Eddie Bernice Johnson

More than half a million of our friends, neighbors, family members, front-line workers, and fellow citizens have succumbed to COVID-19 since the disease first touched our shores a little over one year ago.

I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will continue to join me in advocating for their passage and the real funding for those two bills.

I am concerned about the equitable enforcement of traffic safety laws.

If we want our communities to thrive, especially our rural communities, then we must address this critical part of our infrastructure in a timely and cost-effective manner.

We must not allow the mistakes of the past to continue to impact us in the future.

I am deeply committed to understanding how basic research supports healthcare solutions, and I'm also a firm believer in vaccines.

As the first nurse elected to Congress, I'm deeply committed to understanding how basic research supports healthcare solutions, and I'm also a firm believer in vaccines.

Like polio, COVID-19 kills.

We must do the same in the U.S. and grow our network of passenger rail services.

Our passenger rail system is in serious need of improvement, development and expansion.

I want to add my thanks to Chair Lipinski for his leadership of this Subcommittee.

It is important that we work to collect the data and conduct the research that is necessary to understand the impacts of this trauma.

The ongoing stress and trauma due to the pandemic, and for some communities, evacuations due to extreme weather, can take a severe toll on their mental health.

We cannot forget that we're just starting to address the impacts of climate change on our daily lives.

These same communities are often disproportionately impacted by extreme weather events that are exacerbated by climate change.

We are in an unprecedented moment in our Nation.

Thank you very much, Madam Chairman, and thanks to all of our witnesses who are here.

Discrimination greatly increases the difficulty for women and minority owned firms to succeed.

The bottom line is that DBEs must fight twice as hard and still usually end up getting far less money than goes to firms owned by non-minority males.

Almost four decades ago, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program was enacted to address the stubborn and harmful institutionalized bias and systemic racism people of color were facing in the transportation industry.

I really have a great interest in fairness and opportunity with it.

What we have gotten since we put this in place is a lot of RFPs that included minorities, but never got them involved once they got the RFP.

Let me say that this is my 28th year on this committee, and this is the most prevailing concern that has been expressed to me around the country since I have been a member of this committee, most especially with my own area.

This is something where the Senate can act by simply concurring with the House and save thousands of American lives.

My Republican partner Representative Kelly and I put--got a floor vote last summer, and a strong bipartisan vote in favor of repealing that ban