Middle Class Economics

Floor Speech

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Mr. TONKO. We are proud of any Make It In America provisions.

Let me thank you, first and foremost, for bringing together
Representatives like Congresswoman Bass and you always at the helm to
lead us into discussions at the soundness of investment, in
infrastructure, that is required for a modern-day society, for commerce
to function, for economic recovery sake. We need to include
infrastructure as a bit of the formula that takes us to the maximum
outcome for producing jobs.

I think any of us comprehends how investment and infrastructure
equates to job creation. It is an easy exercise to relate to the
skilled set of labor that is required to build these bits of
infrastructure, but it is in the millions that we can strike in terms
of added jobs and certainly a bolstering of our regional economies and
certainly our national economy.

This one is a no-brainer. It makes sense across the board to invest
in what is crumbling infrastructure, improving those deficit-rated
bridges, deficient bridges, and to be able to provide for the sort of
vision that we as a nation require, this Nation requires, in order to
move forward on a path of soundness.

The siloing that needs to take place--or can take place, perhaps
better said--is a frightening thing. We need to look at this
infrastructure improvement through that silo, through certainly the
opportunities for economic recovery, the environmental policies, the
energy policies.

If we can move forward with these investments, encourage American-
made manufactured goods and products for these projects, and then also
see the soundness of putting together multimodal concepts where we
bring together, through a sense of planning, all of the modes of
transportation so that they are put into a hub concept where we are
putting together the best energy outcome and that constantly working in
that silo mentality that doesn't produce the results that will be most
beneficial to all of us and for generations that will follow.

I think that we need to understand that we improve our bridges, we
structure new where it is required; we don't continue to build to
capacity without the element of rail opportunity that can remove some
of those cars from the highway.

Energy efficiency is a common factor with rail transportation. It is
the most energy-efficient mode of travel. If we can invest in rail and
then incorporate that with soundness of transportation and
infrastructure so that we are not building where it is not essential,
where it can be avoided by multimodal concepts, we will then have the
best product.

All of this is focused on the needs of a modern-day society. When we
have seen the crumbling of infrastructure, where we have put on the
back burner maintenance and repair and improvements, it begins to catch
up with the budgetary thinking here, and we develop crises that require huge
outlays of money.

It is important for us to move now as urgent as we can, as quickly as
we can, to invest in our infrastructure, in our roads, and our bridges.

I have looked at the needs within my district. They are there; they
are very heavy. The impact on consumers with faulty roads, with less
than acceptable infrastructure, is costly to the individual motorists.

That is in terms of repair and maintenance of your vehicle; it is in
terms of idle time where there are traffic jams related to, again, a
need for infrastructure that is soundly developed through a sense of
planning where we look at all modes of transportation.

We have seen other nations begin to leapfrog past where we are at. We
have instructed developing nations on how best to build their
infrastructure, not just transportation roads and bridges and the
traditional transportation infrastructure, but with utilities, with
communications wiring, with all sorts of opportunities in water and
sewer.

We can advise, but we need to take our own advice as a nation and
begin the investment in what is soundly a strengthener of commerce,
public safety, and quality of life issue for all of us, individuals and
families in this country.

This is a golden opportunity. This is a way to put people to work. It
is a way to purchase American-made goods that are, again, producing
jobs in their manufacturing centers. It is a way to embrace sound
planning. It is a way to be a better steward of the environment. It is
a way to be energy smart in the outcome.

All of this can be taken care of if we do this incorporated sense of
thinking, a collaborative model that doesn't silo us to the tomorrows
of our society, but builds on a pathway to soundest investment, to most
efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars.

People want safe roads. They want safe bridges. They want the modern
convenience of utility infrastructure and communication infrastructure.
They want the soundness of thinking that a company's water, drinking
water, and water and sewer infrastructure are sound.

Representative Garamendi, you are on the west coast. I am the country
span away on the east coast.

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Mr. TONKO. We are sitting on very aged infrastructure, and it is
important for us to recognize that fact. There is a life expectancy
that, when met, begins a huge crumbling of the infrastructure.

We need to acknowledge that fact. We need to acknowledge the fact
that the soundness of workers skilled, trained, prepared, ready to do
this work can be put into meaningful work opportunities, and we can
get, again, the pathway to soundness of commerce and quality of life
addressed in a very reasonable fashion.

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Mr. TONKO. Again, the aged infrastructure is one factor; the new development, innovation, cutting-edge, high-tech opportunities that are not
embraced, not incorporated into the infrastructure that we currently
require--these are two major driving factors as to why we should be
aggressive in our pursuit of infrastructure resources.

