Rep. Mace Urges Biden Admin. to Support Port of Charleston, Lowcountry Aviation Industry
March 25, 2021
Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Nancy Mace (SC-01) on Thursday pressed U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to protect the Port of Charleston and the Lowcountry's aviation industry in the Biden administration's upcoming infrastructure package.
Watch the full clip from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing HERE and read an excerpt of the transcript below:
REP. NANCY MACE: After looking briefly over the administration's Build Back Better plan, I want to take some time to ask you about two industries important to the folks that I represent in South Carolina's first congressional district: aviation and waterways.
As you mentioned earlier in your remarks, the seaports of United States are one of the top economic drivers for our country, and nowhere else is that more evident than in Charleston, South Carolina, where we have the Charleston port.
I represent the port and it's one in 10 jobs for the state of South Carolina. It's also about $64 billion into our economy as well. The impacts of the pandemic, as like all industries across the country, have had tremendous detrimental impacts. And as global trade came to a halt last year, we were reminded of how important our ports and these gateways are to trade and to global supply chains. So my first question to you is how does the administration plan to account for the needs of U.S. ports in the plan to Build Back Better?
SEC. PETE BUTTIGIEG:Well, thank you for raising the importance of ports, which are unquestionably a vital part of our infrastructure. I've had the pleasure of running across that beautiful bridge that's in your background and going right up past the Port of Charleston. I know how important that is to the Lowcountry.
Ports are specific places in the U.S. that have consequences for us, even hundreds of miles inland because they really benefit the entire economy. We need to make sure that our ports have the right level of technology in order to keep up with what's happening in industry. We need to make sure we're supporting the workers who are in these ports, and one of the things I viewed as very important in the rescue plan was making sure that we're supporting those workers who've been impacted by COVID. We need to make sure that as different kinds of automation or lower emissions technologies come they're deployed in a way that that's effective. But again, that we're doing it in a way that's supportive of workers.
We need to recognize this as a national priority, whether you live close to a coast or not. Again, this is one of those very inter-agency areas that implicates a lot of parts of the federal government, not just the [Department of Transportation], but we stand ready to do our part to support the maritime sector and ports in communities like yours.
Issues:Jobs & Economy