The u. S. Chamber of commerce hosted an infrastructure conference in washington, d. C. With members of congress, Biden Administration officials and state and local leaders to discuss legislation by the ten year and how it applied to workforce training, manufacturing and the electrical grid. The event began with keynote remarks by the acting labor secretary. This is about four hours. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the director at united infrastructure. Good morning. How is everyone doing this morning. Fantastic. I know the rain just started, so a perfect reason to get everyone started inside. I love seeing a room starting to get filled up with infrastructure nerds like myself. Welcome to infrastructure week 2024. Very exciting. I am supremely honored. Many of you have been with us just twota years ago its fantastic leading this wonderful coalition of organizations and associations and private Sector Companies so many of you are here in this room with us today thank you for your support and dedication and for your work on this important mission. I know many of you are thinking what are we still doing here. Why are we still doing this and why do you force us to come here year after year. My answer is you are forced to be here with us for many more years to come so just to get situated because this year we are not just continuing our mission of celebrating the successes of amplifying the project is continuing to beat the drum for federal investment andd infrastructure we are also acknowledging a very critical milestone the halfway point. The last two and a half years the Infrastructure Steering Committee and Partnership Coalition of families have been beating the drums, pounding the pavement to make sure everyone knows of these investments and now we get to do the critical work of paving the next steps making sure we get to that net federal investment so to the Partnership Networks from the Infrastructure Partners and of course hmt be thank you for your hard work and for showing the rest of the country with the private sector should be doing in this space and of course to the Steering Committee aflcio the society of Civil Engineers and the Business Roundtable thank you for the incredible reception and the association of manufacturers and the league of cities the value of the Water Campaign and of the incredible t for todays event the u. S. Chamber of commerce look at this room, so thank you all. I also want to thank the sponsor. [applause] we have a truly Incredible Program celebrating the tens of thousands and every single state and territory that have been funded and whats even more as the celebration we have today to focus on the investments from the private sector into the nations workforce giving more people opportunities to build these critical projects in the next generation and beyond so thank you all for working with us to get that going as well. We are going to go through today maybe youve seen the briefing here so i know you are all very busy people if you need to step out please do that and come right back and join us weve got a wonderful program. So lets get to it. We are thankful for our partners for hosting us today. I know shes very sad not to be with us but she wants to give some acknowledgment so its my honor to the chamber of commerce ms. Suzanne clarke. Thank you so much, everyone. Welcome everyone to the u. S. Chamber of commerce. We are delighted to host you all today to discuss how we can unleash the potential of the nations historic infrastructure. This is about finishing the job we started. Many of us spend years or even decades working to get a robust theastructure bill across finish line and while we should all celebrate that achievement the bipartisan infrastructure bill simply laid the foundation for increasing our nations competitiveness to truly seize the opportunities before us we must create a policy environment that makes it easier for businesses to invest into to build a better future. To do that we have to doo a better job of setting priorities as a nation and acting smart and strategic to make it possible for example there are billions of dollars of federal investments ready to go to the bridges and railways and broadband but americas outdated processes holding back progress, opportunity and Economic Growth. When it takes an average of seven and a half years to get a permit for a new bridge or road longer than to build any project that is simply not strategic. I want to talk about an infrastructure challengey that hits harder to home and its more than a challenge, its a tragedy. Weve been working with a Federation Partner and the aftermath of the horrific collapse. Think of what the team and the people of baltimore are dealing with, families that have lost loved ones. Of commerce and daily life. We cannot let that happen in baltimore or anywhere else in this country where a project badly needs to get done. Last year, the chamber launched our permit america to build campaign, uniting more than 350 coalition partners, calling on congress to enact meaningful, durable permitting forms. Not long after that as part of the debt limit deal last june, congress enacted the first meaningful update for the national act that helped pave the way to get more shovels in the ground. Theres plenty left to do and the clock is ticking. It may be hard to believe that funding for the law is nearing expiration and as the next Congress Reauthorizes that, the best way for this legislation is to be able to point to impact. That means making it easier to invest, permit and build with speed and efficiency, and it means creating more policy certainty around the host of priorities that impact our nations ability to drive the growth, innovation and prosperity were capable of. From the reauthorizing the bipartisan infrastructure bill