The Moving Forward Act will bring an estimated $23.6 billion to New York State
in highway and transit funding alone
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18) yesterday helped pass the Moving Forward Act, a major infrastructure package that will send billions of dollars to New York over the next five years, jumpstarting critical infrastructure and transportation projects in the Hudson Valley and creating good-paying, meaningful jobs.
“The Moving Forward Act is a gamechanger when it comes to strengthening our infrastructure and will be a real shot in the arm for communities that need new investments and good-paying jobs after the pandemic. A sustainable recovery from this economic crisis will require bold, comprehensive plans to reinvigorate our cities and towns, and there’s no better way to do that than through new transportation and infrastructure projects.
“I’m proud that legislation I authored and fought for – including support for Hudson Valley’s Scenic Byways, more transit grants for underserved communities, and a ban on Chinese-owned companies getting our tax-payer funded transportation money – were included in this important package. This will help us move forward and rebuild the Hudson Valley,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney.
Rep. Maloney, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Chair of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, successfully fought for the inclusion of several amendments to the Moving Forward Act, including amendments to reauthorize the Scenic Byways program, support more equity in federal transit grants for underserved communities, and ban Chinese State-Owned Enterprises from receiving taxpayer-funded highway, transit and rail dollars.
Additionally, Rep. Maloney’s bill, the Bridge Investment Act, was included in the Invest in America Act, a large portion of the Moving Forward Act. This bill will invest $28 billion to repair America’s 47,000+ structurally-deficient bridges. In New York’s 18th Congressional District alone, over 11 percent of bridges – 190 total – are in poor (or worse) condition, and require major improvements.
The Moving Forward Act will bring New York State an estimated $23.6 billion in highway and transit funds over the next five years, in addition to funding projects improving infrastructure for schools, clean energy and water, and housing. Among its many provisions, the bill:
- Invests nearly $500 billion to rebuild and reimagine the nation’s transportation infrastructure by fixing our 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. These projects will benefit from strong Buy America provisions and labor protections for American workers. The surface transportation provisions in this bill are the product of the INVEST in America Act, which Rep. Maloney helped amend and strengthen as the bill was debated in the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. Read more here.
- 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, educators, and support staff. 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 childcare facilities by leveraging a 5-year, $10 billion federal investment to generate additional state and private investments in making sure that childcare 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.