House Passes Moving Forward Act with Key Norcross Legislation, Amendments Included

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) today voted yes to H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, a transformational $1.5 trillion investment in American infrastructure that will create millions of jobs, take bold action on the climate crisis and address disparities in urban, suburban and rural communities across our country. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives and now awaits action in the Senate.

“In Congress, my top three priorities are jobs, education and security, and this bill’s infrastructure investments check all three of those boxes.” said Congressman Norcross, a member of the Education and Labor Committee. “Long before this pandemic, our critical infrastructure, schools, and environment were all in dire need of repair, and now as our nation fights COVID-19 the need to rebuild has never been greater. As public officials, it is our duty to protect our children and communities, as well as the long-term sustainability of our economy, and so we must invest in clean energy and modernize our infrastructure for a healthy, secure future.”

Norcross continued: “This bill includes legislation I introduced to reopen and rebuild America’s schools with a $130 million investment, ensuring students and educators are safe and healthy at school each day. Additionally, I fought to ensure our workers have the apprenticeship skills, wage protections and clean energy job opportunities to take full advantage of America’s transfer to energy efficient technology.”

The final passage of the bill included the following Norcross-sponsored legislation:

• Rebuild America’s Schools Act, a bill that Norcross introduced last year alongside Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, which funds $130 billion in school infrastructure targeted at high-poverty schools with facilities that endanger the health and safety of students and educators and creates over 2 million new jobs.
• Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunities Act that Norcross introduced in 2019 alongside Congressmen Bill Keating (D-MA), which authorizes the Department of the Interior to award offshore wind career training grants to institutions of higher education and labor organizations to develop, offer or improve educational and career training programs that provide skills necessary for employment in the offshore wind industry.
• Provisions from the PATH Act that Congressman Norcross introduced in 2019 alongside Congressman David McKinley (R-WV), which would identify and develop pathways for students and individuals to secure pre-apprenticeships in the US surface transportation sector.

The bill also includes the following Norcross amendments:

• An amendment creating a rebate program for energy efficiency upgrades at America’s industrial, manufacturing, and commercial sites. This amendment promotes energy efficient electrotechnology and will help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by providing rebates to businesses that decide to convert their old fossil fuel technology over to cleaner energy efficient electrotechnology.
• An amendment adding labor organizations to a working group on construction resources. This amendment will ensure labor has a seat at the table when deciding on what construction materials will be used on transportation and infrastructure construction. This will be critical in ensuring we are not cutting corners and instead providing high quality construction materials for our schools, roads, bridges and other projects.

In addition, Norcross worked to ensure worker protections and Davis-Bacon provisions were included throughout the package to ensure high wages and high-quality work and blocked a Republican amendment that would lower workers’ wages.

Additionally, the Moving Forward Act:

• Advances the INVEST in America Act, a nearly $500 billion investment to rebuild and reimagine the nation’s transportation infrastructure;
• Addresses structural challenges and upgrades childcare facilities;
• Invests over $100 billion into our nation’s affordable housing infrastructure;
• Protects access to safe drinking water;
• Modernizes our energy infrastructure for a clean energy future;
• Delivers affordable high-speed broadband Internet access to all parts of the country;
• Modernizes the nation’s health care infrastructure;
• Modernizes and strengthens the United States Postal Service;
• Promotes new renewable energy infrastructure; and
• Promotes investments in our communities.

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