-bike makes any 
bicycle commuter into a regular, effective commuter, extending their 
range.
  It has contributed here on Capitol Hill. When I first came, there 
were a few of us who were biking. You would see an occasional bike 
messenger, but now we are looking at massive investments even in our 
Nation's Capital.
  One of the things I am most proud of is bicycle lanes in the center 
of perhaps America's most iconic street, Pennsylvania Avenue. There is 
a whole range of investments that have been made in our Nation's 
Capital to make it more livable.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to greet these bicycle warriors, 
welcome them to Capitol Hill, learn about the opportunities in this new 
legislation, and then work with them to implement it in their 
relationships. After all, the bicycle is the indicator species of 
livable communities.

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