Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright), and thank him for leading us in tonight's discussion on both…”

“I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright), and thank him for leading us in tonight's discussion on both physical and human infrastructure. Let me start by extending my comments toward the child tax credit that you made mention of in your last comments. The data now are available from July and August. As we all know, families received their first check in July, and what a bit of welcome relief. And as we look at where those dollars went, 47 percent, from July and August payments--those are the data available currently--47 percent went to put food on the table; 28 percent went toward utilities, including broadband. So we are talking about kids doing their homework. We are talking about parents having an opportunity to reach the outside world. Middle- income America to have cottage industries up and running. So 75 percent of that tax cut went to food and utilities, and other incidentals absorb the remaining amount of payments. Now, that is a staggering statistic. That should tell us something about the value added of this tax cut. Madam Speaker, as Representative Cartwright indicated, there is a stark contrast between Republican leadership in the House and Democratic leadership in the House. When the majority was run by the Republicans, they joined the former President in providing a tax cut for the 1 percent of the highest wealth in the country.…”