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“EXECUTIVE SESSION” mentioning Tim Kaine and Mark R. Warner was published in the Senate section on pages S5228-S5230 on July 31.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
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The publication is reproduced in full below:
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will now resume executive session.
Ms. WARREN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
H.R. 3684
Mr. WARNER. First of all, Madam President, let me thank you and all of the floor staff and others who are here. I think on a beautiful Saturday at the end of July, we all wish, perhaps, we were somewhere else other than on the floor of the Senate.
For the 30 years that I have been involved in political discussions in Virginia and some on an international level, we have had President after President and Congress after Congress talk about the generational unmet needs in infrastructure. We have seen our roads and bridges start to crumble. The estimates are that close to, depending on the survey, 14,000 bridges are in a decaying state, and in my State, over 700 bridges. We know the potholes in many of our roads and highways. We know our airports resemble third world nations, not the United States of America. We know our ports have not kept up with modern technology. We know that many of our shorelines are dealing with the unprecedented effects of sea level rise. We know after COVID that high-speed internet connectivity is not a nice-to-have but essential. It is something the Presiding Officer has taken a legislative lead on.
We know that it is time to get past talking about infrastructure and finally doing something. That is why I have been proud to be part of this bipartisan effort, working with the White House, to produce a historic piece of legislation, $550 billion of new spending over 5 years that in every category I just mentioned will make historic investments.
I have been a little surprised, to tell you the truth, that some of our colleagues on the other side who were not part of the bipartisan group have suddenly said: No, we can't do infrastructure now. They were all for it when President Trump was in; now they find excuses why not.
I have to also say I have been a little bit surprised even with some of my colleagues on my side of the aisle, when the deal that we have structured is literally twice as much as where the earlier negotiations were between President Biden and some of the Republican committee chairs--committee leaders.
There has been some sense of, well, you know, infrastructure--that shouldn't be that hard to do. If it wasn't hard to do, why has it taken us 30 years to get to this moment?
I hope--and I know we are finalizing the last couple pieces of legislative language--I hope that we will get that finished as soon as possible so we can get this bill on the floor, have amendments, have a debate, but at the end of the day, pass this historic legislation and finally put our money where our mouths have been in terms of talking about the needs of infrastructure in this country.
Now, I know, Madam President, that we do not have probably a lot of people rushing to the floor today, so I am going to take an extra minute or two. It doesn't mean you have to stay riveted to each moment. But I want to talk about this for a few moments in terms of what this will do for my State, for the Commonwealth of Virginia.
In the Commonwealth of Virginia, investment in infrastructure has been something that has eluded us for years. I have to acknowledge that when I was Governor, I tried to find funding, the funding needs, particularly in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, and put forward bipartisan-supported tax referendums in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads. I was horribly unsuccessful at getting that done.
A number of years later, a subsequent Governor, Governor McDonnell, managed to make a downpayment on some of the infrastructure needs in Virginia but not really address in a more comprehensive way the Commonwealth's needs.
So I am going to take a couple of moments now and talk about, section by section, in Virginia, what this bipartisan, White House-supported, record infrastructure investment will mean to the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Let me start with Hampton Roads. Hampton Roads, in a southeast Virginia peninsula, is most at risk from concerns about sea level rise and questions about resiliency, more than any other region in the whole country, with the exception of New Orleans. In Hampton Roads, local leaders, our Navy, nonprofits, and businesses have all come together and said: We need to make sure that we grapple with sea level rise. It is ranked, by most in those communities, as the No. 1 issue.
Well, if we pass this legislation, $47 billion will go into sea level rise prevention and resiliency. That will mean that a whole host of projects in Norfolk, in Portsmouth, in Virginia Beach, and in Chesapeake will all be finally addressed. We have to make sure that Hampton Roads is not subject to this kind of devastating effect of sea level rise.
We also know that Hampton Roads needs more rail. We have opened recently some rail down to the peninsula, but not enough. We have to make sure that the rail that goes from Richmond doesn't leave off, as a cul-de-sac, the peninsula in South Hampton Roads. With a $66 billion investment in rail, we may soon be able to see that become a reality.
Hampton Roads is home to the Port of Virginia. The Port of Virginia is one of the biggest ports on the whole east coast. But if we don't continue to upgrade that port, if we don't continue to deepen the channel, if we don't make the investments in the Craney Island expansion, and if we don't stay competitive, that port, which is the economic engine driver not just of Hampton Roads but, in many ways, of most of the Commonwealth, will not stay competitive. This legislation will provide $17 billion, a record amount of investment, in our ports, and I can promise you the Port of Virginia will get a share of those resources.
And, finally, on just the plain old issue of roads, Hampton Roads is disconnected from what we call the Peninsula in Virginia, and we have gotten two crosslinks, which oftentimes, during the summer months, can lead to multiple-hour backups to our bridge-tunnels. If we make this
$110 billion investment in roads and bridges, we can potentially see that third crossing come into reality. But what we could also make sure is that we could finally finish the widening of Interstate 64 between Norfolk and Richmond.
I talked about this when I ran for Governor, and as Governor I said: Wouldn't it be great if in our lifetime we could actually finish this project? Well, if we pass this bipartisan piece of legislation, the I-
64 project widening from Norfolk to Richmond will be finished. This is incredibly important for the people of Hampton Roads, the Eastern Shore peninsula, and the Northern Neck to make these investments.
Let's move up the road to our capital, Richmond, and the Richmond area. Last week, as I was looking at the Mayo Bridge--one of the historic bridges, over 100 years old--I saw how decaying it was. I saw the water damage that was taking place. That bridge, without remediation, could be forced to close if we don't make the needed investments. Well, this bipartisan legislation will commit $110 billion for highway and bridge improvements. Mayo Bridge, and a host of the other 700 bridges in Virginia that are decaying, will get fixed. We need to make that happen.
