a tax that hurts had our families on low- and fixed-incomes the most. i haddered from a dad in jacksonville with three kids who are helping to take care of two of other kids because their fathers are out of work. as a result of having five kids in his home, he has started work ago second job to pay for all the groceries. his second job is driving uber. that is less and less profitable by the day because of the rising price of gas. over the weekend, the suspension on the federal debt ceiling expired. that leaves congress with two choices -- continue this reckless wasteful spending with no accountability to the american people or start making the tough choices to put our nation on a successful path. i know we can make the right choices and start moving america in a better direction. that's exa i did when i was governor of florida. our state was on a bad path. i had to make difficult choices, as i paid down one-third of a state debt all while cutting taxes at the same time. it can be done. washington's choices is like

raising the limit on your credit card month after month with absolutely no plan to pay it off. it's irresponsible and it's no way to operate. you would never run your business or family the way washington runs. it's wasteful and dysfunctional. i came to washington to rein in this exact type of dysfunction. we have to get our debt and spending under control. we need to make washington work for families across florida and across the nation. that's why i am leading my colleagues in a proposed rules change that would require every piece of legislation passed by a senate committee to report how it will impact inflation. it's very simple. if the legislation directly or indirectly raises the cost of living or raises taxes on american families, families deserve to know. too many in washington believe the lie inflation is possible, it doesn't matter and spending has no consequences. that's why this rule change is needed. this rule change is to protect that father in jacksonville who is struggling to get by. it's to protect those on fixed income, low-income earners and

small business that can't absorb cost increases. i ask that the senate now proceed to senate resolution 327. i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. durbin: mr. president, reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: i rise in oppositio- mr. carper: the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: come to order. mr. durbin: i rise in opposition to the unanimous consent request of the senator from florida. the amendment before us would change the standing rules of the senate and require additional reporting requirements regarding inflation, a change which would substantially increase the administrative burden on committees and staff and the process on the floor. we already have significant tools at our disposal to evaluate economic indicators. we have economists at the department of labor, treasury department, congressional budget office, federal reserve, and other federal offices regularly

consulting with congress on issues about inflation and other economic indicators. this is totally unnecessary. for these reasons, i oppose this resolution and the request for a unanimous consent. i object. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. the senator from florida. mr. scott: mr. president, while i'm disappointed that my colleagues won't accept this measure, we do need to start doing something about inflation, and we can do that today with the infrastructure spending bill. we can all get behind real infrastructure like roads, bridges, airports, and seaports, but we have to acknowledge that $1.2 trillion is a massive amount of taxpayer dollars. we have to know exactly how this will impact families. i am being told by supporters of this infrastructure bill that it will not cause inflation. i will not support anything that increases inflation on american families. i have an amendment to the infrastructure package that would require the congressional budget office to certify that the spending in this bill will not increase inflation on the american people. if c.b.o. does not certify that this spending authorized and appropriated in the bill would not increase inflation, my amendment would prohibit the funding from being obligated or

spent and that funds would be instead transferred to the treasury department for deficit reduction. i hope everyone will get behind this amendment. thank you. the presiding officer: is there time in opposition? the presiding officer: time is yielded back. the question is on the amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 45. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. the senator from delaware recognized. mr. carper: senator capito and i have a couple of comments that we'd like to offer before we start on this amendment with senator lee. and that is, we've consulted with both leaders, both senator schumer and senator. mr. mcconnell: -- and. mr. carper: when we start this vote, folks have is a 15 minutes to vote. if they're not here, they've -- they're too late. so that's the idea. we've spent way too much time waiting for people. we have three amendments lined up and we're going to vote them and be punctual. mrs. capito: i am in full support of using the 15-minute deadline that we have anyway and actually enforcing this. there's a lot of interest in

this bill, as there should be. there are a lot of amendments pending. we want to get as many members in and have their amendments in the queue as we possibly can. if people don't come down and vote and show courtesy, i said we're going to go to punitive measures, i'm not sure voting in the allotted time is is a punitive measure. i'm fully supported of that. mr. carper: i would ask any staff members, let your senators know it is 15 minutes. that's it t -- that's it. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number -- number one is lee 2279, number two is rosen, 2358, further, that the senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendments, with 60 affirmative votes required for the adoption

the lee amendment listed and with up to four minutes equally divided prior to each vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the amendments by number. the clerk: the senator from delaware, mr. carper, for mr. lee proposes an amendment numbered 2279 to amendment 2137. the senator from delaware, mr. carper, for ms. rosen proposes amendment 2558 to amendment 2137. mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah is recognized. mr. lee: in reference to may amendment number 2279, this is what we're trying to deal with here. in order to help expedite the review of projects that are subject to nepa, congress authorized in the fast act for states to assume the duties of conducting the nepa analysis. for example, the federal highway

