Keynote Speaker DeKalb & Dunwoody Perimeter Chambers Legislative Preview

Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) delivered the following speech at the DeKalb & Dunwoody Perimeter Chambers Legislative Preview event on Tuesday, November 30 on "Rebuilding America."

Good morning everyone and thank you to the DeKalb and Dunwoody Perimeter Chambers of Commerce for inviting me to update you on where we are legislatively in Washington and how that impacts what's happening on the ground here in Georgia.

And most importantly, how that directly impacts you and your family and your small businesses.

We've been through a lot as a community and as a nation over the past two or so years now. And that's an understatement.

But if you look back at where we were at the beginning of the pandemic to where we are today, we've made a lot of progress. Do we still have a of lot of challenges? Of course.

But I'm an optimist by nature, and my presentation today will be a "glass half full" speech on how we are rebuilding America. I'm going to outline what we've been working on in Washington that has helped put us in a better place then what we were dealing with at the outset and throughout this pandemic.

For our purposes today, I'll start with the passage of the American Rescue Plan in February of this year, then move to discuss the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, what is being called the bipartisan infrastructure law, and finally touch on what the Build Back Better Act means moving forward.

The upshot is that we've put vaccines in arms, children have returned safely to school, and we've put money in people's pockets and put Americans back to work.

On that last point, I'll point out that Georgia is now just 60,000 jobs shy of the level in February 2020 when the pandemic began. The fact that Georgia's unemployment rate is now at just 3.1% shows the overall economy continuing to churn back toward pre-pandemic levels. I think our response in Congress to combat the situation - particularly the American Rescue Plan - is a big part of that.
The Rescue Plan was instrumental in helping restaurants and thousands of other small businesses in the metro area and Fourth District weather the worst effects of the pandemic and reopen safely and begin hiring employees back.

The American Rescue Plan is landmark, life-saving legislation that also provided Georgia state government and its agencies with about $4.7 billion. The 159 counties and cities in Georgia are sharing an additional $3.6 billion. Of that amount, the counties that make up Georgia's Fourth District - DeKalb, Gwinnett, Rockdale and Newton - received more than $358 million, and the cities within GA-04 an additional $60 million in funding to help struggling families and businesses survive during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to save essential jobs and services.

People may have already forgotten, but in the months and weeks before the American Rescue Plan was passed, we lost four million jobs. The fact that we're essentially back to full employment is a major achievement. Without this package, it would have taken another four years of suffering before real GDP returned to its pre-pandemic levels, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

I was also proud to vote in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is now law. It represents generational change and investment in America's future.

The infrastructure law will create millions of good-paying union jobs with a once-in-a-century investment in rebuilding infrastructure in Georgia, including roads and bridges, transit, rail, clean drinking water and wastewater systems and high-speed broadband networks.

Our region's crumbling and outdated infrastructure weakens our economy, hurts families, and causes added costs and delays for American businesses trying to attract workers and customers and bring their goods to market. Despite the partisan rancor in Washington, we delivered a transformational and bipartisan infrastructure law that will create good-paying jobs here in Georgia, strengthen our economy, secure cleaner air and water, and make our communities a better place to live and work by bringing our infrastructure into the 21st century.

In the wake of the pandemic, poor infrastructure has struggled to keep up with a sharp increase in consumer demand - resulting in added costs for businesses and delays for consumers. The United States ranks 13th globally in terms of the quality of our infrastructure, and the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the condition of our infrastructure a C-.

As our economy continues its strong recovery, improving infrastructure in every state in the union, growing the economy and helping Americans get back to work, while advancing justice and opportunity for all, is the focus of our agenda.

Now I'm going to drill down into what the law means nationally and specifically for Georgia and our communities.

Specifically, the Bipartisan Infrastructure law will:

• Rebuild roads and bridges nationwide, including the largest bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system seven decades ago. For Georgia, that means a minimum of $8.9 billion for roads and $225 million for bridges. More than 2,260 miles of highway across Georgia are categorized as in poor condition. The state also has 374 bridges that have been deemed "structurally deficient."