There are those, ourselves included, who embrace an infrastructure
bank bill, making certain that we can get more for the dollar, that we
can leverage and stretch the commitments that we make to reach more
projects.

You talked about water infrastructure. I am seated on the Energy and
Commerce Committee and am ranker on the Environment and the Economy
Subcommittee, so it is an appropriate place to review and to further
inspect the state of our drinking water infrastructure.

In the last district work period just completed, I began with my crew
at home the initial steps, with tours, of reviewing the water
infrastructure that serves the communities that I represent. In
Schenectady, New York, which is a town of about 60,000 individuals, we
have some 240 miles of pipe in one community. That pipe may be as old
as 100-plus years. The main feeds are 36-inch and 24-inch pipes.

When you look at all of this infrastructure, knowing that the
replacement factor is going to come, isn't it a better thing to plan
how we are going to share those resources with communities?

This is understanding that when we have a water main break--and we
witnessed many of those during the very harsh winter that the Northeast
of the country faced this year, and a number of the frost heaves are
now busting this infrastructure. When we have some of these major
breaks and when you see the water flowing from that location, it is not
just water that is flowing by; it is dollars and it is electrons,
because it took immense amounts of electricity, energy supplies, to
treat that water. It took tons of taxpayer dollars to make certain that
it is acceptable in its form for consumption, drinking water, and, of
course, it is the water wasted.

So we need to see this as a way to save water, to save dollars, to
save energy, and why not incorporate into this discussion all of those
elements that speak to drinking water needs in this country?

You have seen too many opportunities or impacts on communities where
they have had this ``boil water'' provision for days, if not weeks. You
see it around the country. People are getting impacted, again, with
this infrastructure that is so old, and it is in need of repair. We are
sitting on not only pipes in the ground but well systems, the
infrastructure, the computers, the workforce that is required.

Are we training the appropriate workforce to pick up in these areas
who have high levels of certification? The know-how is immense, and the
responsibility is awesome. There is the human infrastructure. There is
the training. There is the planning that is required and, certainly,
the outstanding need for the soundness of all of the system that brings
you from that aquifer, that water source, into the business place or
the home place.

This is something that we are going to further explore because we
know there is an inordinate need, and we want to put together a sound
plan that is thoughtful and reaches to the expected--the projected--
needs and offers the assistance to local governments, which is so
essential.

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Mr. TONKO. I couldn't agree more. I think what we can do to
supplement efforts in individual States is so critical right now
because the need is so in demand.

When I talk about this, I hear from your counterparts in California
about the huge loss of water they had with some of the water main
breaks. Again, it is the water; it is the dollars; it is the electrons
that are flowing right by us. I have heard from Representatives from
Texas, from those in Maryland, from those in the Northeast--New England
and the Northeast--all saying it is about time. We need to do something
here. My gosh. We have wooden pipes serving some communities. It is out
of sight, out of mind. It is beneath that surface, and we are just
believing that the water supply will be there and that the pipes will
last forever. We know that the acidic quality of soils will wear the
pipes from the outside and that the velocity will wear the pipes from
the inside. They will not last forever.

It is important for us to make certain that we communicate well,
establish that dialogue with the water maintenance crews at all levels
in our home States and have them instruct us as the first line of that
service delivery system and say, Hey, this is the situation. These are
the conditions. These are the needs. And let us go forward with this
infrastructure discussion that fully incorporates all of the elements
of infrastructure--from the safety of our roads and bridges to the
advanced investment in ports and rail, to communications to utilities.
We have monopoly designed settings now wheeling electrons from region
to region, State to State, nation to nation, nations to the U.S. All of
this needs to be broadened in terms of the dialogue that we share and
develop.

We need to understand that we are at a cutting edge where, in this
century now, we need to upgrade because of new opportunities or upgrade
because of aged infrastructure. It begins with the soundness of
planning, and it is why I enjoy these discussions with you where we can
ignite, so to speak, that thinking at home and, certainly, amongst our
colleagues here in the House and down the hall in the Senate to make
certain that we are just avidly supportive of going forward with a
progressive order of policies that will speak to these infrastructure
needs and where we allocate the resources that are going to respond
effectively to the given situation at hand.

It is within our grasp. The bottom line is it produces jobs--millions
of jobs--all while addressing safety and quality of life and commerce
opportunity.

