mr. tuberville: mr. president, i'd like to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until senate republicans hold their weekly party lunches today. democrats will hold their party caucuses tomorrow. floor setting committee assignments for the 118th congress. a floor vote is needed to approve them. senate majority leader chuck schumer is in new york city with president biden for an event marking federal funding for the gateway tunnel, and once that event begins in just a couple of minutes we will have live coverage here on c-span2. when the senate returns, a a reminder that we will have live coverage here on c-span2.

we take you live now to that event were president biden is set to announce a $292 million grant to help complete an early phase of the hudson tunnel project. he's joined by new york city mayor eric adams, senator schumer for you see on the screen, senator gillibrand, booker, menendez and new york governor kathy vocal in new jersey governor phil murphy. president biden expected in just a moment. live coverage here on c-span2. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [applause] >> hello, hello, hello. please have a seat if you have one. well, thank you, chuck. thanks for the introduction.

that was worth the trip. thank you. really, thank you very much. look, one person in particular push relentlessly for the advanced this gateway project and prove real transit in the region. out of how many times i've heard from chuck about this project, time and time and time again. he did let anything stop him. because he knows how incredibly critical it is to people's lives in this transit the economy of new york and new jersey. and, quite frankly, all across the country. and that's chuck schumer. he is relentless never gives up. no one has done more to make today a reality as truly, this is chuck schumer day, pal. you got it done. chuck, you've done a hell of a job. a big thanks to the rest of the delegation as well. senator gillibrand do is here, true champion of the state and it always puts new york first. and she make sure everybody in the military has straightened up, too, but that's a different story. mayor adams, thank you for

something you are. good to see you, pal. thank you for the passport into the city. and governor hogle, thank you as well. had a chance to speak a little bit earlier. governor murphy, you've been a great friend and longtime. your leadership has been vital to this project, and the new jersey congressional delegation fought like hell to push forward what this all entails. want to think everybody here. i want to thank bob menendez. what are you, bob? goodies you, bob. and cory booker, two great senator from new jersey. and we try to shut down while others try to shut this down we make clear, i make clear this is a national priority. and i told you that we would get this done, and we did it together. i want to thank representative scott heim esso and the two members of new jersey congress, congressional delegation, robin, robin and as whose smarter than his dad, and don goldman. i know because my son was marked

that i was. look, for being here, we've got a lot of work to do, we've got a lot of work to get together. you will pay for that when you get home, right? but look, i want to think everyone from amtrak, everyone from amtrak. you guys and nta is out there, too. for this gateway development commission, it's really important to i thank you for your partnership. folks, just outside the space the first piece of the new hudson tunnel is being built. it's one of the biggest part of the gateway program. now let me say this at the outset. this is just the beginning. this is the beginning of finally constructing a 21st century rail system that is long, long overdue in this country. this project is critical to transform of the northeast corridor, increasing speeds, capacity, reliability and safety. in addition to getting folks out of cars and onto trains, we are going help the environment as well because all the studies show and i've been harping on this since the mid-70s, that

every study shows you get from point a to point b on rail that's faster, faster than you can an automobile, you don't take the carpet you get in the train. that's important project is. for up to 200,000 passengers who take amtrak or new jersey transit under the hudson river every single day. and you know it matters a lot the northeast quarter from here to boston, boston to washington all the way down. for years people talked about fixing this tunnel. but thanks to the leadership of chuck and bipartisan infrastructure law, we are finally getting this done. this law is the most significant investment in rail, the most significant investment in rail since we created amtrak over 50 years ago. and billions, billions are going to projects in the northeast corridor including replacing the existing hudson tunnel. that's why it's so important. 2200 trades, 2200 trains run 2200 trains run along the

northeast corridor every single day. it's the busiest corridor in the united states of america in one of the busiest in the world. and the problem, probably anywhere along the line means the lace up and down is cause for folks run to get to work. businesses trying to ship goods, travelers try to get to see their families. and by the way as as a u.s. r i commuted for 36 years every single solitary day the senate was in session. i traveled over 1,100,000 miles 100,000 miles on amtrak, and i can tell you where all the delays were. and they were not all in one link in delaware. so i know it to be a fact. if this line shuts down for just one day, it will cost the american economy $100 million a day in costs. the current hudson river rail tunnel can be a major chill point. a critical link in your penn station, the busiest train station and all of america. this tunnel open for business in