Richmond, as well, has got one of the most impressive bus transit systems not only in Virginia but in the whole country. We have made huge investments, close to $40 billion, in transit in this legislation, and some of the Richmond bus transit needs will be addressed.
We also know, in the Richmond area and across the Commonwealth, that we have a lot of airports. One of the things we need to continue to do is invest in our airports. The Richmond airport is always in need of additional expansion. There is $25 billion to improve our airports across the country. The Richmond airport, the Norfolk airport, the Newport News airport, and, obviously, the Roanoke airport and others--
Dulles, National--will be improved, as well as a host of smaller regional airports across the Commonwealth, if we make this investment.
We come up to our region here, where I live, in Northern Virginia. I am very proud of working with Tim Kaine and the Senators from Maryland. We made sure this legislation included a full 8-year reauthorization of our Metro system. We made sure that we are making record investments in transit so that we can get Metro back up operating again on a full schedule and we can make the needed safety improvements that have been plaguing Metro for a number of years.
We also know that we have to continue to build out additional Metro stations in Northern Virginia. The one at Potomac Yard will be extraordinarily important to the Innovation Center and the Amazon 2 headquarters.
We have to make sure, as well, because Metro is moving to zero-
emission buses--that is good news for our climate and for our community. The question is where are those zero-emission buses going to be built? This legislation, as well, makes record investment in electric and other low-carbon and no-carbon buses, so they can be built here, not in China.
Our record investment in transit will also make dramatic improvements to the VRE for the Manassas Line. Let's get more people out of their cars and into VRE, whether it is the Manassas or Fredericksburg Line. Needed investments will be made if we pass this legislation.
Another project, if we are going to open up rail in Virginia, we have to make sure that we have another rail bridge across the Potomac. So for the Long Bridge Project, which I have been working with Governor Northam and Senator Kaine on, this kind of investment will make that happen.
And as anybody who lives in Northern Virginia knows--where I live, and somebody who lives in Alexandria--traffic is the bane of our existence. There will be a host of improvements that will get done if we pass this legislation. Let me talk about one in particular.
Route 1, from Alexandria through Fairfax and into Prince William County, we know how clogged and congested it has been. We have been looking for additional funding, literally, for decades on Route 1. If we pass this legislation, it will get done.
Let me move a little bit further west in our State, out toward the Shenandoah Valley and Roanoke and Southwest. For years, we have been talking about the danger on I-81. Literally, there have been prayer groups formed to pray for people who would travel on I-81 because there was so much truck traffic there that it has, frankly, impeded the safety of the traveling public. We have been talking about making improvements and expansions to 81 capacity for 20 years. We have been talking about how do we get the trucks off of I-81, and how do we bring more rail down to Southwest and Southside. Well, if we pass this legislation, we will see those 81 corridor improvements that we have all been waiting for. We will see rail not only going from Lynchburg and Roanoke but extend on down to Blacksburg and Christiansburg and, hopefully, all the way down to Bristol. This is terribly important to make sure that those communities have a multimodal form of transportation opportunities and making sure we get those trucks off of I-81, something we have been talking about for a long time. If we increase the rail capacity, both freight and passenger, we will be able to do that.
We also know in Southside and Southwest, post-COVID, that high-speed internet connectivity is not a ``nice to have'' but an absolute necessity. A top priority of mine, as somebody who has spent more years in the telecommunications industry than I have in politics, is to make sure that we make those connections. This legislation--historic legislation--has $65 billion for broadband. That investment, building on Governor Northam's $700 million investment from Virginia and American Rescue Plan funds, will make sure that every household across the Commonwealth has access to high-speed internet connectivity, not 5 years from now or 10 years from now but in the next couple of years.
And, finally, across Southwest Virginia--and for that matter, across all of Virginia--we still have families in far Southwest that don't have access to clean drinking water on a regular basis, that still have to sometimes haul their water in the back of a pickup truck up to some cistern, and they don't have access to clean drinking water in 2021. Well, $55 billion will go to water projects in this legislation. And whether they be access to clean drinking water on a regular basis or whether it be taking out the lead pipes that haunt too many of our urban communities, or the storm and sewer systems that are, frankly, in some cases, 60, 70, 80 years old and simply wearing out, we can make that investment as well.
Now, there are a series of other areas in this legislation that are equally important, but at the end of the day, I can't think of a bill that I have worked on that will have more direct effect on the lives of every Virginian over the next 5 years in terms of how you get to work, how you get to school, how you manage to take the kids out on the weekends, how our commerce moves, how we get our water, and how we get our internet than this record-setting $550 billion bipartisan investment in infrastructure.
It is time for the Senate to take this bill up. I again commend all of my colleagues who have been working on this legislation, not just the so-called G-10 but the G-22. I thank Leader Schumer for his good work, continuing to push this legislation forward. I want to thank the White House for its constant involvement. I even want to commend Leader McConnell for voting with this bipartisan group to move this legislation along. We have talked about this for 30 years. We are literally days away from this passing the U.S. Senate. We have got to finish the job and get it done.
With that, I hope I have kept you riveted and now you are fully familiar with all the needs of Virginia. I am sure you can address similar needs in Minnesota. But I thank the Presiding Officer and all of the staffs who are here working on this Saturday, the last day in July, in the summer, to get this job done.
With that, I note the absence--I don't yield the floor.
I would have been surprised if the Presiding Officer had asked me to speak for another 30 minutes, but I will choose not to do that because I have great respect for the floor staff.
So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess subject to the call of the chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
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