On Monday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing, “Lift America: Revitalizing Our Nation’s Infrastructure and Economy.” The hearing brought policy experts in energy, technology, and health care to provide their perspectives on the House bill, LIFT UP America Act of 2021 (H.R. 1848).
Witnesses testifying before the committee were:

• Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. President and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies; Former Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Honorable Ernest J. Moniz, President and Chief Executive Officer, Energy Futures Initiatives; Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy
• The Honorable Michael O’Rielly Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission; Principal, MPOrielly Consulting, LLC

• The Honorable Tom Wheeler, Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Former Chairman, Federal Communication Commission

In his opening statement, Chair Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), touted the bill as a great investment in the nation’s infrastructure, helping to alleviate the urban-rural divide by investing in broadband services.

Republicans on the committee unanimously opposed the legislation, noting that the bill would pour unnecessary amounts of funding into several programs without a targeted approach. Minority members also stated throughout the hearing that the legislation lacked bipartisan buy-in.

The legislation—if enacted— would invest upwards of $37 billion in public health systems and health centers. The bill would also invest $312 billion in building the nation’s infrastructure to help modernize hospitals, and clinical laboratories, while also making investments in clean energy, energy efficiency, drinking water, broadband, and health care infrastructure. The bill also includes $7 billion for state, local, tribal, and territorial health departments, $4.5 billion for clinical laboratories and $10 billion for community health centers. and $1 billion to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address core public health infrastructure needs.

Most of the panelists testifying found the bill to be an extremely important piece of legislation to address some of the pressing infrastructure issues in the nation.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Moniz, the former Department of Energy Secretary under President Obama, stated that increasing broadband access is critical to building upon, and expanding, the nation’s infrastructure. Moniz noted that a focus on jobs would be critical for the legislation’s success.

In his opening statement, Dr. Frieden, the former CDC Director for the Obama Administration, gave an overview of the pandemic and its relation to the public health infrastructure issues that gave rise to several issues. Dr. Frieden stated that Congress must fix the “broken public health system” and the “broken primary health care system.” Dr. Frieden called for long-term investments in public health, not one-time supplemental funding, to protect against health threats. Dr. Frieden called this issue a “terrible and deadly cycle of panic and neglect”—NACCHO has been a persistent advocate for public health infrastructure funding.

In his testimony, Michael O’Reilly, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under the Obama and Trump Administrations, broke with his colleagues testifying before the committee, highlighting some issues he found with the legislation. O’Reilly stated that the bill should target the funding to those who are truly underserved, noting that symmetrically high broadband speeds to a broad population would be an untenable goal. During the question-and-answer session, in response to ranking member Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Mr. O’Reilly stated that the bill would assist easier to access areas, leaving out underserved communities and widening the urban-rural divide.

Tom Wheeler, the former chairman of the FCC, stated in his remarks that the legislation is a great pathway to overcoming the staggered and piece-meal approach to addressing infrastructure that hasn’t yielded results.

Other issues of note highlighted during the hearing were reductions in carbon emissions; private-public sector partnerships; digital and physical infrastructure in health care; rolling out electric vehicle stations; lead in drinking water; and the cost barriers to broadband access.