to developing a clear and comprehensive Energy Policy that supports American Energy production and the energy transition. Addressing the worker shortage crisis, securing our borders and modernizing immigration and a trade agenda and more. Look, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but im optimistic. Weve demonstrated whats possible when leaders in business, labor and all levels of government come together around a shared national priority. And today is the continuation of that effort. Together we can turn promises into projects and push for longterm investments that help make our nations infrastructure the envy of the world. Thank you for your dedication and commitment and i look forward to continuing to partner with you in this effort. With that, brian jones president of the america and united for infrastructure. Mary ellen . applause please welcome to the stage the president and ceo for accelerator for america. Good morning, everybody, what a beautiful room of infrastructure practitioners, stakeholders, advocates. Its great to be with you, and im the president and ceo of acceleraor for america, we united to run the infrastructure with all of you. It was founded by former Los Angeles MayorEric Garcetti in 2017 and we worked every day in our mission to help find and develop solutions that combat economic insecurity and share scale, replicate those Solutions Across our network of cities and leaders everywhere in this country. The core of our work has always been infrastructure because we know infrastructure helps connect neighborhoods and people to new opportunity. Infrastructure is about our countrys competitiveness and at its core, about good jobs. Thats why im excited to be on the stage today to introduce our keynote speaker. Since we both have california roots, lets talk about julie su. She took the rains in march of last year and under his leadership, the department puts together the center of everything they do, those who have been underestimated. Acting secretary julie su ensures that these individuals who have sometimes been forced to take on whatever work they can get. No matter the hours or the conditions or the mistreatment that they now have new opportunity through that infrastructure law to work on projects that provide a family supporting wage and offer dignity and growth opportunity. The acting secretary and i also share a first generation american story. My father and his family came to this country after world war ii having nothing, but the growths on their back and a suitcase full of a few things. But when my grandfather game here in 1949 and went to work, he got to go to a great factory job with a family supporting wage and a pension. The acting secretarys family came here a couple of decades later and she was worn in this country just as i was, but maybe not the same opportunity. And she ultimately became her parents most ferocious advocate and translated for them and helped to make sure that they got what they needed as a family and formed who she is and the work she does today to make sure that people have the dignity at work and get the benefit and pay for that work. Early in her career, su combatted sweatshop conditions, and she focused on improving conditions for those working in the garment industry. It helped to earn a genius grant. A genius in our midst this morning. And working for two california governors, and for those of you who know accelerator, we love governors and our mayors so were particularly thrilled with the initiative that shes had with the National League of cities, good jobs, great cities, helping our city leaders form initiatives around this amazing opportunity and we have an infrastructure and in fact, well hear that later with one of our mayors from san antonio. Secretary su understands the importance of partnership. None of this happens alone, this is a team sport that we work in. And were in the womens bureau, leveraging for equity to ensure that these jobs in infrastructure and the Clean Energy Jobs for the Energy Reduction act are available for people of color, for women, people who have been historically underinvested and underestimated. Without our Skilled Trades workers, our steel metal workers, our plumbers, our painters, our transit experts and so many more none of these would be possible. With that in mind, it is my great honor to introduce the countrys number one advocate for great jobs and workers, acting secretary, julie su. [applause]. Good morning, everybody. Mary ellen, thank you so much for that very introduction. It was so lovely to speak with you before coming out here with our shared immigrant stories, and the point that good jobs change lives and do so for generation. Im pleased to talk about that and were in a moment in which we can make that happen for more people than weve done for a very, very long time in this country and i know the best ideas happen when business leaders, unions, mayors, other local officials and others come together in real partnership. And so, i real appreciate you, mary ellen, and your leadership in bringing together this group to talk about something thats so core to President Bidens vision for america. Which is infrastructure. But i want to acknowledge a few people before i start. The first are my friends who you will hear from in just a little bit. Sean mcgarvey president of the Building Trades and greg reagan from the trance Sayings Department of the aflcio. President biden is investing in america and the workers that sean and greg represent are building america. I also want to recognize san antonio mayor ron nuremberg, as mary ellen said, our mayors are the ones getting things done on the front line. And san antonio is one of the great jobs city. Ill come back and talk about mayor ron in a moment, but san antonio is setting an example that is really demonstrating what is possible across the nation and of course, i want to thank the brilliant work that guided the bidenharris from historic job growth and infrastructure. And Suzanne Clark you heard from on the video has been great to work with as well as we think about how to build up the supply chains across the country and make sure the Economic Growth bradley benefits all. So, as you all know, since even before this group was together a decade ago, weve talked about the need for Infrastructure Investment and President Biden is delivering them. Everywhere i go, i get to see really historic investments taking shape across the country like at Pittsburgh International airport where were investing 20 million to modernize the airports terminal. At the same time, that work is using made in america steel, thousands of prevailing union jobs and it will generate 2. 