New Mexico Congressman Gabe Vasquez hosted an event with the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in Deming to talk about the implication of federal infrastructure and transportation investments in rural New Mexico communities.
During the event, Vasquez said that it’s important for rural communities in Southern New Mexico to not be overlooked by federal investment projects such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“The federal government is now delivering these generational investments that will help rebuild our economy, that will help create jobs, that will have an impact right here in rural New Mexico,” he said.
Buttigieg said that economic opportunities in rural communities are important to the nationwide economy and that investment in infrastructure is just one of the ways to help bolster small communities.
“They are national problems expressed in local concern. And it’s part of a bigger pattern of under-investment from Washington,” he said.
Buttigieg also said that making transportation safer for Americans is a top priority, from interstate highways to cargo trains carrying potentially hazardous material.
“We’re doing everything we can with the authorities that we have, and that has included resuming safety audits that were reduced under the last administration, resuming work on a crew staffing rule, because believe it or not, many of the railroads were asking to be allowed to run trains that can be two, three or more miles long with just one person on board,” he said. “We think that there needs to be a higher not lower standard on railroad safety.”
According to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, New Mexico is expected to receive over $700 million in the fiscal year 2023 through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