administration has entered into agreements with seven states including alaska, arizona, california, florida, ohio, texas, and utah. to assume this responsibility with great success providing an opportunity for states to leverage their unique understanding of their own states in order to better carry out nepa's requirements, to build on the success, congress should look to expand the ability of states to partner with the federal government for these types of reviews in their state's water infrastructure projects. my amendment would require the department of interior to set up a program similar to the existing surface transportation delivery program so that any state may assume the nepa responsibilities for their water storage infrastructure projects. as i said a moment ago, states already have a history of successfully conducting this work in the transportation space. in 2020, for example, california conducted 33 environmental aseasments. 32 findings of no significant

impact. two environmental impact statements, three records of decision and the list goes on and on. in just the last half of 2020 alone, arizona conducted over 50 categorical exclusion analysis. these are roles that states are able and excited to handle. in fulfilling these responsibilities, states would be subject to the same rigorous environmental requirements as their federal partners. employing the very same standards. just as projects led by federal agencies can be halted due to insufficient nepa analysis, states would also be held to the same standard. with much of the west experiencing severe drought with dire consequences, allowing states to aid the federal government in nepa review in order to expedite water storage infrastructure projects is not just common sense, it's a necessity. it's a matter of survival. i urge my colleagues to support amendment 2279. mr. carper: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware is is recognized. mr. carper: thanks, mr. president.

i rise in opposition to the amendment offered by our colleague from utah. this amendment would undermine the national environmental policy act, also known as nepa, by allowing states to assume responsibility for undertaking complex reviews of federal action. these are reviews that congress is vested with explicitly. the federal agencies who permit or license projects that could adversely affect our environment. nepa is designed to enshould you are that federal agencies consider major actions carefully, to ensure those decisions do not unduly impact water quality, endangered species, community well-being, air and other environmental resources. nepa is a critical analytical tool that ensures that federal decision-makers are better-informed and that the affected community has an opportunity to engage and be heard. today, as the world is in the midst of six great extinction events and climate change is

having an ever-greater impact on the natural world, we should be making decisions more carefully than ever, not just to improve outcomes but also to avoid wasting money on projects that are not resilient to withstand climate change. this amendment would instead turn over responsibility for that critical analysis to the states. the bill before us includes many environmental and regulatory provisions. more in fact than many of us would prefer. however, it's been drafted in the spirit of bipartisan compromise. this bill as drafted includes provisions to set deadlines for project review schedule in order to reduce time lines. it provides or expands categorical exclusion from nepa. it also permits authorized -- it also permanently authorizes the federal permitting improvement steering council. unlike these provisions which were the product of committee deliberation and compromise, the amendment that our friend from

utah has offered would significantly alter the process for federal environmental review without any committee deliberations on such major changes. these sweeping changes are inappropriate and unwarrant, and i urge our colleagues to join me in voting no. i yield. mr. lee: i ask unanimous consent for 30 seconds. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: mr. president, it is important to remember these are the exact same standards that would apply. we do this all the time in other areas. federal regulatory agencies on a continual basis with the blessing of congress are given authority to carry out a federal program. in fact, we already do this with nepa in the context of the federal highway administration. this works. states are competent. it is a matter of expanding the human resources to which we have access. these are the exact same standards. there is no environmental threat. this would just allow this stuff to get done faster. thank you, mr. president.

the presiding officer: the question is on amendment 2279. mr. lee: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: on this vote, the yeas are 47, the nays are 50. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to. mr. leahy: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, parliamentary inquiry. how long did that last 15-minute take?

the presiding officer: well, the vote was scheduled for 15 minutes. it took 37. mr. carper: would the senator yield? mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following roll call votes be 10 minutes in length. mr. carper: i object. the presiding officer: objection is is heard. mr. carper: let me take a minute for senator capito to explain what's going on. we're lined up right out in -- listen up. we're lined up right now to do three voice votes. negotiations are going forward on an amendment from senator schumer related to commerce committee jurisdiction, and after that, i think the last vote will be that of senator fish shire and we'll be done. the reason that we've had this delay is in order to have time for schumer to negotiation with the commerce committee. i don't think it but it is what it is. i want to thank you all for your

