Congressman Sires: “It Doesn’t Matter Where You Live”

(Washington, DC) – “Think about the last time you went somewhere.  Odds are you used roads, bridges, or tunnels to get where you wanted to go.  Now think about the state of those roads, bridges, and tunnels. Think about the potholes you hit, the bridge closures you had to avoid, the delays you sat through in tunnels because of track malfunctions.

This is not an 8^th District specific problem, or a New Jersey specific problem, or even a northeast specific problem.  This is a national problem.  Regardless of where you live or how you vote – the state of our roads, bridges, and tunnels affect every single American.

As a national problem, it is the federal government’s responsibility to work in good faith towards a real, tangible solution to these real, tangible problems.  Working in good faith means you must show up and stick it out, even if you disagree with the person at the opposite end of the table on every other issue.  You don’t get to walk out.

Every member of Congress and every member of this administration can see the need for infrastructure investment by walking out their door and looking down their street.  The problems are now, and they will only get worse as time goes on.  Our roads will continue to crack, our bridges will continue to deteriorate, and our tunnels will continue to leak and crumble until they all become unusable.  Every day we delay an infrastructure package makes a potential fix costlier and more time consuming.

Over my time as a public servant I have spoken to constituents, local officials, state officials, members of congress, members of administrations, and presidents.  All have agreed that we need infrastructure investment.  So why are we making this so difficult? Fixing our roads, bridges, and tunnels isn’t something you can take a pass on.”