Lamb: Add infrastructure to 4th phase of relief funds
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb said the next phase of federal legislation combating the COVID-19 pandemic should include more funding for personal protective equipment, testing and small businesses and also make a substantial investment in rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure — a proposition that has been co-signed across party lines and by President Donald Trump.
Mr. Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, told his constituents in a telephone town hall on Monday that the fourth phase of congressional action should build on the “things that we’ve already done” — including another round of funding to the Small Business Administration loan program — and help get protective equipment to health care workers, first responders and other workers on the front lines of the pandemic.
More funding for testing,
Mr. Lamb said, would not only help stop the spread by determining who is sick, but also help reassure Americans when the time comes to reopen the economy again.
And an infrastructure plan, according to the congressman, would create jobs and cultivate a more competitive and attractive business environment for companies looking to invest in the region.
His wish list for federal legislation followed his description of a federal bureaucracy ready to deliver relief from its third phase of legislation, which Congress passed at the end of March. It included $1,200 direct payments to most Americans.
Mr. Lamb also fought back against the narrative that the federal government has to choose between protecting public health and saving the economy for future generations. The congressman called it a “false choice.”
“The better we protect people now, the tougher the measures and sacrifices [we make] and the more of that we’re able to do, the better off we will be in the long term,” Mr. Lamb said, “and our economy will come back quicker and stronger when people have the confidence of knowing that we defeated this thing.”