[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9653]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 REBUILDING OUR NATION'S INFRASTRUCTURE

  (Mr. KILDEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, it is long past time for Congress to come 
together and pass a bold, bipartisan plan to rebuild our Nation's 
infrastructure.
  Right now, China is spending 10 times as a percentage of GDP what we 
are on infrastructure. They are making huge investments in roads, 
bridges, ports, and rail. Meanwhile, Congress has simply not acted to 
put us on a competitive path in this global economy.
  Now, a lot of debate has occurred here in the last weeks and days 
about our position in global trade, and we should have a trade deal 
that protects American jobs.
  Meanwhile, what are we doing about China outspending us on 
infrastructure, which makes us less competitive? How are we supposed to 
compete with them when we haven't done anything to deal with our 
crumbling roads and bridges that are essential to making our 
manufacturers competitive in delivering their products to market?
  It is time for bold action, big action on infrastructure, like the 
development of a national infrastructure bank that would leverage 
public capital with private capital to rebuild our crumbling roads and 
bridges.
  Mr. Speaker, it is long past time for action. There is bipartisan 
support for this. We need to bring a big infrastructure bill to the 
floor of the House.

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