Heinrich Says Climate Action Essential To Economic Recovery, Building A 21st Century Infrastructure

WASHINGTON – During a press call today hosted by Invest in America, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Vice Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), stressed that a 21st century infrastructure package needs to address the climate crisis.

AUDIO: Heinrich Responds To Infrastructure Negotiations 

“The American Jobs Plan is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to power our economic recovery and put Americans back to work,” said Heinrich. “I am eager to vote for an infrastructure package that meets the moment we are in -- far too many families in New Mexico have been left in the dark or left unconnected for years. It’s clear that Senator Mitch McConnell doesn’t want a bipartisan deal to be successful, and if we keep waiting for Republicans to come to the table, we could be left waiting for a train that never arrives. If we want to get these projects off the ground, we can’t afford to waste any more time. We owe results to our constituents now.”

The call also featured U.S. Representative and JEC Chairman Don Beyer (D-Va.), Chief Economist for AFL-CIO Dr. William Spriggs, and Invest in America Senior Advisor Zac Petkanas.

Senator Heinrich’s remarks as prepared for delivery are below.

Thanks everyone for joining this call.

I’d like to thank Representative Beyer for his focus on infrastructure and his leadership on the Joint Economic Committee, and I’m grateful to also have Dr. Spriggs on this call.

I want to first say at the outset that I have full confidence that President Biden and his administration in the White House want to get this infrastructure and jobs package across the finish line.

There’s no question about that.

The president and his team know full well that the most important thing we can do to jumpstart our economy, put Americans back to work, and set a strong foundation for our country’s future is to pass a jobs plan.

We need to get this done.

But we also need to make sure we get this right.

Building 21st century infrastructure means confronting the climate crisis that has left so much of our 20th century infrastructure vulnerable to floods, extreme storms, more intense wildfire seasons, and major water shortages.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to power our economic recovery and put Americans to work by solving our long-term climate challenge.

I am eager for the opportunity to vote on legislation that meets the moment on climate and makes the investments we need to make to modernize our electric grid, to electrify our transportation, our homes, and businesses.

Our communities will pay a much larger price—and in many cases we’re already paying extremely high costs—if we continue to shortchange investments in climate resilience and clean energy.

We also need to recognize the urgency in bringing essential infrastructure like clean drinking water, safe and affordable transportation, and broadband internet to every single American.

There are far too many families in my state of New Mexico—particularly in our rural communities and Tribal Nations—who have been left in the dark or left unconnected to internet for years.

How many more years are we going to make families on the Navajo Nation wait to be connected to clean water?

How many more years are we going to tell kids living in rural communities in my state that they can’t get connected to broadband so that they to do their homework?

How many more years will we allow natural disasters to destroy our outdated infrastructure without doing anything to get in front of the storms and fires?

This is our once-in-a-generation chance to change the script.

It’s our chance to finally invest in our future.

We need the White House and Democrats to hold strong on the big and bold proposals that President Biden put forward during his campaign and in his American Jobs Plan.

We can’t allow ourselves to get bogged down in endless negotiations that Mitch McConnell frankly doesn’t want to be successful.

If we keep waiting for Senate Republicans to come to the table with a serious proposal, we may be left waiting for a train that never arrives.

I wish we lived in a more ideal world, I wish we lived in a more bipartisan world.

But we’ve seen this movie play out too many times before. We also know that big, transformational infrastructure projects take time and serious investment.

If we want to put Americans back to work, if we want to get these projects off the ground soon enough to restart our economy, we don’t have any more time to waste.

It’s time to find a path forward for President Biden’s American Jobs Plan—whether that’s a bipartisan plan with Republicans or through a Reconciliation plan, we owe our constituents results.