On the recordFebruary 15, 2011
I wanted to speak to the underlying CR, H.R. 1. Madam Chair, in particular I want to speak to the fact that the American people have been very clear in their understanding that what we need to do is rebuild the country and that we need to rebuild America. Yet everything that is being proposed by the Republicans in this continuing resolution undermines that goal. Rebuilding America means rebuilding our infrastructure, and we can talk about that infrastructure in a number of different ways. We can talk about rebuilding and investing in our physical infrastructure. That's roads, bridges, tunnels, highways, and building up the strength of our physical infrastructure, which we all know we have to do. All you have to do is look at the newspaper or watch television, and you will see examples every day of the crumbling infrastructure out there. So we have got to commit to that, but the Republican budget would undermine that objective. We have to rebuild the civic infrastructure of this country and keep it strong. What do I mean by the ``civic infrastructure''? I am talking about service programs like AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service, which creates an infrastructure that says to those people who want to volunteer and serve their country--1,000 points of light--we are here to partner with you in doing that. Yet the Republican proposal would zero out that civic infrastructure. It's about investing in human infrastructure and building up human capital.