• Georgia can also compete for grants that could bring in additional dollars for roadway upgrades, including funding to reconnect communities that have been divided by highways or other infrastructure.

• It delivers clean drinking water to ten million families and more than 400,000 schools and childcare facilities nationwide with the largest-ever investment in American water infrastructure to replace lead pipes and service lines across the nation. A recent study found Georgia, along with 22 other states, received an "F" grade for water quality in public schools. The law includes $55 billion nationwide for clean water - the largest ever investment in clean water.

• The road money and wastewater funds also help clean up legacy pollution, which is an important step in advancing environmental justice. There's a billion dollars in this law to help reconnect communities torn apart by highways as well. And for those of us in South DeKalb, wastewater spills from the Snapfinger and Pole Bridge wastewater treatments plants are an ongoing issue as is pollution and degradation of the South River. Landfills are also an issue in our communities and toxic coal ash is something I've worked on during my tenure in Congress, so I'll be working with my federal, state and local partners to bring funds to help stem the tide of environmental degradation.
• It expands access to reliable high-speed internet to help more families get online to work and learn. Every state is receiving $100 million to increase broadband access, and billions more will be divided up among the states according to a formula that is based upon the number of people who don't have reliable Internet. The money is to be used to address both the lack of affordable internet options, which is usually a barrier in poorer neighborhoods, and the lack of connectivity.

As in so many other disparities that became crystal clear to us all during the height of the pandemic, the digital gap is directly correlated to the achievement gap. So, this measure to me is one of the most important as we work to bring more equity to our constituents.

• It makes historic improvements to public transit, with the largest federal investment in American history and the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak. The law includes nearly $1.4 billion over five years for public transportation in Georgia, including $923 million for metro Atlanta. I'm working hard now to bring heavy rail to South DeKalb so we can connect the entire county from Dunwoody in the north to Emory and the CDC to the west and Panola and Stonecrest to the south.

• Last week, I participated in a groundbreaking on renovations to the North Indian Creek MARTA station and look for stations that impact you and your businesses directly to see renovations as well, including the Dunwoody, Doraville, Chamblee and Brookhaven to name a few.

• It supports action to address the climate crisis, making down-payments on clean energy transmission, a clean and resilient electric grid, electric vehicle infrastructure and more. Georgia is going to receive $135 million for this part of the program. Convenience stores have resisted installing EV charging stations, saying there's not enough demand. The bill is designed to address that problem by helping fund the buildout of a national network of EV charging stations.

Transportation was responsible for about 29% of all greenhouse gases produced in the U.S. in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And in car-centric Georgia, transportation generates roughly 45% of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions - more than any other sector of the state's economy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's most recent estimates.

Georgia has the seventh-highest number of public charging stations in the country with 3,573, according to a report released recently by the nonprofit Environment Georgia Research and Policy Center. The state also ranks seventh in the total number of combined electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles sold through 2020, the report shows.

More than $50 billion in the infrastructure bill is earmarked to help communities adapt to the threats posed by climate change - such as rising sea levels and more damaging storms - that are already having a negative impact on Georgia's coast. The bill also includes more than $65 billion to bolster electric grids across the country, which are experiencing longer and more frequent outages.

As far as our ports, shipping and airports are concerned, The Port of Savannah is getting $8 million to help convert five existing facilities into container yards. The "pop-up yards" will be used to lessen congestion on the docks at the port, an onshore bottleneck in the supply chain leading from Asian factories to the manufacturers and retailers in America. That congestion - recently more than 80,000 containers were stacked at the Port of Savannah - slows deliveries and raises costs. In fact, I raised this very issue at a recent T&I full committee hearing on the national supply chain crisis. Getting many of the containers inland by rail and truck will bring them closer to their destinations while freeing space at the port for more.

