U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) issued the following statement following the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act:

“The passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is great news for the people of New Jersey and the nation at large. We have turned President Biden’s pledge to ‘Build Back Better’ from a slogan into a once-in-a-generation investment that will put millions of people to work building a more competitive, equitable, and sustainable economy for the 21st century.

“I am thrilled that this bill invests in many of the priorities I have spent decades fighting for on behalf of New Jersey, from improving access to public transit and clean drinking water, to completing Gateway and replacing our aging Hudson River tunnels, to building more resilient communities, and modernizing our electrical grid to help facilitate clean energy deployment.

“In the months ahead, no one will fight harder than me to make sure New Jersey gets its fair share of federal funding and that communities with the highest need receive equitable investments in their future once this historic legislation is signed into law. But we can’t stop there. Senate Democrats must now continue working to deliver a reconciliation package that invests in the human infrastructure that Republicans have neglected for decades, from making child care more affordable, to creating a path to citizenship for as many of the 11 million undocumented as possible, to extending the historic tax relief for workers and parents we secured in the American Rescue Plan, to addressing the climate crisis that threatens our communities and our families. The American people are demanding bold investments in the future of our country, and we must and will deliver.”