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Mr. TONKO. Well, interestingly, when I was on a recent trip south of
D.C., into the southeast of the U.S., I got to tour a brand-new car
that is a luggage car, storage car, includes racks for bikes, all sorts
of storage done on that car itself, and proudly they wanted to share
with me it is made in Elmira, New York, in upstate New York, state-of-
the-art design, brand new vehicle, just put on, I believe, that week
that I was on the train. So, you are right, this translates into jobs
of all orders, from manufacturing of these cars, these train cars, to
innovation and research that is required, for instance, in our electric
utility infrastructure.

But, you know, I think Delegate Holmes Norton struck something that
should speak to our senses, and that is history dictating to us when we
were at our best. When we had this dip in our economy, when we were in
post-Depression, when we needed to recover, we invested in jobs; we
invested in infrastructure. My gosh, you look at the buildings that
came through those late 1920s and 1930s that are still standing, not
only solid as a rock, but tremendously designed and great bits of
architecture that speak to a great bit of cityscape in our communities
that really added to the look of the community.

And we can take it back even before that in the history of our time
when, as we have talked on this floor before, the Erie Canal, barge canal, was constructed. It was done at a time when Governor DeWitt Clinton had
this goal--and the economy was in tough shape, too--and so he drove
this idea through tough times when people said we can't afford it. And
elements in history, chapters in history repeatedly remind us, you
know, we are replete with these anecdotal bits of evidence that tell
us, when things were really tough, when the economy was really, really
weak, we went and pulled ourselves out of those pits, those financial
downfalls, and did it through investment in infrastructure.

Here we not only have an opportunity to pull us up and have a
stronger economic response, but it is also enabling us to utilize the
intellectual capacity of this great country that grows innovation,
grows ideas, new concepts, research on lighter weight materials that
can make our renewable energy supplies all the greater, where the bang
for the buck is all the stronger.

So there are elements galore that speak to an effective bit of
planning that can take us through these tough economic times, respond
to this crumbling nature of infrastructure or the need to build the new
state-of-the-art elements into our Nation, be it communication,
utility, transportation-wise or water and sewer-wise. There are golden
opportunities to add to the workforce and then utilize the best
opportunities out there, technologically, that have been developed
through the soundness of American know-how, American ingenuity. So this
gives birth. This gives--it coaxes from us the strength that we have as
a nation to rely on that creative pioneer spirit that builds America in
the truest form and fashion.

So coaxing that kind of activity, America needs to be coaxed by that,
pushed to embrace the pioneer spirit. Go forward with these
opportunities to make us a strong, strong voice that will resonate with
all communities across this country because they know that need for
infrastructure is strong. It is really beckoning our leadership to go
forward and commit to the soundness of that infrastructure investment,
and we see it in so many aspects of the work done here.

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Mr. TONKO. Thank you. Certainly, it is an honor to join with you and
our colleagues this evening, as so many have come to the floor to speak
to the soundness of infrastructure.

We have talked about the present moment. We have talked about being
inspired by the past, but let's look to the future. Not only do we owe
it to the present moment to embark upon some of the newest options,
alternatives, and innovative concepts, but what about the impact on
future generations?

If we don't do what is required of us in this present moment, we are
saying that we are willing to survive on that fat of the land, that we
take all of that thoughtfulness and all of the sense of progress and
the pioneer attitude of generations before us who said: We are going to
leave a sound bit of infrastructure, and we are going to know that we
did the most we could in our moment so that generations to follow will
be able to live--and live strongly--and be able to prosper from that
and perhaps further stretch the thinking of America.

Well, we haven't done that. We have taken that opportunity and
utilized it in a way that serves our present-moment needs. The neglect
here, I think the sinfulness of this outcome, the moral compass that
should guide us is that you leave a better world for those to come.

The payment mechanism isn't going to get cheaper. We know that. The
need is inordinately high. The sense of vision that we need to share as
leaders of a nation that is so great as the U.S. needs to provide for a
soundness of planning and cutting-edge opportunities and an
infrastructure that is strong and vibrant that allows for job creation,
for commerce and its needs, for public safety, for individuals and
families across this country.

Representative Garamendi, this has been a very sound way to share
with people across the country what the thinking is of the Democrats in
the House. The Democrats believe in the soundness of infrastructure.
They believe in investing in jobs. They believe in investing in a
better tomorrow, investing where you rightly anticipate lucrative
dividends--lucrative dividends.

It is not spending foolishly. It is investing soundly in a way that
speaks to documented need and then encourages and inspires us to speak
in bold terms that will take us to cutting-edge opportunities that we
will leverage in the present moment so that generations to follow will
say: They got it, they tackled the problem, they responded to the
challenge, they were bold in their attempt.

Let's leave that as our message. Let's leave that as our legacy.

I thank you for the opportunity here this evening.

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