1910, 113 years ago. in the structure is literally deter you. the roof is leaking, before the sinking putting pluses badly dems are super storm sandy. i came and walk through this tunnel. you ought to see it. today over ten years later they're still limits of seawater in the tunnel eating away at the concrete, steel and electrical components within the tunnel. in 2020, over 12,000 minutes in delay in just one year, 12,000 minutes of of delay. the united states of america, while for god's sake what are we doing? this is the united states of america. we know better. we're so much better than that. now we're going to prove it. we're going to rebuild existing tunnel but we can't do that until we build a brand-new entirely different and separate tunnel. we can't fix the first one with the building a new one.

and that tunnel a run at faster speeds with no interruptions, running at 100 miles an hour. while the original tunnel is under construction. not only and should delays last risk a major shipments. the new tunnel of two tubes with one tracking each tube so they can keep operating even if one side breaks down. but it's going to be safer, more resilient, more reliable. the biggest rail line in the united states of america. and to get it done the first step for completing concrete casing under the hudson yards, which chuck has been talking and talking and talking and talking and talking about. hudson park sits above where the new tunnel will connect to penn station. this is a critical step for everything else were going to do in the corridor and rail. make it as you may know work started in the hudson yards in 2013 but stalled due to lack of funding. but thanks to, i emphasize the

bipartisan infrastructure law whenever the money and we're finally going to get it done. when the project is complete, trains will be in and out more quickly more safe and with few interruptions. there's only one part of the overall gateway program to improve train travel between new york and new jersey. for example, last you also broke ground on the portal northbridge, you and i come in new jersey. thanks to the vipers infrastructure law we are rebuilding two of the critical bridges, sawtooth and oxbridge both in north jersey. all told this is one of the biggest and most consequential projects in the country. but it's going to take time, the multibillion-dollar effort between the states and the federal government but we finally have the money and we're going to get it done, i promise you. we are going to get it done. [applause] folks, we are making some are investments to improve her up

and down the northeast corridor. yesterday i was in baltimore for a similar announcement of the baltimore potomac, another critical juncture that was built nearly 150 years ago. no changes in 150 years. i walked through that sucker, too. you think i'm joking. i'm not. man, man, this has been, when you commute on high with every single day, that was my highway come when things are falling apart, over the next two years we will hit milestones with other projects including the east river title here in new york, maryland, the connecticut river bridge and we're not stopping at all. this was rail. earlier this month i was in kentucky with the republican leader of peer questioning over a billion dollars over the ohio and kentucky river to have been trying to fix for years and years. we are repairing the original bridge and building an entirely new one parallel to it. over that bridge today which

keeps breaking down, trucks carry roughly $2 billion worth of freight goods every single day across that bridge now. from florida to canada. the bridge was built 60 years ago. folks haven't talked about fixing it for decades but now we are going to get it done. there's more that we are doing. for example, up in the bronx we're redeveloping the hunts point terminal produce market which handles 60% of new york fruits and vegetables, , 60%. we're expanding refrigerated warehouse space, stalling charging stations for electric vehicles so delivery trucks can get in and out faster and recharge and return, for the return trip. on staten island where upgrading the port at arthur kill terminal site to turn into a state of the art assembly site for wind turbines. by the way, just one blade in these new wind turbines is

102 yards long. 102 yards long hundred two yards long. the ships during this equipment are huge so we're trudging a 35-foot basins of the ships can reach the site. with the support of the government of new jersey we reconstituting nearly three miles of highway that still structurally obsolete leading to the port. and repairing the canal in cape main canal, critical waterways that are gyms in the new jersey shore. one of the things about the infrastructure law that are most excited about is where doing all of this with all american workers. all american workers. [applause] and by the way, and all of it, all of it is union labor. all of it. [applause] every freaking one. union labor. you don't think i'm kidding. i'm not. yesterday in baltimore i

announce we are building the project under the new project labor agreement. we are making sure it's one of his projects as well here. the agreement to contractors in unions to put in place agreement before construction begins to ensure major projects are handled with well-trained highly skilled union workers. the resolve disputes ahead of time ensuring safer workspace, avoiding disruptions and work stoppages that can cause expensive and extensive delays down the line. so we're not just good for workers. good for taxpayers, too. amtrak and building trades agree to labor agreement will be in place across the major real construction projects up and down, up and down the northeast corridor. and the hudson river tunnel project will lead to 72,000 good-paying jobs over its lifetime. laborers, electricians, carpenters, i workers, more.