Savannah, the second-largest port on the East Coast, has added nearly 400 workers in the past year, expanding its workforce to about 1,520. The Georgia Ports Authority also has other massive projects underway that will add to the port's overall capacity. Georgia airports are slated for more than $600 million. The bill includes $619 million for repairs and upgrades at Georgia airports over five years.

The Georgia Department of Transportation testified before a meeting of a state legislative joint study committee on airport infrastructure and improvements this fall that it would need about $1.3 billion to fund recommended airport projects across the state. That amounts to about $411 million needed annually. With about $52 million in federal funding and $16 million in state funding available each year, there is an annual deficit of roughly $343 million.

So that's an overview of what the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law means nationwide and more specifically here in Georgia. All these investments mean we're putting Georgians back to work - creating millions of good-paying, union jobs that can't be outsourced and will help rebuild the backbone of our country: the middle class.

H.R. 5376, The Build Back Better Act: This Transformational Bill Creates Jobs, Cuts Taxes, and Lowers Costs for American Families

As most of you are aware by now that the House also passed The Build Back Better Act, which will deliver once-in-a-generation legislation to lower the everyday costs that burden working families - from health care to childcare and more - fully paid for by making big corporations and the wealthiest pay their fair share.

No one making under $400,000 will pay a penny more in taxes for these measures.

This is what I like to think of as the human infrastructure bill because it will lower healthcare costs, lower childcare and family care costs, and fight climate change by making the biggest investments in clean energy and transportation.

The Build Back Better Act is going to lower costs and fight inflation because it is fully paid for by making big corporations & the wealthiest pay their fair share. Again, no one making under $400,000 will pay a penny more in taxes.

By reducing the burden on families through lower childcare costs, we can enable more people to participate in the workforce, particularly women - whose careers have suffered disproportionately from the pandemic.
According to the Department of Labor, this pandemic has disproportionately impacted women. The adult women's employment rate (54.3%) is at its lowest pre-pandemic level since September 1988 (54.1%). In June, there were 7.2% fewer adult Black women, 5.9% fewer adult Hispanic women, and 4.8% fewer adult white women employed compared with February 2020.

And by reducing costs for so many households we are saving consumers money that they can then spend at the businesses in their local community - so we're creating more or more frequent customers. I'll discuss this in more detail in a minute.

Together, the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Act will create an average of 2 million jobs each year over the course of the decade. The Build Back Better Act focuses its investments in the following three key areas:

Build Back Better will Lower Health Care Costs

• It will finally allow for the negotiation of lower drug costs for seniors and halts Big Pharma's outrageous price hikes above inflation for all Americans.
• It ensures Americans with diabetes don't pay more than $35 per month for their insulin.
• It creates a new, out-of-pocket cap of $2,000 on what seniors pay for their drugs in Medicare Part D.
• It expands the ACA to make coverage more affordable for those who buy insurance on their own. Dramatically lowers premiums in the ACA Marketplace, with individuals seeing a reduction in their premiums of more than $800 per year. Expands the ACA to cover those in the states that have refused to adopt the Medicaid expansion.
• And it helps older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare.

Build Back Better will Lower Child Care & Family Care Costs

• It saves most families more than half their current spending on childcare, ensuring the vast majority of families will have to pay no more than 7 percent of their income for childcare.
• It expands the basic promise of free schooling in America for the first time in 100 years with universal pre-school for all 3- and 4-year-olds.
• It establishes a universal and permanent paid family and medical leave program, providing four weeks of paid parental, family caregiving, and medical leave.
• It gives more than 35 million families a major tax cut by extending the Biden Child Tax Credit.
• It expands access to high-quality home care for older adults and people with disabilities.
• It cuts the cost of postsecondary education, with such steps as increasing the maximum Pell Grant.
• It reduces families' housing costs and expands housing options, with a major housing initiative.

