Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to share with my colleagues some information regarding the Reconnecting Communities Act, a bill that I have introduced today along with my colleagues Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Cardin, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Warnock, Mr. Schumer and Mr. Coons. This legislation would address the legacy of highway construction built through communities, especially through low-income communities and communities of color, which divided neighborhoods and erected barriers to mobility and opportunity. This legislation implements a central piece of President Biden's American Jobs Plan, which calls for new Federal funding to address the need to remove infrastructure barriers in communities that have been historically disadvantaged and disconnected. The construction of our interstate highway system throughout the 20th Century had many positive aspects. It facilitated commerce and travel from coast to coast and connected our urban, suburban and rural areas. However, the construction of highways through established neighborhoods and cities also had a detrimental impact on the people who called those places home. Blocks of homes were torn down and vibrant commercial streets razed to make way for new highway construction, often without any input from the people who actually lived, worked, and owned businesses there. Many of these neighborhoods never fully recovered, and the highways divided cities, making it difficult to get from one side to the other.…”