the jobs you can raise a family on. most don't require a college degree but did you require four years of apprenticeships, training programs. it's one of the reasons why the united states has the best trained workers in the world. [applause] >> that's not hyperbole. we do. everybody thinks you want to join the ip w come to show up, you will be an electrician. after four years at apprenticeship, may be. so you guys are the best in the world you really are. that's this project and others like it across a creek all about making investments in americans cities and towns, and america's heart test, and the rural areas as well. it's about making things here in america again. it's about good jobs. it's about the dignity of work. my dad used to say joey, jobs about a lot more than a paycheck. it's about your dignity. it's about respect. it's about being able to turn to

look at kidding i say honey it's going to be okay, and mean it. and he meant it. it's about respect itself worth. and folks it's about damn time. for too long we talk about asserting american leadership once again building the best economy in the world. but you have the best economy in the world you have to have the best infrastructure in the world. people don't build factories if they're not whether not rail stations, not accessed highways. they don't attract businesses the less you the best infrastructure. to get products to market to create thousands of good-paying jobs. for most of the last century economy led the world a significant margin. because we invested in our people and we invested in our sales people invested research and development in america. we used to invest two-tenths f 1%. i mean 2% of our gdp in research and development. that's what we did 40 years ago. it's down to .7%. along the way we stopped.

we used to rank number one in the world in research and development. now we rank number nine. the united states is number nine and china is number eight. now they rank number two. folks, china and rest of the world are catching up. for decades the backbone of america's been a middle-class and it's been hollowed out. too many good paying manufacturing jobs move overseas because labor was cheap over there. we exported jobs and imported their products. may it help the corporate bottom line but didn't help many americans. when jobs move overseas,, factories at home close down. once thriving cities and towns they can shut us up with the used to be, and a lost the sense of the so forth along the way. and when those towns were hollowed out something else was lost. pride, self-esteem, a sense of

self worth. these are efforts of the so-called trickle-down economics. their view from park avenue that says the wealthy and may be help them, and maybe it will trickle down to everybody else. there's another view, the one that i hold. the majority of the people polled, i think, like the folks in the city where i was born in scranton, the town i was raised in claremont delaware. they view america's workers and ready to work hard as hell and given and even shot. they just need the shot though. they get up every morning to go to work must the next i make an honest living. i've said many times, wall street is important but it didn't build this country. a middle-class built the country, and unions built a middle-class. [applause] i mean it. when i ran for president i agreed we would build from the bottom up in the middle out to bring back the good-paying jobs that you can raise a family on.

whether or not you went to college. give families more breathing room invest in ourselves again, this an american again. that's what we've done. my first two years in office that two two strongest yearb growth on record in the entire history of the united states of america. [applause] we created nearly 11 million, 11 million jobs including 750,000 manufacturing jobs in two years. we're just getting started. where the hell is a rain to say america can't lead the world get in manufacturing? where is that written? in addition, we have arrived at major investment $300 billion in just one industry. one industry. semiconductors. generate civic and opportunities, american manufacturing. for four decades we import products and exported jobs. now america's exporting projects

and creating jobs. although there's much more to do about what we're going to do to modernize the monorail let me close with this. americans seek his projects popping up across the country and it sends an important message. that we're going, when we work together like we did in a bipartisan law and the chips law, there's nothing we can't do. nothing. why in hell as america ever, ever set a goal it didn't reach? when has it ever? name me a time. name me a time when america's gone through a crunch and didn't come out stronger on the other side then went in. we can get really big things done. we're sort of losing confidence in ourselves we can do anything. we really can. we can move this nation forward. we can send another message as well. the message of pride, pride in our country, pride in what we can do together. a sense of self-worth knowing

you can provide to your family. as i've long said, it's been a really bad bet to get bet against america. and i can honestly say that i stand here today and i give you my word, i've never been more optimistic about america's prospects in my entire life to you just have to remember who the hell we are. we are the united states of america. there's nothing on our capacity to nothing at all, and it is starting right here. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪♪ ♪♪ >> the state of the union is strong because you, the american people are strong. >> president biden's delivers annual state of the union address outlining his priorities to congress on tuesday february 7. his first state of the union speech since republicans won back control of the house. we will hear republican response and take phone calls, texts and tweets. watch live coverage of the state of the union 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span now, free mobile video apps or online at c-span.org. >> senate lawmakers working off the floor s