WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline (RI-01) spoke on the House floor this afternoon to advocate for passage of the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion investment in rebuilding America’s infrastructure.

 

 

Transcript:

Mr. Speaker, our infrastructure is stuck in the 1950s and it doesn’t have to be. 

 

It is time, in fact it is past time, for Congress to bring our bridges, roads, and schools into the 21st century.

 

The American people gave Democrats control of the U.S. House last year because we promised to work For The People. Higher wages, lower costs, and rooting out corruption in Washington.

 

The Moving Forward Act delivers on that promise. It creates millions of good-paying jobs at a time when they are needed most.

 

More than 40 million unemployment claims have been filed since the start of this pandemic. But the President is more interested in Tweeting than in helping people who are out of work.

 

As a candidate, President Trump promised to rebuild our infrastructure. It turned out to be yet another empty promise on his road to power.

 

Now, Democrats are providing $1.5 trillion to build modern, sustainable infrastructure.

 

This is a bill that invests in the well-being of our cities and towns.

 

I urge the House to adopt the en bloc package which includes my amendment to establish the Interagency Innovative Materials Standards Task Force and to pass the underlying bill without delay, and I yield back.

President Trump is touting the "great meeting" he had with New York Mayor elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House. It was all smiles as the two spoke to reporters from the Oval Office, with Trump saying he feels very confident Mamdani will do a effective job. He added that the better Mamdani does, the happier he is because he loves New York. Both men brushed off questions about trading insults when Mamdani was running for office.        President Trump says he wants a group of Democrats to be punished, but not put to death. Trump was asked by Fox News' Brian Kilmeade about his post saying a group of Democrats should be tried for "seditious behavior, punishable by death" for a video they made, telling military members to ignore orders issued by Trump if they're illegal. Trump said those Democrats did a "horrible" thing.        The Coast Guard is clarifying its policy regarding hate symbols. In a policy released late Thursday, the Coast Guard said, "divisive or hate symbols and flags are prohibited" and added that includes nooses, swastikas "and any symbols or flags co-opted or adopted by hate-based groups." This comes after multiple reports said the Coast Guard was moving to label such symbols as "potentially divisive." A policy that was put in place in 2019 had called the display of symbols like swastikas and nooses "a potential hate incident."        Wall Street is closing higher to end the week. Stocks rebounded from Thursday's sell-off after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said he expects the central bank has more room to lower interest rates. Even with Friday's gains, the three major averages chalked up weekly losses of one percent or more. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones gained 493 points to 46-245.        Millions of Amazon Prime customers will get refunds as a result of the company's two-point-five-billion-dollar settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. You should get an email from Amazon asking you to claim the money through Paypal or Venmo if you're entitled to an automatic refund. Or you can choose to get a check in the mail. This applies to people who enrolled in Prime between June 2019 and June 2025, and didn't use the service more than three times in a year.        "Wicked: For Good" is already going gangbusters at the box office. The sequel to last year's smash hit earned 30-point-eight-million dollars from preview screenings. That surpasses "Superman" for the biggest pre-opening total this year. "Wicked: For Good" is expected to challenge April's "A Minecraft Movie" for the biggest opening of the year by bringing in somewhere between 150-and-180-million dollars this weekend.