patience. we are close to otoend of the and i would just ask, when we ask for a voice vote on amendment from senator jacky rosen that we get a voice vote and i would ask that we ask for a voice vote on the carper-inhofe amendment we get a voice vote. and if we do that we'll be halfway home. thank you for your patience. we're almost there. the presiding officer: there will now be four minutes of debate equally divided prior -- mr. carper: could i -- just hold it for a moment, please. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware, please. mr. carper: let me have order, please. the presiding officer: please take your conversations off the floor. mr. carper: i ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number. carper-inhofe 2564, bennet-hoeven, 2548. further, that the is not vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to it the amendments

with up to two minutes equally divided prior to each vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the amendments by number. the clerk: the senator from delaware, mr. carper, for himself and others, proposes an amendment numbered 2564 to amendment 2137. the senator from delaware, mr. carper, for mr. bennet and mr. hoeven proposes an amendment numbered 2548 to amendment number 2137. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be four minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to rosen amendment number 2358. ms. rosen: mr. president, last summer the united states saw up close the horrific damage that wildfire can do to our communities. in 2020, nearly 300,000 acres in nevada burned to the ground. right now --

the presiding officer: please take your conversations off the floor. ms. rosen: right now, the tamarack fire is devastating the nevada-california border and local communities. these natural disasters have done real lasting damage to our nation's highways, causing cracks, potholes, and in some cases literally melting the roads that we drive on. my colleague senator risch and i offer this bipartisan amendment to the infrastructure investment and jobs act, which would add wildfires as specified damage for which federal assistance from the national highway performance program may be used to rebuild our highways. this will increase the resiliency of the national highway system, helping to mitigate the cost of the damages. i ask my colleagues to support this amendment. the presiding officer: is

there further debate? mr. carper: i rise in support of this amendment. i hope we'll get everybody to vote for it. let's do a voice vote so we can move on. the presiding officer: who yields time? the senator from west virginia. hearing no further debate, the question is on the amendment. all those in favor, say aye. those opposed, say no. the amendment is agreed to. mr. carper: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator -- mr. carper: i rise to discuss my amendment with senators inhofe, i wicker -- can we have order? the presiding officer: please take your conversations off the floor. mr. carper: this amendment makes several changes to it the appropriations section of the substitute and the section that funds the army corps of engineers. in 2020, senator barrasso and i heard multiple times about the

struggles of small, rural, and economically disadvantaged communities in meeting project cost shares. these projects range from aquatic ecosystem restoration and flood control and new levees. yet before the coate is required to cost-share the work, the small, rural, and poor communities never get the assistance they need. last year, senator barrasso and i created a cap that allows for the corps to pay for the full expense of these projects to help these disadvantaged communities finance the infrastructure the community needs. this amendment also makes clarifying changes to the inland waterways funding. in addition to a technical correction, it makes clear the funding provided must be prioritized for projects on the capital investment strategy report. the guiding document for the corps island waterways project. and finally, this amendment makes sure that inland flooding promises are prioritized for economically disadvantaged communities and life,

safety-related projects. this supports equity for disadvantaged communities while prioritizing projects with the highest need. this is a good bill. it is a good amendment. and it makes it stronger. i urge my colleagues to support the amendment and hope that we might do so unanimously. i yield. senator inhofe would be here, he's in oklahoma with his family right now. i think we can understand that. he urges his support as well. the presiding officer: is there further debate? the question is on the amendment 2564. all those in favor, say aye. opposed, no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. mr. carper: with that, mr. president, i've been asked to put in a quorum call. we'll wait for the arrival of senator bennet.

he should be here momentarily. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. bennet: mr. president, i ask

that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. the presiding officer: can we get order, please. under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on the bennet-hoeven amendment numbered 2548. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. our amendment would formally establish the joint chiefs program at usda. i know a lot of people haven't heard of this initiative, but it's really, really important. as i have said on this floor before, in western states like colorado and north dakota, our forests and our grasslands are as important to our economy as the lincoln tunnel and the brooklyn bridge are to new york, but they haven't received nearly enough investment over the years. the result is that we have people on the ground across the west who are working with incredibly constrained resources, but despite there is

best effort there is a lot of important work to maintain our forests and grasslands that they are unable to do. the consequences of this have been terrible in the west. in colorado, we had the three largest wildfires in our history last year. the fires were still burning when the snow fell for the first time. that's never happened in anyone's memory. as we consider this infrastructure bill tonight, one of the major east-west corridors in america is closed because of mudslides that poured down the burnt scar from the wildfires last year. now i-70 may be closed for weeks. and so we need to deal with this on the front end, and that's why the joint chiefs program matters. at usda, the forest service works mostly on public lands while the natural resources and conservation service supports private land. joint chiefs allows them to vote in a collaborative way. i thank senator hoeven for his support, and i hope we will vote for this on voice vote.

