I also want to thank Chairman DeFazio in particular for his work in shaping this legislation.

Thirty-six years I have been here working these issues, and the forces of inertia and not getting things done in Washington are quite strong.

I thank President Biden and his administration for their vision and leadership in the implementation of the BIL.

Those projects might feel good for Members who are very passionate about that issue, but they are not actually going to produce a sufficient amount of energy.

But I am proud of the work of this committee, and this Congress as a whole, these last two years--to defeat that sense of inertia and deliver for the American people.

When faced with crumbling transportation infrastructure that had been neglected for years, we delivered.

I think we can be very proud of what we have accomplished, and in good part, generated by this committee.

It is important that Amtrak continue to receive, in addition to IIJA advance appropriations, annual appropriations at levels that are sufficient to operate all of our existing routes at pre-pandemic service frequencies and maintain our…

Thanks to the IIJA, this is the most exciting time in the history of Amtrak.

Much of this forward-looking, practice-relevant, and transportation workforce expanding effort was catalyzed through the leadership of Congressman DeFazio fifteen years ago.

We applaud this Committee for exercising your oversight role by holding the July 19 hearing 'Implementing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.'

We delivered on the challenges to the transportation sector from COVID-19.

There is no good reason to sideline the health, safety, and wellbeing of working people in this country.

We saved the aviation industry by keeping the employees paid and in status, not directing money as a bailout to the airlines themselves.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates the deterioration to have a pricetag of over $2 trillion just to bring it up to a state of good repair.

And if the Federal--we haven't adjusted the Federal gas tax--I was here when we did it, 1993.

We refused to follow the old 'blank check for corporations' bailout playbook, especially for airlines.

In the face of this challenge, we passed COVID relief: first the CARES Act, and then the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and then the American Rescue Plan Act.

I look forward to hearing from Sara Nelson with the Association of Flight Attendants and Greg Regan of the Transportation Trades Department about how they came through and their members came through the pandemic.

Dr. Adam Hersh estimates that the IIJA's additional infrastructure spending will support--pretty precise here--772,400 jobs.

We knew it would be immediate devastation for two million aviation workers if we couldn't get relief, but there was no way we were going to agree to a bailout for airlines.

The Payroll Support Program worked, full stop.

Invest in Transit Equity, Invest in Transit Workers.

we are pleased that he ends his time in Congress on such a high note.

We must not find ourselves back at this table in 10 or 30 years asking what went wrong.