Hoyer Remarks at Press Event Unveiling House Democrats’ New Infrastructure Framework
For Immediate Release:
January 29, 2020
Contact Info:
Mariel Saez 202-225-3130
WASHINGTON, DC - House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (MD) delivered remarks at a press event today announcing House Democrats’ new “Moving Forward” infrastructure framework put forward by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ), and Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA):
“I want to thank the Speaker, and I want to thank all of the Committee Chairs who are here. I want to thank our new Members, who have brought a new energy and new focus because they just went through very tough campaigns, and they talked about what the people want and they talked for the people.
“I started an agenda that I called ‘Make It In America’ – overwhelmingly supported by the American people, making things here in America. You make infrastructure all [over] America, and the Society of Engineers that Mr. Neal spoke of say there is a $4.5 trillion dollar deficit in infrastructure investment in our country. And if we invest money in this country creating American jobs, not only will we create those jobs, but we will create, as Mr. Neal pointed out, dynamic scoring for a growth in the economy. If we do not, we will not be competitive in the 21st century global economy. It’s as simple as that. The cost of failure will far exceed the price of progress.
“Mr. Neal, [the] Speaker and I, and Mr. Clyburn as well as Mr. DeFazio met with the President. The President campaigned in 2016 on investing in infrastructure. He talked about a trillion dollars. We met at the White House. [The Administration] sent down a bill of $200 billion dollars. The President of the United States said that bill was far insufficient. I don’t like that bill, he said… He said it’s not sufficient. And he came up, while we were talking, with a trillion dollars – which is an awful a lot of money – and he said no, that’s not enough. We need to do $2 trillion.
“And Mr. Neal said, Mr. President, we’ll talk to you about that, but we need your leadership. You tell us how you think that would be [paid for], we’ll have a discussion about it, and let’s move forward.
“At the end of the meeting, I said, ‘Mr. President, you understand, no Democratic Senator, no Republican Senator, no Democratic House Member, no Republican House Member is going to support $2 trillion dollars if you are not leading the way on how we raise that dollar.’
“Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Pallone, and Mr. Neal have been working [on this infrastructure framework]. But also, Mr. Scott is working on a bill that is absolutely essential. We need to help localities build educational facilities that themselves will be dynamically scored because the more you do for education, the better your economy is. And one of the great problems we have in our country is homelessness and lack of affordable, quality health care and housing for our people, for the people. We’re going to work on all of those. This, we need to get done.
“And we are at a time of the lowest interest rates in history… And the President wants to go lower on infrastructure. What a perfect time to spend money at a very low cost on building our economy and creating jobs.
“So I thank all of those who are working on this effort. I thank all our new members, who, as I say, have brought that energy from Texas, from New Jersey, from Arizona, from Kansas, from Minnesota, and the next Senator from New Mexico.
“We need to do this. I thank all of you for your leadership.”
“I want to thank the Speaker, and I want to thank all of the Committee Chairs who are here. I want to thank our new Members, who have brought a new energy and new focus because they just went through very tough campaigns, and they talked about what the people want and they talked for the people.
“I started an agenda that I called ‘Make It In America’ – overwhelmingly supported by the American people, making things here in America. You make infrastructure all [over] America, and the Society of Engineers that Mr. Neal spoke of say there is a $4.5 trillion dollar deficit in infrastructure investment in our country. And if we invest money in this country creating American jobs, not only will we create those jobs, but we will create, as Mr. Neal pointed out, dynamic scoring for a growth in the economy. If we do not, we will not be competitive in the 21st century global economy. It’s as simple as that. The cost of failure will far exceed the price of progress.
“Mr. Neal, [the] Speaker and I, and Mr. Clyburn as well as Mr. DeFazio met with the President. The President campaigned in 2016 on investing in infrastructure. He talked about a trillion dollars. We met at the White House. [The Administration] sent down a bill of $200 billion dollars. The President of the United States said that bill was far insufficient. I don’t like that bill, he said… He said it’s not sufficient. And he came up, while we were talking, with a trillion dollars – which is an awful a lot of money – and he said no, that’s not enough. We need to do $2 trillion.
“And Mr. Neal said, Mr. President, we’ll talk to you about that, but we need your leadership. You tell us how you think that would be [paid for], we’ll have a discussion about it, and let’s move forward.
“At the end of the meeting, I said, ‘Mr. President, you understand, no Democratic Senator, no Republican Senator, no Democratic House Member, no Republican House Member is going to support $2 trillion dollars if you are not leading the way on how we raise that dollar.’
“Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Pallone, and Mr. Neal have been working [on this infrastructure framework]. But also, Mr. Scott is working on a bill that is absolutely essential. We need to help localities build educational facilities that themselves will be dynamically scored because the more you do for education, the better your economy is. And one of the great problems we have in our country is homelessness and lack of affordable, quality health care and housing for our people, for the people. We’re going to work on all of those. This, we need to get done.
“And we are at a time of the lowest interest rates in history… And the President wants to go lower on infrastructure. What a perfect time to spend money at a very low cost on building our economy and creating jobs.
“So I thank all of those who are working on this effort. I thank all our new members, who, as I say, have brought that energy from Texas, from New Jersey, from Arizona, from Kansas, from Minnesota, and the next Senator from New Mexico.
“We need to do this. I thank all of you for your leadership.”