mr. hoeven: i'm pleased to join with the senator from colorado on this joint chiefs landscapes restoration partnership act. i appreciate his leadership. just a number -- several points i want to make here before we vote, and that is this program is very popular with landowners. and i think that's important. this is very popular -- a very popular program with landowners. it's completely voluntary, a voluntary program. we have checked with c.b.o. it does not score, so it does not have a score. and, again, both the majority and minority on ag agree and support this legislation. so again, farmer-friendly, rancher-friendly, popular with landowners. i thank the senator from colorado, and i urge a yes vote on this amendment. thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. all those in favor say aye.

opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the senator from delaware. mr. carper: mr. president, colleagues, i ask unanimous consent that the following amendments be called up to the substitute and be reported by number. the first of those is fischer 2164 with cortez masto, is that correct? and the second is schumer 2570. further, that the senate vote in relation to the amendments in the order listed with no amendments in order to the amendments prior to a vote in relation to the amendments with up to two minutes equally divided prior to each vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report the amendments by number.

the presiding officer: the senator from delaware, mr. carper, proposes an amendment numbered 2164 for mrst numbered 2137, the senator from delaware, mr. carper, proposes an amendment for mr. schumer numbered 2570 to amendment numbered 2137. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation toker amendment -- relation to fiduciarier amendment 2164. mrs. fischer: thank you, mr. president, and thank you, senator carper and senator capito for the work you have been doing here on the floor. i appreciate your diligence in trying to get amendments up. i'm glad to offer this bipartisan amendment with my colleague from nevada. it would promote transparency among all federal funding avenues for broadband infrastructure deployment. right now, funding is divided among several agencies -- f.c.c., ntia, usda, h.h.s.,

treasury, and many others. some of these programs have detailed maps of where funding is going, but some do not. even when there are maps, it still requires searching through several webpages of sources to find out what you're looking for, if you can find it at all. so without a clear picture of where the funding is going, it will be increasingly difficult to avoid duplication and distribute resources where they are needed the most. so our amendment would create an online mapping tool through an interagency process so we can view the latest progress of all these deployment projects in one place. i would urge adoption of the amendment. thank you. ms. cortez masto: my colleague from nebraska in support of this bipartisan amendment, transparency around broadband, is so important for all of our communities. it fits what we are all doing to

address our broadband needs across the country in trying to ensure we are getting broadband into the communities most in need, so i would urge my colleagues to support this amendment. thank you. mr. carper: i understand there has been a request for -- let me ask the senator, i understand there has been a request for a recorded vote. can you confirm that or not? mrs. fischer: a recorded vote will be fine. mr. carper: let me ask my colleagues, ten minutes, is that okay? ten minutes from start to finish, that's it. and the last amendment will be schumer. all right. let's do that in ten minutes, okay? thank you. the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 95. the nays are zero. the amendment is agreed to. under the previous order, there will now be -- order, please. under the previous order, there will now be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to vote in relation to schumer amendment 2570. the senator from new york. mrs. gillibrand: i rise in support of this amendment. it's a bipartisan amendment with

senator wicker. this is about giving basic safety regulations to those super long stretch limousines. the reason why we care about this, there was a horrible, horrible incident in upstate new york where 20 people were killed. in that one limousine, 17 passengers, four young women from the same family. a mom lost four daughters and two recently married couples. she hired the limousine so go safely to a birthday party. this cannot continue. i yield to senator wicker. mr. wicker: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. wicker: i, too, rise in support of this amendment. it is in response to a tragic automobile accident that affected a number of families. i want to thank senator schumer's staff for working with the ranking member -- with me, the ranking member, and the chair of the commerce committee to get this language correct. it's in good shape. i entirely agree with the junior senator from new york. mrs. gillibrand: voice vote. mr. wicker: vote yes.

the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas are 58, the nays are 39, and the amendment is agreed to. mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. schumer: before i close, i have some brief remarks. first on the bill that just passed, let me thank my colleagues for passing this very important bill. it stems from the fact that in 2018, 20 lives were lost in a tragic limousine accident in skaharie, new york. the families came from the small city of amsterdam, the people. they had done just the right thing. it's a group that went out. they knew they might be enjoying themselves, so they hired a big, long stretch limo. unfortunately, as the limo came down the hill in skaharie, it crashed, and 20 people died. i met the families. these were young people in the prime of life. i met one mom. she lost four daughters, four

daughters in this crash. this community of amsterdam and these families have endured endless tragedy. but instead of cursing the darkness, they have lit a candle, and they are pushing for the fact that there are -- there is a hole in regulation. we regulate trucks and we regulate smaller limos, but when it's a large limo, they are not sure what it's classified as, and there is virtually no regulation. this legislation fills that hole. the accident was preventable. there was another accident on long island. four young women in the prime of life killed in the same way. that was preventable. now congress finally has the opportunity to address the gaps and loopholes that have allowed limousines to escape the basic safety standards that cover other vehicles. my amendment and that with

