So this in a way would increase demand and resources to the agency, so by investing in more frequent service, we will get a return on more passengers, and that seems to be a logical sort of approach to trying to help our agencies.

Public transportation helps people get to work and school and to doctors' appointments and the grocery store, and spend less of their time and hard-earned money commuting.

I think that what happened in here was delivery system reform.

This is an incredibly important hearing on transit because it is an issue that has not received the attention it should have over many years.

We have trillions of dollars in debt. Now, 2024 is the first insolvency date for Medicare.

I have been working on this now for 8 years, and every time we get close, there is an administration change or a personnel change or something, and it is imperative to get a CMMI waiver to make this happen.

I hope to work with Ranking Member Toomey and all of the Members of our Committee to advance a surface transportation bill and tackle other infrastructure investment we need to create economic growth, in all communities.

I urge the committee to support the bipartisan and bicameral solution to our Nation's infrastructure needs.

The need for these funds to upgrade wastewater systems cannot be overstated.

I am particularly grateful that the package included legislation that Senator Markey, Congressman Moulton, and I introduced--the Leonel Rondon Pipeline Safety Act.

We must build and retrofit infrastructure capable of withstanding the rising waters, more intense and more frequent storms brought on by climate change.

I urge the committee to establish a new grant program that specifically addresses the needs of wastewater infrastructure in financially distressed municipalities.

These challenges present an urgent need to repair and rebuild our roads, bridges, ports, and transit systems to create jobs, invest in local economies, and enhance the safety of our communities.

Please be sure that deadlines like this one are not allowed to slip.

This committee's work, I have no doubt, will save lives and property; and it will restore peace of mind to the communities I'm honored to represent.

Thank you very much. And I want to thank Chairman DeFazio for inviting me to share my thoughts with you as the committee works to reauthorize the surface transportation programs, and to pass President Biden's American Jobs Plan.

This is a problem that can only be solved by increased federal investment.

I think that as we address this issue, and we address it from an equity point of view, it is going to be important, looking at whatever kind of a highway funding program we put in to make sure that this is not being used as a mechanism to…