On the recordOctober 20, 2015
I would like to thank my good colleague from California, Mr. Garamendi, for devoting this Special Order hour to the needs that we have in this country when it comes to our infrastructure. I am sort of excited because this week, at long last, barely in time before the highway trust fund runs out of money, we are finally going to look at a long-term surface transportation bill to fund some of our Nation's most critical infrastructure, which you have been talking about. Our Nation's highways, our roads, our bridges, they have been neglected far too long. Today we unfortunately have an infrastructure crisis. Not only do the American people rely on these roads to get from point A to point B safely and efficiently, our economy relies on them as well. I have been advocating, as you know, for more funding for our freight network. That is the series of highways and roads that go from our ports and our manufacturing hubs and that the vast majority of our Nation's freight travel on. Our Nation's ports are hard at work, bringing in cargo from all over the world and exporting the products of American manufacturing to the growing overseas market. Twenty-two million jobs nationwide rely on the efficient movement of goods in and out of our ports. These jobs rely on our Nation's freight network. For too long we have failed to invest in this important infrastructure and allowed it to crumble.…