senator gillibrand would ensure that limousines meet minimum safety standards. it mandates seat belts and seat safety standards, and it will save lives. so i thank my colleagues for supporting this amendment. it's a beautiful thing what these families are doing, the hole in their heart will never go away. the hole in the heart of the whole city of amsterdam which lost so many of their vital young men and women will never go away, but instead of cursing the darkness, they are lighting a candle and tonight the candle was lit, thanks to the bipartisan cooperation we have here. so i thank my colleagues. now on the matter of today, the senate is making really good progress, really good progress. as you know, i have promised when we opened up our two-track process that we would be fully bipartisan in the amendment process as we move forward on the bipartisan infrastructure

bill. well, i think no one can deny that we have kept our word here in the democratic majority. so far, the senate has considered 22 amendments on this burn legislation, 15 of them today. that's more legislation -- more amendments than probably happened in many months when we were in the minority. of those amendments, 12 have been agreed to, five by voice vote, seven by roll call and were not agreed to. 13 of those 22 amendments, more than half, were sponsored by republicans. so clearly, mr. president, we have shown a willingness to allow members who were not part of the bipartisan group to have input into this important bill. tomorrow we will continue to consider amendments and then hopefully we can bring this bill to a close in the very near future. so the chamber is working as members on both sides of the aisle have wanted it to.

i'm proud of what we have been able to do today and hope we can continue tomorrow in that vein. and now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. thursday, august 5. that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and morning business be closed. that upon the conclusion of morning business, the senate resume consideration of h.r. 3684. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. schumer: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order following the remarks of senator portman. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. portman: mr. president, i thank the majority leader for

allowing me to say a few words tonight. and i want to commend him and the republican leader, mitch mcconnell, for allowing us to have this series of amendments. the senate has worked its will and will continue to work its will tomorrow. as was said, there have been 22 amendments on the floor. about half of them are democrat amendments, about half of them are republican amendments. i will say also there has just been a lot of discussion that has ensued because of this amendment process. so a lot of people have had the opportunity to discuss their issues, to try to improve the bill in certain ways, and frankly a lot of these amendments were accepted, they were voted on positively, one just recently with regard to a safety issue that we just discussed, and improve the bill. so that's the way this place ought to work, and i think it's consistent with what we tried to do in this process from the beginning where we saw an opportunity to pull out core infrastructure from a much larger package and deal with it without raising taxes but by focusing on bipartisan solutions, and that's exactly what the underlying bill does.

the next step in that then was to say let's try to have an open amendment process, too, and sure enough, we have. i had some colleagues of mine come up to me tonight and say, you know, it's nice to see the senate working its will again because these are colleagues who were around in previous decades where, you know, they saw this more often. again, i want to thank my colleagues for going through this process. it requires some patience. it requires some consensus. some amendments had to be altered in some ways to be sure that both sides were comfortable having votes on them. but at the end of the day, we were able to say people's voices are being heard. this will continue tomorrow. i just saw a list of about ten amendments. i know there are others as well that people would like to offer tomorrow. i'm all for it as is senator sinema. senator sinema and i are very pleased that members have the opportunity to express themselves. mr. president, i also would like to talk a little bit about what this bill does and why it's so important for our country. for the past two days we've been

working through this amendment process. sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture here. the bigger picture is we as a country have an infrastructure system that's badly in need of repair. we are consistently rated as a country with an infrastructure system that frankly hasn't september up with the rest of the world. so there's a group called the world economic forum. they give a report card every couple years. america ends up 13th or 14th in the world in terms of infrastructure. that's not where we want to be. by the way, on a broader gauge of competitiveness, we're right at the top in terms of our trade system, our tax system, our economic system generally but with regard to infrastructure, we're not. as some of you have heard me say before, this is about competitiveness, too. think about this. china spends three or four times more as a percent of their gd than we do on infrastructure -- g.d.p. than we do on fawrkt.

the reality -- infrastructure. the reality is it's higher than that. why? because they get it. they're trying to outcompete us in every way including having better ports, better rail, better airports. the ability to both buy and sell their products overseas and we here in america want to be at the top of that list. so that's why it's very important from my point of view that we focus on the economic impact here. if we get this bill passed, it will make our economy more efficient. therefore, more productive. therefore, the economy will grow. therefore, more tax revenue will come into the coffers. there's been a lot of discussion about the pay fors in this legislation. as the croab report -- c.b.o. report tells us how it's paid for specifically. but the bottom line is what happens in this bill which is spending for capital assets, this long-term spending, it's not going to be spent next year. it may be spent in five years or ten years. it may be a bridge in georgia. it may be a port in alabama.

