Anne Arundel Today

WASHINGTON, DC – On June 13, 2023, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05), Chair of the Regional Leadership Council (RLC), joined Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman to discuss digital equity and the work of the RLC to amplify the Investing in America agenda. Below are excerpts from his interview and a link to the video: 

Click here to watch the full interview.

On Closing the Digital Divide
“You mentioned two bills, the Infrastructure Bill and Inflation Reduction Bill, but it actually was in the [American] Rescue Plan we had the first effort at digital equity. We recognized that, particularly for schools, I think that was probably the most stark example, that if you didn't have a computer, if you didn't have some sort of device in which you could communicate from afar, then you were shut out.”

“…that was critically important to make sure that we don't have one in five Americans who were not connected, shut out. If you cut out 20% of your people, your economy is going to suffer. And longer term, because they're shut out of education and health care. Health care also became a critical element because doctors started practicing from afar, virtually.”

“…[Leader Jeffries and President Biden] both sat down and said, look, we just need to make sure all that work that [people know about all] we've done in these five or six extraordinary bills that Invested in America… So, in Maryland, we're pursuing it at the local level and at the state level. The governor is very concerned about making sure every Marylander is connected, every Marylander has access and can afford. So, it's not just access, you need to be able to afford to hook up...Everybody working together - public sector, county governments, city governments, municipalities, state, local governments - [are] working together to identify, to make sure their people are connected.” 

On the Work of the Regional Leadership Council 
“Well, everybody talks about Democrats getting out a message, one problem with getting out our message is we have a lot of messages, because we do a lot of things, because we believe in Investing in America….We did so much, you need to sort of digest and chew up and be able to talk about everything that we did, whether it's education, whether it's health care, manufacturing, CHIPS, science, environment.”

“...And once you identify, once you get [these programs] implemented, we have a map of 32,000 programs and infrastructure in process. Now, those of you who are involved and certainly those who cover you may disagree what we did during the 117th Congress, but we did a hell of a lot of good for our country. You can argue was it good or bad….But we made investments in making America better, which is what Biden said he wanted to do as he started his term, generational change. And that's what we did. Regional [Leadership] Council is to make sure we know what we did, make sure that we implement what we did, and make sure that Americans know it.” 

On House Republicans’ Dysfunction

“...When [Democrats] were in charge, we had an argument or discussions between some of our members… ‘family discussions,’ and we got to consensus. That's the difference. We ultimately always got to a consensus…So, I've never seen anything like this…I've never seen a more willful, irresponsible group of people.”

“[Republicans must] Act rationally….That is a very high hill to climb. The House of Representatives being shut down by 20 people, is not a rational way to run a country, much less a great and good country like the United States of America…The people of our country need to reject those who would, for their own reasons, for their egomaniacal reasons, seize from some 410 representatives of the American people the ability to act on behalf of America.”

Original source can be found here.