Build Back Better is The Largest Investment to Combat Climate Crisis in History

• Build Back Better is the largest effort to combat climate change in American history, investing $555 billion over 10 years in clean energy and climate investments.
• Green tax credits will save the average American family hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs.
• Ensures clean energy technology - from wind turbine blades to solar panels to electric cars - will be built in the United States, creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs here at home.

Now I'm briefly going to touch on what Build Back Better means for our transportation and infrastructure. (I'm pleased to report that mine and Senator Ossoff's Public Transportation Expansion Act, which would create for the first time will fund construction of public transportation specifically connecting affordable housing with transit networks in order to serve riders and commuters in low-income communities is included in this bill).

Investing in More Equitable and Sustainable Transportation Systems and Infrastructure

Overall, Build Back Better will provide $39 billion to make America's infrastructure more sustainable, resilient, and equitable and to reduce carbon pollution from the transportation sector, including our bill that will improve Access to Affordable Housing: $10 billion to support access to affordable housing and enhance mobility for low-income people and residents of disadvantaged or persistent poverty communities - breaking the crippling cycle of car dependence that is required to live and thrive in so many communities.

• Investing in High-Speed Rail: $10 billion for high-speed rail corridor assistance to support the planning and development of public high-speed rail projects.

• Promoting Economic Development in Communities Nationwide: $5.25 billion to the Economic Development Administration including $3.36 billion to create regional innovation hubs, $1.20 billion to provide RECOMPETE investments in persistently distressed communities, $240 million to provide assistance to energy and industrial transition communities, and $240 million for predevelopment in public works projects.

Reducing Carbon Pollution:

• Community Climate Incentive Grants: $4 billion to fund grants to states and metropolitan areas to help reduce on-road carbon pollution - addressing the largest source of transportation greenhouse gas emissions, including the establishment of a greenhouse gas performance measure at DOT.

• Aviation: $300 million for the Department of Transportation to support investments for projects that develop or apply low-emission aviation technologies or produce, transport, blend or store sustainable aviation fuels.

• Coast Guard Infrastructure: $650 million to Coast Guard to design, construct or replace existing facilities with climate resilient infrastructure and $350 million for the Coast Guard's acquisition of a Great Lakes Icebreaker.

• Greening Federal Buildings: $500 million for the General Services Administration's Federal Buildings Fund to convert GSA owned or managed buildings to high-performance green buildings.

• Neighborhood Access and Equity: $4 billion to reconnect communities that were divided by highways and other existing infrastructure barriers to support neighborhood equity, safety and affordable transportation access.

• Port Infrastructure and Supply Chain Resilience: $600 million to the Maritime Administration to support supply chain resilience, reduce port congestion, environmental remediation, develop offshore wind resources, and reduce the impact of ports on the environment.

• Investing in Wastewater Infrastructure: $2.125 billion to invest in water infrastructure including sewer overflow and stormwater reuse projects including a greater federal cost share of these projects that serve low income and financially distressed communities; wastewater infrastructure investment for the installation, repair or replacement of domestic septic systems; and investments for alternative water source projects like groundwater recharge and potable reuse.

So, I know I covered a lot - that's a lot to digest but I thank you for your patience today as we break down what is in this these transformative bills and what it means for us here in Georgia.

I want to thank the Chamber for inviting me to spend some time with you. I know many people are eager to know what the Senate is going to do now that they have the bill.

We hear a lot about what certain senators from West Virginia and Arizona don't want in the bill but as I said at the top of this presentation, I'm a glass half full guy and I expect the Senate to do its work and send us in the House back a piece of legislation that we can all get behind. And when we have a final bill, I know this legislation - along with the infrastructure law -- will help kick start the rebuilding of America and Georgia. I am committed to helping Georgia small businesses and those in Georgia's Fourth District specifically - take advantage of this transformational agenda. I want our small businesses to be at the forefront in helping us Rebuild America.

Thank you for your time. Please know my door is always open to you.

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