TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act introduced by Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Rob Portman and urges you to support cloture and final passage. We will include votes on this legislation in our “How They Voted” Congressional scorecard.
We commend the bipartisan group of Senators who negotiated this badly needed legislation and we encourage a robust debate. As amendments are considered to clarify and refine the legislation, we urge you to reject any that would weaken the bill or endanger the compromises that produced the agreement.
Final passage of the Sinema-Portman substitute amendment would strengthen America’s ability to compete around the world and provide enormous benefits for American businesses, workers, and their families. It targets significant investment to an important set of priorities, including roads, bridges, technology, energy, water and wastewater, and climate resilience, and it would also meaningfully expand efforts to improve federal permitting that originated in the last significant infrastructure bill, FAST-41. It also includes a five-year authorization of federal highway and public transportation programs to provide certainly of federal commitment to state and local governments.
After a decade of combined effort on and off Capitol Hill, the finish line is in sight for a significant bipartisan legislative victory. We call on the House to follow a similar bipartisan approach and take up the Senate bill when it is approved so that infrastructure legislation can be signed into law as expeditiously as possible.
Sincerely,
Suzanne P. Clark
President and CEO
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