those take years and years and years. the funding we're providing, the $550 billion in this bill will be spent over that period of time will add to ■those hard assets. it's as a result of that on the supply side of the economy, creating jobs, creating hard assets like the bridges and like the ports, and as a result of that, it's actually counterinflationary. i know there's been concern on the floor and raised today in one of the amendments about the fact more spending leads to more inflation. not that kind of spending. that's kind of spending that would lead to it is more what's called the demand side of the equation. as an example, the stimulus checks or even the unemployment insurance benefits that led to more demand in the economy. and, yes, that did drive up our inflation over the past several months and continues to. this is not that. this is spending over the long haul. that will create these capital assets that will make our economy more efficient, and should be counterinflationary. we have another economist who

spoke to this, also michael strain at the american enterprise institute, the pen warton study on this is very interesting. they say our legislation is as they analyze it will end up growing the economy, creating more jobs and actually reducing the deficit. meaning more money will come into the coffers than we're spending here that's not paid for with c.b.o. certified official scores because of the economic impact of this. so this is very important for all of our constituents. it's also important for our broader economy, to make sure america stays at the forefront and that we can be competitive for our kids and our grandkids. let's take the state of ohio as an example since i happen to be from ohio and why it's going to help my state. ohio is a big infrastructure state. we have a lot of roads and a lot of bridges. ohio's roadway network has a lot of congestion also. it's estimated that the congestion in ohio costs

motorists an estimated $4.7 billion each year in lost time and wasted fuel. that's according to the american society of civil engineers who scored ohio's roads at a d in their 2021 infrastructure report card, a d. now, the nation as a whole is only a c minus under their analysis. ohio is a d. so we're a little worse than the nation as a whole. as a whole again we're falling behind but ohio particularly. we're second in the nation for the number of bridges. we've got a "little children" rivers -- we've got a lot of little rivers. we h -- by the way, they've lood at the bridges. neverly half of them are not in good condition. our farmers who are working to put crops in their field want to get those crops to market. they want to get them to the elevators. they want to be able to export them. they care about infrastructure. the moms and dads across ohio who commute to work every day

with rather spend their time with their kids than sitting in a car in a traffic jam on i-71 or 75. or i-270. or i-70. we've got a lot of great roads in ohio but frankly they can't keep up with the demand so we have a lot of traffic jams during rush hour. those are some of the people who care a lot about infrastructure. our manufacturers in ohio. we make everything in ohio. we make cars. we make washing machines. we make tanks. we're proud of what we make in ohio and what we export all around the world. we've got to be sure to get those products to market so infrastructure is really important. today i talked to a company in ohio that has trucks all over ohio, in the country for that matter, the sin toss corporation, the uniform company. they're excited about this bill because it's going to help them be more efficient in the delivery of their services. that's the same with our truckers. i talked to a trucking company person yesterday who was

interested in how this would affect the truck stops and wanted to know about electric vehicle charging stations and so. but -- so on. the bottom line is this person said this is going to help because our truckers want to have a safe road and a safe bridge. they want to be able to meet their requirements and not get stuck in traffic jams and be able to make more money on the road, frankly. so this is something that helps our constituents across the board. but it goes well beyond just our roads. this is also about water infrastructure in this legislation. communities across our state deserve water infrastructure that's going to deliver them clean, safe drinking water. we have a lot of old water seems in ohio that need -- systems in ohio that need help and need it badly. we have a lot of waste systems that are in trouble. some may know this but there are now e.p.a. rules that have come out the past couple of decades about wastewater systems and combined sewer systems. when you have a lot of rain in

many systems in ohio, there's a combination of the sewer system and wastewater system and that's not safe. yet fixing it is really expensive. those communities, mostly mid-size cities in ohio, but some larger cities as well have all said to me, can you help us a little more on water infrastructure? with the revolving loan program we have in here, the ability for them to get low interest federal loans to be able to expand their water infrastructure system, they'll able to do that in this legislation as well as receive grants from the federal government to help them ensure that we do have water systems that work. folks in rural parts of our state. ohio is an ap labor chen state -- ap laich ya state. we have 32 counties. in most of those counties we have virtually no internet. sometimes there's real slow internet. but virtually no internet. and this is why for some of our kids in those counties in ohio, these are rural counties that don't have access to wi-fi of

