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July 01, 2020

House Passes $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Including Trone Bill to Combat Drug Threats and $100 Billion for Broadband

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov

House Passes $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Including Trone Bill to Combat Drug Threats and $100 Billion for Broadband

WASHINGTON, D.C — Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, which invests $1.5 trillion in the nation’s infrastructure and included Congressman David Trone’s (MD-06) amendment to help fight the addiction crisis in America. The bill also included $100 billion investment in broadband funding, a top priority for Western Maryland that Trone advocated for as a part of the Rural Broadband Task Force.

“Rebuilding our infrastructure means creating jobs, connecting people through physical and digital highways, and investing in a future for our children that has more opportunity,” said Congressman David Trone. “This bill includes $100 billion to bring affordable, high-speed broadband to folks in Western Maryland and across the country. This funding will allow every American to access tele-health, tele-work, and tele-education during the pandemic and beyond.

“H.R. 2 also includes a bill I wrote to create a pilot program to combat drug threats in our communities. During this unprecedented public health crisis, we cannot forget about the many people across the nation who are suffering from addiction. I urge the Senate to pass this bill and show that building our nation’s infrastructure is truly a bipartisan issue.”

This legislation follows over a year of action from Trone that has resulted in millions of federal dollars invested in Western Maryland broadband and infrastructure.

Trone’s Work to Expand Broadband in Maryland and Beyond

You can watch Trone’s remarks about H.R. 2 and broadband investment here.

Trone’s Provision to Help Communities Combat Drug Threats

During consideration of H.R. 2, the House passed Trone’s bill that would create a pilot program to help communities better understand emerging drug threats in real time by implementing wastewater testing. By understanding these threats, communities can create public health interventions to match its specific needs. Trone also led the Congressional effort to urge the Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Jim Carroll to implement this program.

You can read the amendment in its entirety here.

You can watch Trone’s remarks on the House floor about his amendment here.

Trone Supports Funding for the Appalachian Development Highway System 

While Trone voted for H.R. 2 in its entirety, he voted against an amendment that removed a bipartisan provision to help finally complete the Appalachian Highway Development System (ADHS). This program would help complete the ADHS and highway 219 in Garrett County.

Studies show that cost savings and productivity gains from investment in the ADHS amounts to $10.7 billion per year. Current ADHS investment can be directly linked to over 168,000 jobs and $11 billion in annual GDP.

You can watch Trone’s remarks on the House floor about his opposition to the amendment here.

Other Provisions in H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act

The Moving Forward Act also includes infrastructure investments for schools, safe drinking water, and affordable housing. Some of the critical provisions of the Moving Forward Act include:

  • 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. Under H.R. 2, Maryland would receive $6,246,645,147 in highway and transit funding alone.
  • 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.
  • Promotes investments in our communities by spurring private investment through the tax code, through a revitalized Build America Bonds program, expansions of Private Activity Bonds and significant enhancements to the New Markets Tax Credit and the Rehabilitation Tax Credit.

A fact sheet on the Moving Forward Act is available here.

Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees, where he is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research. 

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