Veasey Urges GOP 'Sit Down With Us' on Infrastructure

House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, put the onus on congressional Republicans Wednesday to come “to the table and sit down with us” to reach a compromise on an infrastructure spending package, as talks continued after the collapse of negotiations between the White House and a Senate GOP group led by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia (see 2106080060). Veasey told a USTelecom virtual event that he expects the House Commerce Committee to mark up its part of infrastructure legislation soon so it can “get onto the floor for a vote,” after which it will be up to “my colleagues … in the other chamber to make sure this important legislation moves to” President Joe Biden’s desk. Veasey touted his backing of panel Democrats’ Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s America Act infrastructure bill. HR-1848 includes $80 billion for broadband and $15 billion for next-generation 911 (see 2103110060). Whether that measure or another infrastructure bill passes depends on whether lawmakers are “willing … to come together and pass legislation that will help everyone be connected,” Veasey said. “Rural constituents will be very much … helped by this, as well as the lower income, largely urban residents that I represent.” Veasey touted his Enhanced Emergency Broadband Act, which would provide additional emergency broadband benefit program money (see 2103040049). “Create a path forward,” he said, “to make this program both permanent and sustainable.”