Pallone Leads Introduction of Historic $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill

The legislation includes Pallone’s Living Shore Shorelines Act that protects coastal communities from sea level rise and stronger storms caused by climate change

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today announced the introduction of an historic $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill that would rebuild America’s infrastructure, stimulate our economy, create millions of good paying jobs and make investments in clean energy initiatives to combat climate change. The Moving Forward Act invests in roads, bridges and clean energy to put the United States on a path toward zero carbon emissions while creating safer communities and roads.

As Chairman of House Energy and Commerce Committee, Pallone authored the clean energy, safe drinking water, broadband and health infrastructure provisions in the bill.

The Moving Forward Act makes critical investments in public lands and the environment with the goal of protecting coastal habitats and marine ecosystems. It includes Pallone’s Living Shorelines Act that protects coastal communities from sea level rise and stronger storms caused by climate change. The bill creates a federal grant program through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to assist states, localities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in constructing living shorelines. The Living Shorelines Act will help protect coastal communities from the effects of climate change, including more flooding from sea level rise and stronger hurricanes, by harnessing proven natural infrastructure solutions. Last year Pallone held an event in Keyport where living shorelines already are strengthening the coastline in New Jersey.

“There is no better way to jumpstart our economy and advance our country’s momentum toward a green future than to modernize our badly aging infrastructure. The coronavirus pandemic has wiped out more than 600,000 clean energy jobs, stifling both our economy and our fight against climate change. This bill will help us rebuild our economy with a $70 billion investment in clean energy,” Pallone said. “This bill also invests $30 billion to upgrade our nation’s health infrastructure, allowing us to effectively respond to the coronavirus pandemic, prepare for future public health crises and improve the overall quality of care across the country.

“The Moving Forward Act makes critical investments that will help my home state of New Jersey, including a much-needed investment in modes of transportation my constituents use every day, including roads, bridges, and Amtrak. I’m also proud that my Living Shorelines Act was included in this bill. Since Superstorm Sandy, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to make New Jersey more resilient against the effects of climate change. This legislation will provide additional help so communities can use living shorelines to effectively mitigate future flooding while benefiting local economies. Strengthening living shorelines will also improve the local environment by supporting water quality and habitats for local wildlife and fish as well as provide enhanced opportunities for recreation,” Pallone concluded.

The Moving Forward Act:

·       Delivers better roads and bridges faster with more than $300 billion of investment that prioritizes fixing what we already have, including tens of thousands of structurally deficient bridges.

·       Invests more than $100 billion in transit to put more zero-emission buses on the road, add new routes, and provide more reliable service, resulting in better transit options and fewer single-occupant cars clogging highways.

·       Invests in programs, projects, and materials that emphasize resiliency while reducing carbon pollution from the transportation sector, including $1.4 billion in alternative fuel charging infrastructure.

·       Triples funding for Amtrak to $29 billion, allowing for upgrades and expansion of the passenger rail network, and improves rail crossing safety and addresses increasingly long trains that block crossings for longer than ten minutes, which impacts local traffic and emergency response times.

·       Modernizes our energy infrastructure for a clean energy future by investing more than $70 billion to transform our electric grid to accommodate more renewable energy, expand renewable energy, strengthen existing infrastructure, help develop an electric vehicle charging network, and support energy efficiency, weatherization, and Smart Communities infrastructure.

·       Puts Americans to work strengthening our coasts through a $3 billion grant program for shovel-ready projects to restore Great Lakes and coastal habitats and marine ecosystems, with priority given to qualifying communities of color.

·       Modernizes the nation’s health care infrastructure by investing $30 billion to upgrade hospitals to increase capacity and strengthen care, help community health centers respond to COVID-19 and future public health emergencies, improve clinical laboratory infrastructure, and increase capacity for community-based care.

·       Protects access to safe drinking water by investing over $25 billion in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and other programs to ensure all communities have clean drinking water and to help remove dangerous contaminants like PFAS from local water systems.

·       Revitalizes our communities and creates jobs by investing $2.7 billion for Brownfields redevelopment and returning valuable land to productive use.

·       Delivers affordable high-speed broadband Internet access to all parts of the country by investing $100 billion to promote competition for broadband internet infrastructure to unserved and underserved rural, suburban, and urban communities, prioritizing communities in persistent poverty and ensuring that broadband-related support is being administered in an efficient, technology-neutral, and financially sustainable manner.