Hand: Harlingen needs Democrats in the House and Senate

I recently attended a meeting where Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda presented a list of city initiatives designed to improve the quality of life in our city. The list is astounding. It ranges from the reconstruction of Tony Buller Golf Course and renovation of our Victor Park to major improvements at Valley International Airport (VIA). A first-rate airport that brings people to a city with a first-rate golf course will do much to make Harlingen more attractive to residents and visitors alike.

John Hand

The Valley International Airport improvements, a new control tower and a runway extension, require cooperation between the City of Harlingen, the VIA Airport Board, and the Federal Government, which has supplied $15.9 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), with support from Democratic Congressman Colin Allred and Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. But what is just as important is the kind of city visitors will find when they arrive. 

They will find a city that has leaders dedicated to building a solid infrastructure. Harlingen has created a five-person crew to deal exclusively with storm drainage, a perpetual problem in Harlingen. Most of the funding for this program, as well as funding for a new detention facility, comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed into law by President Biden in March of 2021, along with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), signed in November of 2021. These two laws have been the source of financing for many of our water and drainage improvements as well as our airport updates. 

Another important source of funding has come from earmarks attached to various spending bills. These earmarks have been sponsored (and delivered on!) by Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. These are grants that do not have to be repaid. They include $1.4 million for a drainage project, $600 thousand to upgrade our police radio system, and $1million for the construction of a new animal shelter. 

Perhaps the most interesting project, thanks to the BIL, is a three-mile re-design of Commerce Street, a project that will make the street available to pedestrians and bikes, as well as cars. So far, the city has received $7 million for design and will apply for more BIL funds to help complete this $70 million project.

Since President Biden took office, there have been three major funding bills that have benefitted our community. The first was the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) a bill that all Republicans in the House or Senate voted against. The second bill, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, received support from 13 Republicans in the House and 19 Republican senators. The third bill, the Inflation Reduction Act signed in August 2022, received no Republican votes, and required Vice President Harris to break a tie in the Senate to pass the bill. To date, no Texas Republican in the House or Senate has voted “yes” on any of these three important bills.

It is fascinating how Texas Republicans have taken credit for the funding laws that they voted against. During her brief stay in Congress, Mayra Fores, for example, called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act “wasteful,” voted against it, and then announced how she had procured funds from the BIL for her district. And then there is Senator Ted Cruz. In mid-August, Cruz came to the Edinburg to announce and take credit for a partnership between the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory and UTRGV’s Department of Mechanical Energy. The partnership is funded by a grant from the Department of Energy. In 2015, Senator Cruz called for the abolition of the Department of Energy. He also attended the groundbreaking for the VIA control tower even though he voted against the Infrastructure Act, the law that supplies a good deal of the funding.

Since the Republican Party took over the House, it has spent most of its time investigating and fighting with each other, offering little in the way of legislation. That seems to be fine with our Texas Republican delegation in either body, a delegation that shows little interest in voting for laws that benefit Texas communities, including Harlingen. That is why we need people like Vicente Gonzalez in the House of Representatives and Colin Allred in the Senate. With public servants like these two men, our community—like communities all over Texas—can look forward to the support we need to grow and thrive.

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by John Hand, a retired teacher (San Benito High School) who was named Region 1 Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2009. He lives in Harlingen, Texas. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.

The post Hand: Harlingen needs Democrats in the House and Senate appeared first on Rio Grande Guardian.