5 billion dollars in Economic Activity. Now, thats a theme of something that im going to talk about which is how the investments are not just for workers, not just good for businesses that work on them, but power our Economic Growth. I also got to visit the site of and the people who are creating americas First Interstate high speed rail. This is going to connect the empire with los angeles and also built by union workers. And probably like many of my fellow west coasters who spent a lot of time on the i15, we welcome a high speed rail line between those two cities. And toured atlantas builtline improving transportation and creating more green space as well as Affordable Housing and rejecting neighborhoods, divided by infrastructure in the past so we have a moment to think about infrastructure and the way that it connects rather than divides. So what im going to focus on though is a question that people often ask me, which is are we going to have the work force for this work . Of course, the answer to that is yes. If we make sure that these investments create good jobs and if we focus on connecting the people who have been left out of opportunities for too long to those jobs. So this brings me to another kind of infrastructure. I think of our work force system as infrastructure, too. Its the roads and bridges that connect good people to the jobs that they need and employers to what they want and need. Just like our physical infrastructure. Our work force infrastructure has got some cracks. Its got some potholes. It hasnt been built to reach every community the way that it needs to. And that includes workers and employers. And we say to that, not this time. Not on our watch. In President Bidens america were building a work force infrastructure as strong as our physical infrastructure and were making sure that its going to reach all communities. And to do it, we need high road training partnerships. What do i mean by that . High road training partnerships start with the jobs, with the destination. We cant build effective infrastructure if we dont know where were going. Just like too many Training Programs in the past have focused on skills that might be needed for jobs that might materialize, not anymore. In the language of economists, high road training partnerships connects the demand for labor with the supply. They involve management and labor sitting down together to plan, to Design Training thats tied to actual jobs, jobs that not only support a family, but uplifted entire communities. For too long, the focus has been on the skilled efficiency of workers rather than the quality of jobs, not this time. And the panel that comes up after me is going to talk about more about and have a lot of experience about how to build things the right way. And high road turns traditional on its head starting with the good jobs and making sure that jobs with sustaining wages and workers have a voice. Jobs where workers can be in a union and jobs where every worker goes home safe at the end of the day and jobs where families can get what some of what the president s call breathing room at the core of our entire infrastructure. These partnerships prioritize communities that have been left behind. Im talking about women, black workers, latino workers, asian workers, people involved in the Justice System and young people who are not connected either to school or the work force at this moment. At a time when our economy is growing and projects are breaking ground across the country we have an opportunity to make sure that we build bridges to communities that have not been reached by them for too long and the high road training partnerships are those bridges. These programs include registered apprenticeships which we often describe as the super highways of this work force infrastructure. And Training Programs arent just one off. Theyre part of an interconnected system that we invest in for projects of today, but also will exist for the projects of tomorrow. And i always say this, but i think its worth repeating that training shouldnt end in a job search. It should end in a good job. I was recently in milwaukee meeting with apprenticeships, and i asked how it felt to be in the program . One of the young men said, i feel secure. For the first time in my life i feel secure and that sense of security is what high road training partnerships can provide across our country and provide for employers, struggling with the challenge of finding their needs. And not just employers and neighbors, but organizations like communitybased organizations that provide other services and the state and local level. Putting out dollars and opportunities can invent incentivize, and for things that get in the way of Training Programs and jobs. Not because people dont work, or dont have the skills, but the infrastructure has not been there for too long. One example of this is the city of san antonio. Earlier this year, my city coled the equity su