Investing in A New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act. This transformative legislation will revitalize our Nation's infrastructure, including our most vulnerable communities.

The last several weeks have, once again, brought attention to the legacy of vulnerability Black Americans and other minorities suffer at the hands of a global health crisis, a shuttering economy, and systemic racism.

With this backdrop, people of color should not assume that this massive infrastructure bill has little to do with them. In fact, there are many aspects of H.R. 2 that are intended to assist people who have routinely been left out and left behind.

One of the most powerful is the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. This program, when properly administered and enforced, ensures that businesses owned by women and minorities have a fair chance to compete for federally assisted transportation projects and contracts.

A 2016 report, in my home State of Georgia, found that women- and minority-owned construction prime contracting businesses earned about 7 cents on the dollar, and women- and minority-owned subcontracting businesses made about 39 cents on the dollar.

This is unfair, and this evidence abounds. And it is not limited to any one region. The data underscores the continued need for the DBE program. I am proud to see it reauthorized in this bill, and I am proud to have been a part of its reauthorization.

We must right the wrongs of business inequity in this country, and programs like the DBE, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, will help us do just that.

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