Matt Cartwright: “I thank Congressman Tonko for his comments. Madam Speaker, you can tell when you get Congressman Tonko, a guy from…”

“I thank Congressman Tonko for his comments. Madam Speaker, you can tell when you get Congressman Tonko, a guy from Amsterdam, New York, revved up about the Erie Canal, he is going to give you a good speech. A good speech is what we need to be doing right now because we have to have people understand the importance of passing the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Act, and passing them together because they fulfill the vision not only of President Biden but a vision that we have all been waiting for for the longest time. Representative Tonko and I have been serving our entire time in Congress--for me, 9 years; for the gentleman, 13 years--waiting for infrastructure to happen. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon spoke earlier tonight about all the infrastructure weeks we had under the past administration. We had infrastructure week after infrastructure week. She said that as a joke because it never happened. We just labeled weeks ``infrastructure week,'' and nobody did anything about it under the Republican administration. We are here to say President Biden and the current Democratic majority in the House are going to deliver for the people on the vision of infrastructure and making our economy and our American people competitive on the world stage. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________”