I thank my friend for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am here to speak against an amendment included in this rule, the Foxx-Davis amendment, in defense of the 2,300 factory workers and 900 family farmers who grow sugar beets in my community. The…

Americans depend on good roads and bridges to get to work every day and to take care of their families. Good infrastructure drives our economy. Americans depend on water systems to provide clean and safe drinkable water. But in this…

I think we get a lot of pushback on this. I know I do sometimes in my own district where people say, that is not the role of the Federal Government to get involved in broadband access.

I think sometimes we tend to over correct as a result of, you know, bad actors in a few instances.

So I ask the gentleman.

a significant amount of the money would be used for blight elimination, for dealing with the fallout of population loss.

The integrity of those communities are really challenged; and there is a national interest in this.

the condition that these communities face, in some cases it is the result of their own mismanagement for sure, or their lack of quality leadership.

A small-town--the quality, the sustainability of a small town in a rural region, the vibrancy of that little town is just as important to the economic sustainability of that region as, say, the sustainability and the quality of life in the…

I think we need to have a debate in this country about what is the Federal responsibility to sustain a lifestyle in many areas that is not sustainable.

I would argue that the people who live there are still citizens of the Federal--of the United States and have some right to expect us to respond to them.

I do not think the divide in this country--and other people are saying that more recently--I do not think it is Conservative/Liberal; I do not think it is Republican/Democrat; I think it is urban/rural.