Donald M. Payne Jr. for Congressman: Welcomes Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to District to Discuss Minority Business Opportunities

Media Contact:  Patrick Wright   --  Patrick.Wright@mail.house.gov

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr., Chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, welcomed Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, to the district today to attend his Minority Business Participation Roundtable.  Secretary Buttigieg and Rep. Payne, Jr. led a discussion of how to increase minority-owned business participation in federal infrastructure projects, particularly the Gateway Program and Hudson River Tunnel, with local minority business owners and advocates.

“It was an honor to welcome Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg back to the district to discuss diversity in federal transportation contracting,” said Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr.  “There is a tremendous opportunity for minority-owned construction businesses to participate in the construction of the new Hudson River Tunnel project of the Gateway Program.  In addition, the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is going to need these businesses to repair roads, bridges, tunnels, and passenger rail systems nationwide.  We must not let a lack of access to federal contracts deny them the right to these infrastructure projects.  As Chairman of the Rail Subcommittee, I look forward to working the Secretary Buttigieg to make the process of awarding federal transportation contracts more equitable and transparent for all American businesses.”  

Rep. Payne, Jr. is leading the effort to improve minority and women-owned businesses access to federal projects in New Jersey and across the country.  As part of this commitment, he is working to establish a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program within the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).  A DBE program sets participation goals for minority and women-owned businesses in federal projects.  Last November, he held a Rail Subcommittee hearing to learn about discrimination in federal passenger rail contracting.  In addition, Rep. Payne, Jr. helped establish a Minority Business Development Agency in New Jersey that opened last December. 

The roundtable included Leon Baptiste, President and CEO of LB Electric Company, LLC of NY and NJ; Balpreet Grewal-Virk, New Jersey Co-Chair of the Gateway Development Commission;  Maria Guido, President of Strategic Rail Solutions; Julie Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of the Council of Black Architecture and Engineering Companies; Leotis Sanders, Chief of Civil Rights and Diversity Programs for New Jersey Transit; Bernard Shivers, President of Bees Construction Group; Rita Skinner, CEO of Commercial Contracting Supplies; and Keith Wright, Director of Business Diversity for The Port Authority of NY/NJ.

Original source can be found here.