The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“DRINKING WATER AND WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE ACT OF 2021” mentioning Richard J. Durbin was published in the Senate section on page S2284 on April 28.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
DRINKING WATER AND WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE ACT OF 2021
Mr. DURBIN. Madam Prescient, this week, the Senate has the opportunity to take a major step on an issue that affects all Americans: infrastructure.
Senator Duckworth, my friend and fellow Illinois Senator, is leading a bipartisan effort to finance critical water infrastructure improvements across the country.
The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act authorizes $35 billion in funding to improve access to safe drinking water, fortify our water infrastructure against extreme weather, lower the cost of utility bills, and rebuild aging water systems across America.
More than 40 percent of authorized funds will go to small, rural, and disadvantaged communities, many of which have not seen water infrastructure improvements in decades. And believe me, our water infrastructure is in desperate need of improvement.
My home State of Illinois has the most lead service lines of any State. Recent reports indicate that 8 in 10 Illinoisans live in a community where lead has been found in the drinking water in the last 6 years. Chicago alone has more than 380,000 lead service lines, the most of any city in the country. My hometown of Springfield has more than 10,000 lead service lines. These numbers are tragic and unacceptable. Every day, millions of my constituents risk exposure to lead, which can impair brain development in children and harm pregnant mothers. The people of Illinois, like many others across the country, sorely need these pipes replaced.
Thankfully, this bipartisan bill would begin to tackle the epidemic of lead in our Nation's drinking water. It would authorize $100 million per year for lead service line removal and a further $40 million per year for lead testing in schools. Just imagine what that kind of funding could do to protect vulnerable people and children in Chicago, Springfield, and across our country.
But unfortunately, lead is not the only water infrastructure problem facing our communities. A few weeks ago, I visited a small, rural town in Illinois called Centreville. Near my birthplace of East St. Louis, I have known this community all my life. Centreville's population is mostly elderly, Black, lifelong residents. They have faced chronic wastewater and storm water issues for decades. Ordinary rainfall can overflow the town's broken sewer systems and flood residents' basements and lawns with raw sewage. No one risks taking a sip of water from the tap.
I have heard from residents about the horror of stepping out of their front door in the morning to discover pools of sewage seeping up through the grass in their front yards. This is a tragic and dangerous situation and one that deserves significant Federal attention. And yet the problem has persisted for decades. Why?
Centreville is one of the poorest towns in Illinois and has struggled to attract financial help. The town cannot meet the cost-share requirements of grant programs or qualify for the loans it so desperately needs.
Well, the residents of Centreville have spoken up, they are fed up with officials looking the other way. They have every right to feel frustrated. They have every right to demand more of us. For decades our water policy has overlooked their needs and left them to fend for themselves. This cannot continue.
That is why I am glad this bill offers towns like Centreville a chance to fix their broken pumps, shore up their drainage ditches, and begin addressing water issues that have been overlooked for far too long. The bill would waive many of the cost-share requirements for small, rural towns like Centreville, giving them a path to the funding they deserve. It also would give on-the-ground technical assistance to disadvantaged communities struggling with their water systems, and provide grants for repairing broken and outdated water infrastructure.
To help ensure that this expertise reaches places like Centreville, I offered an amendment to the bill to focus it even further. I want to thank the EPW Committee for including my amendment to require the EPA to prioritize distressed communities like Centreville, that have struggled to attract funds and face the cumulative burden of wastewater and storm water issues. Flooding, lead, drinking water access--none of these problems are new.
My colleagues on both sides of the aisle have spent years decrying the state of American infrastructure, and our water is no exception. Despite all the complaining, we have struggled to sit down together and actually address these issues. But for the first time in many years, we not only have a President willing to pursue bold and necessary infrastructure policy, but a majority in the Senate willing to work with him to get it done.
While President Biden's American Jobs Plan includes billions more in funding to replace the Nation's lead pipes, this bill is a good-faith, down payment on the President's plan, and importantly, it has bipartisan support. The Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act is the first step towards new, meaningful infrastructure policy.
I hope that my colleagues will join me in supporting this bill, so we can put a bipartisan down payment on the infrastructure every American needs.
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