Frederica Freyberg:
As we just heard, President Biden is eager for infrastructure money to find its way to Milwaukee, a city that faces public health risks related to lead pipes and drinking water. U.S. Representative Gwen Moore is also concerned about the dangers of lead pipes and paint in her Milwaukee district. She joins us now from Washington. Thanks very much for being here again.
Gwen Moore:
Thanks for having me, Frederica.
Frederica Freyberg:
So even as the Senate grapples with an infrastructure bill, the House just passed its own measure that includes $45 billion to replace lead water lines across the nation. Representative Moore, how keenly needed is that in Milwaukee?
Gwen Moore:
Well, Frederica, thanks for asking, because, you know, so many people talk about the situation in Flint, Michigan. But this is a problem all over the country, especially in older cities. In the city of Milwaukee, we have 2500 cases a year of children who are poisoned by lead. And, as you know, there’s no safe amount of lead. It leads to all kinds of cognitive disabilities, perhaps even violent behavior. It’s a life-long tragedy for kids. And this $45 billion over the next ten years will take every single lead pipe in the country out. And it will take out the — the lead pipes we have in Milwaukee and in Wisconsin and of course at the rate that we’re going and at the funding levels that we have in Milwaukee, it would take 70 years in order to do it without this appropriation. So we are very, very delighted.
Frederica Freyberg:
So what share of federal relief and infrastructure funds need to be aimed at your city? I understand replacing all the lead service lines alone in Milwaukee would run like $800 million. What share would you like to see go to Milwaukee for that?
Gwen Moore:
$800 million. Actually, Frederica, there have been — I have made efforts throughout my tenure in Congress to provide monies for these lead pipes. And so to the extent that there would be any sort of city match, we have built that into — the mayor has built this into his budget. So we have been plodding along. We just have not had enough money to do them all. And of course you have heard the screaming from community activists, and rightfully so, about the crisis that this is and wanting to get it done. So we’re going to use this federal money to really leverage what we’re already doing locally.
Frederica Freyberg:
So if this gets tied up in Washington, what would you say about another generation of Milwaukeeans growing up under the specter of lead poisoning?
Gwen Moore:
Well, you know, Frederica, thanks for asking that. We’ve known for a long time that lead was not good. I mean, even, you know, back in ancient times. It’s just stupid that we haven’t done something beforehand. But as we see bridges crumbling, buildings crumbling, I think that, you know, we all have a shared interest at this point to take this stuff very seriously. And another generation of children growing up under lead is going to be devastating to our economy. This is our future workforce. You know, when I found out that my second granddaughter was pregnant with my first great grandchild, I immediately started buying water. That was my — that was my reaction to that. You know, and not only will it ameliorate all of these health problems, but it really adds to our GDP. You know, one of my colleagues, Brian Higgins, from Buffalo on the Ways and Means Committee, is constantly talking about the return on these dollars. I mean, for every dollar we spend on infrastructure, we get about $3.72 in return. So — and it really, really adds to our GDP. You know, you know, economists say that 28,000 jobs will be created for this — with this — with just $1 billion of these monies. And so it’s an economic boon, and it really mitigates the health risks that we face. We can’t afford — you know, we can’t do this knowing better. Be different if we didn’t know what the draconian impacts are but we know better.
Frederica Freyberg:
On a related matter, you were just named to the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. What is the task of that committee and what do you bring to that work?
Gwen Moore:
Well, thank you. I was so honored to be selected by Speaker Pelosi to serve on this task force. It has some of the brightest and best minds in our conference on the committee. You know, we have people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is coming there to sort of bring the perspective of disparities and inequality among young people, this generation, who’s burdened with disparities. Like having more grant money, more loan money for education rather than some of the grant money that people in my generation were able to have. We have Angie Craig from Minnesota, who’s going to talk about the kinds of desperation and despair that exists in rural areas. We have Sara Jacobs, going to talk about the future of work. And Pramila Jayapal, who is the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And so we’re going to have a lot of different voices. You know, I’m going to bring the voice of poverty and those left behind as a result of poverty to the table. You know, our chairman, Jim Himes from Connecticut, has commissioned us to bring our thinking caps on and to bring facts to the table. We’re not going to spend a whole lot of time with anecdotes and so forth. We’re going to — this is going to be a serious charge looking at not just identifying the problems, but looking for solutions.
Frederica Freyberg:
All right. We need to leave it there, but we will be watching that interesting and important work. Representative Gwen Moore, thank you very much.
Gwen Moore:
And thank you, Frederica.
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