"For too many years, funding from Washington has built roads and highways that divided low-income communities and communities of color without offering the transportation alternatives all of us can use. The INVEST Act offers a different path, one that leads to a more just, equitable, and climate-resilient future."

– Stephanie Gidigbi, Director of Policy and Partnerships
NRDC's Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program

As chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I'm proud to have introduced and passed through committee the INVEST in America Act – the first step to realizing the comprehensive infrastructure framework I introduced this year.

The INVEST in America Act accomplishes three key goals:

• Economic: We'll create millions of good-paying jobs in rural and urban areas to rebuild our crumbling roads and buildings, operate a more robust public transportation system, and support American manufacturing.
• Environmental: The act will reduce carbon pollution by funding projects that reduce greenhouse gases, creating a greenhouse gas performance measure to track progress, and aggressively funding alternative fueling infrastructure and non-motorized transportation.
• Anti-racist: Unwinding the systemic racism in America means recognizing that there are no "race neutral" public policies; our actions either actively dismantle the racist status quo, or they allow it to continue.

The INVEST in America Act directly addresses decades of disinvestment in communities of color, and the environmental racism that has polluted, sickened, and devastated Black, brown, and low-income neighborhoods. The act will also provide billions in grants to allow state and local governments to take the lead in assessing their communities' needs. And the act invests in the workforce, raising the bar for worker protections and training.

Through good-paying jobs that help rebuild a more sustainable transportation system and support American manufacturing, the INVEST in America Act will address the urgent issues facing our nation right now: systemic and institutional racism, the COVID-19 recession, and the climate crisis.

For decades, I've fought hard for a transportation plan that's sustainable for our communities and our environment – including introducing a comprehensive, bold framework that invests $1.5 trillion over the next five years. I'm committed to ensuring a green, affordable, reliable transportation system that provides family-wage jobs and helps our communities.

Our country's survival means working together to protect all people – regardless of skin color, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. We must learn to love, respect, and celebrate one another. The urgency of our planet – and all that inhabit it – depends on it.

Onward,

Peter