Connecting Communities in the 21st Century

We have a tremendous opportunity to grow our communities and businesses – and put people back to work – by building critical infrastructure projects. In an increasingly connected economy, diverse transportation networks – including roads, rail, air, trails, and even broadband – allow us to move goods and jump-start economic development in communities across our state.

After the tragic collapse of the I-35W Bridge prompted a statewide review of similar bridges, the Highway 23 Mississippi bridge was shut down because it was deemed unsafe. No one at the federal level stepped up to push to secure federal funding to rebuild it, so I did. I’d just worked with business and labor leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, community partners, and Republicans in the legislature to pass into law (overriding Governor Pawlenty’s veto) a much needed transportation funding bill, and once the bridge connecting Central Minnesota was deemed unsafe, I fought to secure funding from that bill to get a new, safe bridge built.

From working to rebuild a bridge, to engaging business and labor to expand our local airports, to fighting to build rail including Northern Lights Express and NorthStar, to working with groups to connect our trails, I’ve been a tireless and successful advocate for multi-modal transportation. In Congress, I will continue to make sure that we can build the safe, reliable transportation networks that we need to connect our communities and to compete in the regional, national, and global economy.

Connecting through communication is also fundamental to our region. There is not one of us who has not had the daily frustration of dropped cell phone calls or trouble connecting online. It’s time our country had a rural strategy again like it did with electrification. Today’s key challenge and opportunity is making sure our greater Minnesota communities have high-speed connections. Right now there are developing countries with better access than we have in many parts of our state and country. That’s not right. With modern broadband and transportation infrastructure, we can connect our communities and make it possible to live and work anywhere – which will revitalize our region.

Unlike our current Member of Congress, I know the difference between pork barrel spending and important regional projects. He claims his approach is “cost containment”. That’s just code for killing much needed projects or safety protections. There is no doubt that we need to cut out wasteful federal spending on unnecessary projects and that we get every penny out of every dollar invested in projects which is why I authored legislation expanding the use of best value contracting. I will continue to work with local elected officials, with labor, business, and community groups to determine the needs of our district – and then go to Washington and fight to bring our tax dollars back home to fund critical projects.