any speed that's appropriate for school much less work. these kids are falling behind. and particularly, of course, during the pandemic when they had to rely on online learning and the stories are out there and you know them and the mom that comes up to me when i'm out and about in ohio and says, you know what? i've had to take my kid to the parking lot of the library which is a 45-minute drive for me across rural ohio roads to able to do her homework. that makes no sense. we want the digital divide to be closed. we want the ability for those kids in rural ohio to have access to the internet just as kids can get access to it in suburban or more urban settings. but even in the suburban and urban settings, we want to make sure those kids have the hookup to their home to be able to get that internet and be able to afford that internet. so this legislation is unprecedented in many ways in terms of infrastructure. more roads, more bridges, more ports, more water systems, but it's also historic,

unprecedented in terms of the expansion of broadband finally. again, this is about catching up. there are countries around the world that actually have better broadband than we do that are not even developing countries, not even developed countries. they are poorer countries. you would think of -- they might be a little bit behind but they're sort of leapfrogging us in terms of technology because they realize how important having that internet build-out is. the other is for telehealth. there are more and more people who rely on telehealth. part of this comes outs of the -- out of the pandemic when people had to do that. they didn't want to go into a doctor's office or hospital for fear of the covid pandemic and frankly right now with the variants and delta variant in particular, there are some people who are still now unfortunately not comfortable going to a health care setting. about you they need to have an appointment. they need to have someone to check them out. they need perhaps with regard to behavioral health to have the ability to have a consult.

they can do that online now. and the federal government has been reimbursing take for the first time because before under medicare and medicaid, that was very difficult. so this is going to be a growing part of our health care system. i think it's a good thing, sort of a rare silver lining in a terrible, dark cloud of the pandemic that we've learned how to do telehealth better. but what if you don't have access to internet? what if you're a veteran in southeast ohio and you've got to drive two and a half hours to the v.a. clinic and instead you'd like to use telehealth because it makes a lot more sense for you for your situation particularly during the pandemic but you don't have internet. for that veteran that's not fair. so telehealth is another reason for us to expand internet access. and finally, just for our economic benefit and these communities, we want more start-ups. we want more companies to be successful. without internet let's face it, it's going to be very, very difficult. so these are all part of this legislation as well.

the hard-core infrastructure you think of like roads and bridges, yes. water infrastructure, yes. ports, rail, freight, but also the digital infrastructure. the ties -- that ties our country together. that's part of this legislation as well. again, it's why economists who look at this say this is actually going to help make our economy work better, make it more efficient. we'll be more productive as a country. we'll have more economic growth and then more revenue will come in. that's why this is so popular. i mean, when you think about it, what can everybody agree on in america today? not much. you know, we're a country that's more divided. and that saddens me. it concerns me, particularly as we face challenges, some of which like the pandemic are here domestically, some of which are global challenges brought on by some of our adversaries like russia or china, north korea, iran. but we're divide as a country --

divided as a country. one thing that brings us together is our military. most people acknowledge and respect the role our military plays. another is infrastructure. it's an issue where traditionally republicans and democrats have been able to come together and say we may disagree on taxes and health care and all sorts of other things but on this issue having strong infrastructure, we can come together. again, i think it's because it makes sense economically. also it's popular. people know that when they're driving over potholes or getting stuck in traffic jams or not being able to get a product because ports are backed up which they are right now, our ports are inefficient and therefore people literally can't get products or can't get cars or get an electronic device. that's all part of this. so this is one that ought to bring us together. and it does bring us together. the polling out there shows this, by the way. there's two polls in the past few months that both said 87% of the american people want us to work on this infrastructure project on a bipartisan basis

and get it done. those numbers are unbelievable. and it was exactly 87% in both polls interestingly. one was cbs and one cnbc. forget the polls for a mifnlgt just go home and talk to people. they want to make sure we're not raising taxes to do this. they don't want to see us hurting the economy short term with higher taxes. i agree. we don't do that here. that's what's particularly great about this approach is that we've said we're going to pull out core infrastructure only and we're not going to raise taxes. so we have the funds in here to be able to help with regard to our highways, our bridges, our ports, our waterways, our broadband expansion. but we also have the ability for us to do that in a way that makes sense for all americans. in ohio it's going to help us do something else that's important. and that is help with regard to some of our big infrastructure projects. i'll talk about one tonight briefly.

