Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today applauded the House’s bipartisan passage of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, broad transportation and infrastructure legislation. Beyer voted for the bill, which contained a number of provisions he authored. Beyer serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, which helped develop the bill.
Beyer’s contributions to the House-passed infrastructure bill include:
- HR 2795, the bipartisan Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act, which would authorize federal agencies to designate National Wildlife Corridors on federal lands in order to create a comprehensive corridor network to boost biodiversity, protect ecosystems, and prevent the extinction of key species
- A section on land conveyances for the Long Bridge Project, construction of a new rail bridge over the Potomac River long sought by regional transportation authorities
- A successful amendment (originating from Beyer’s bipartisan Barriers To Suicide Act) directing the completion of a feasibility study to determine the effectiveness of barriers and nets on physical infrastructure other than bridges to prevent suicide
- Two pieces of affordable housing legislation co-led by Beyer: the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which would increase investment in affordable housing and provide more resources and stronger protections for at-risk groups, and the bipartisan Save Affordable Housing Act, which would prevent the premature loss of affordable housing through qualified contracts
- A provision to help local communities secure expanded financing for water infrastructure
“The American people have long wanted Congress to pass legislation to invest in fixes for our crumbling infrastructure. The Moving Forward Act would make those investments at a time when doing so will help spur the recovery of our national economy, which continues to suffer from the devastating effects of the global pandemic,” said Beyer. “This bill would create good-paying jobs across the country, help rebuild our communities and make them safer, healthier, more prosperous, and more equitable. Importantly, it would also put us on a path to mitigate the damage from climate change. This is a very good bill and the Senate should get to work on it right away.”
H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, is a broad transportation and infrastructure bill that would invest more than $1.5 trillion in modern, sustainable infrastructure while creating millions of good-paying jobs, combatting the climate crisis and addressing disparities in urban, suburban and rural communities across Virginia and throughout the country.
Among the many far-reaching provisions of the Moving Forward Act:
- The INVEST in America Act, a nearly $500 billion investment to rebuild and reimagine the nation’s transportation infrastructure by fixing our crumbling roads and bridges, improving safety, reducing gridlock, and putting the U.S. on a path toward zero emissions from the transportation sector by cutting carbon pollution, investing in public transit and the national rail network, building out fueling infrastructure for low- and zero-emission vehicles, and deploying technology and innovative materials. The INVEST in America Act is fueled by American workers and ingenuity thanks to strong Buy America provisions and labor protections.
- Invests in schools with the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which funds $130 billion in school infrastructure targeted at high-poverty schools with facilities that endanger the health and safety of students and educators. This investment will help students get back to school and create more than 2 million jobs to help workers get back to work.
- Addresses structural challenges and upgrades child care facilities by leveraging a 5-year, $10 billion federal investment to generate additional state and private investments in making sure that child care settings are safe, appropriate, and able to comply with current and future public health directives.
- Invests over $100 billion into our nation's affordable housing infrastructure to create or preserve 1.8 million affordable homes. These investments will help reduce housing inequality, create jobs and stimulate the broader economy, increase community and household resiliency in the face of natural disasters, improve hazardous living conditions, and increase the environmental sustainability of our housing stock.
- 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.
- 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.
- Delivers affordable high-speed broadband Internet access to all parts of the country by investing $100 billion to promote competition for broadband internet infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities, prioritizing those with persistent poverty. Gets children connected to remote learning, closes broadband adoption and digital skills gaps and enhances payment support for low-income households and the recently unemployed.
- 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, support the Indian Health Service‘s infrastructure, and increase capacity for community-based care.
- Modernizes and strengthens the United States Postal Service by investing $25 billion to modernize postal infrastructure and operations, including a zero emissions postal vehicle fleet, processing equipment and other goods.
- Promotes new renewable energy infrastructure by incentivizing the development of wind and solar on public lands and building a workforce for offshore wind.
A fact sheet on the Moving Forward Act is available here.
