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Congresswoman Angie Craig Passes the Moving Forward Act Out of the House

July 2, 2020

Craig: “Roads and Bridges, Broadband, Community Resilience and Workforce Must be Strongly Bipartisan”

Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a cosponsor of the Moving Forward Act, helped pass investments in crumbling roads and bridges, broadband, workforce and community resilience out of the House with bipartisan support. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Communities across Minnesota's Second Congressional District helped to shape the surface transportation provisions in this bill, which include putting people back to work on critical infrastructure needs like adding a lane and interchange on I-35 in Lakeville to ease traffic, improving Highway 52 in Goodhue County and completing outstanding projects on Highway 13 that will improve freight access.

"With the current surface transportation bill set to expire on September 30th, it's our responsibility to pass a substantive surface transportation bill that fixes our crumbling infrastructure, reduces congestion time and increases safety on our roads," said Rep. Craig. "I'm honored to support the Moving Forward Act and help Minnesota's Second Congressional District benefit from the jobs and economic growth this bill would bring to all of its residents for years to come."

You can watch Rep. Craig's floor remarks here.

The Moving Forward Act also includes the following legislation Rep. Craig has authored:

  • The Local Water Protection Act, a bipartisan bill that would increase a voluntary grant fund designed to give local and state governments the flexibility to make conservation practice improvements aimed at decreasing water pollutants caused by runoff or snowmelt and through partnerships within their communities.
  • The Resilience Revolving Loan Fund Act, a bipartisan bill that would create a low-interest loan program for Minnesota and other states to fund mitigation projects that reduce the risks and costs of natural disasters. This bill was introduced following months of discussion with local mayors affected by a severe flood season in 2019, under this bill loans would be available for projects that minimize the risk of wildfire, earthquake, flood, storm surge, chemical spill, and other events deemed catastrophic by FEMA.
  • An amendment helping maintain local roads that are the starting point for moving agriculture and commerce across our country by highway, which is supported by the National Associations of Towns and Townships.

An amendment increasing broadband competition in buildings and communities with multiple tenants. The Moving Forward Act is a comprehensive infrastructure investment aimed to:

  • Fix crumbling roads and bridges with new investment that prioritizes fixing what we already have, including tens of thousands of structurally deficient bridges.
  • Rebuild our schools with the Reopen and Rebuild America's Schools Act, a bill cosponsored by Rep. Craig which invests $130 billion 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 over 2 million jobs to help workers get back to work.
  • Invest in affordable housing to create or preserve 1.8 million affordable homes, helping to 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.
  • Expand reliable broadband with the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act co-authored by Rep. Craig 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.
  • Securing safe water by including the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act coauthored by Rep. Craig, which would invest over $25 billion in the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and other programs to ensure all communities have clean drinking water.