the brent spence bridge. this is in my hometown of cincinnati, ohio. it is a critical bridge because it's where i-75 and i-71 come together. and, therefore, it's a bottleneck. twice as many cars drive on that bridge every day as it was built for. twice as many cars drive on that bridge every day -- and trucks -- as it was built for. there is a reason there is a traffic jam there during rush hour, but there's also a reason why it is unsafe. over time, the shoulders have been removed to create another lane. we had an accident a few months ago, it was two trucks that collided and we had to close it down for actually several weeks, and it was a mess. and talk about the effect on the economy? i mean, think about this. this is roughly 3 million people in the metropolitan area. sudden day, you got traffic

going all the way through canada and mexico and all of a sudden you don't have a bridge available because of the safety concerns that led to the accident. so we need a solution with regard to that bridge. and we've been talking about it for years. for 25 years i've been involved in the effort to try to find the funding to replace this bridge, because it needs it. finally we'll have the ability to do that. we'll have the ability to help with kentucky and with ohio and with the federal government working together, with the local community, to complete this bridge corridor project. why? because we're putting unprecedented amount of money into not just bridges but bridges like this one, bridges that are major commercial bridges, bridges that are functionally obsolete, which ours has been for years, bridges that desperately need the help. we also have a big aviation industry in ohio. we support a lot of jobs through aviation, our second biggest

industry after agriculture in ohio. there's $25 billion for airports in here. that's going to help airports build on momentum a this we need right now -- that we need in ohio to help expand our aerospace industry. on the shores of ache erie, we'll also have some help. it is the top tourist attraction in our state. as anyone who has visited the lake will tell you, they have some serious long-term health challenges with the lake. we have invasive species. we have a problem with toxical georgia blooms. we have rising levels of the lake. this bill helps with regard to all of that. with regard to rising levels. lake, there are communities along the lake that will tell you their water systems don't work because the lake river has

risen to the point because the system doesn't work well. the system is incredibly expensive to replace. this will help with regard to that. as mosquito chair of the senate great lakes caucus, i am pleased to see this investment because it will help the infrastructure investments in communities all along the lake and every one of our great lakes. finally had and crucially, the act before us helps more than 300 ohio households who lack access to this high-speed internet. that is incredibly important. our legislation does everything that i've talked about in terms of infrastructure, and that's important, and again we have the studies out thereto -- out there. i talked about one, talking about one from penn, the economic growth from this study will actually make our economy better, create in our jobs, they say actually over time reduces

the deficit based on looking at our studies and specifically at our proposal. so all of that is true. the final thing i want to say is it goes beyond infrastructure. it goes to how to get washington back to a point where washington is solving problems for the american people. and this bill is not perfect for anybody. no republican, no democrat. why? it's a bipartisan compromise. you know, again we started off with a product that president biden introduced that was $2.65 trillion, a huge package called infrastructure but most of it was not core infrastructure. it had huge tax increases in it the highest tax increase that would have been in american history. it would have made our country less competitive, in my view. we said, okay, let's find a group of democrats and republicans and let's agree to pull out the core parts of this, the core infrastructure, and find a way to pay for it without raising those taxes. that's what we did. and we worked hard to create a

product that was fair for everybody. but that means finding that consensus. that's not easy. you know, we all have to make concessions. but at the end of the day, we've got a product, $550 billion over the next five years, which will be spread out, spent over many, many years, that will put america back on top in terms of infrastructure. put us in a position where for our kids and our grandkids they're going to have a more productive, more efficient economy, one that produces more, with unthat has the ability for -- one that has ability for america to say to the world, look at us again. we're back. we're back. we now have an infrastructure system with you are a ports, our roads, our bridges, with our internet, our broadband, that can be a model for the rest of the world and help ensure every american has the opportunity to succeed. that the bipartisan process is an accomplishment of this legislation. the underlying bill is what's most important, i suppose.

but just being able to show that republicans and democrats can come together in this town and get something done that's positive for our country, that in and of itself is san accomplishment -- is an accomplishment. with that, mr. president, i yield back my time. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until stands adjourned until >> u.s. senate is going out for the day and lawmakers continued working on amendments to the infrastructure built it includes more than a trillion dollars of funding. in prize money over several years for roads, bridges, public transit, rail, one project, airports, broadband internet and the electric vehicle charging stations read it later this week lawmakers are expected of her by the judicial nomination. live coverage of the senate, here on "c-span2".

>> c-span is your unfiltered view of government, funded by these television companies and more including target kemeny communications predict broadband is an empowerment, charter is invested billions, for infrastructure and upgrading technology, empowering opportunity and communities big and small. charter, is connecting us predict charter communications support cspan public service. along with these other television providers. giving a front row seat to democracy. >> good afternoon everyone and welcome to cato. a rather welcome to - with us today i hope you are doing wello predict and many of you have been able to get shots in her arms in a recent days and weeks. they shall have an opportunity to do so soon. many like to obsess over the problems and challenges facing our country i