Last week, President Obama signed into law a bill to extend Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization through Sept. 16, ending a two-week partial shutdown. The Senate – though it went into a month-long summer recess after Tuesday's vote to clear a debt-ceiling bill – held a "pro forma" session to approve the House passed extension legislation by unanimous consent.

When Congress returns in September they will only have a few short weeks to deal the with reauthorization of the Highway and Transit programs.  Failure to act by September 30 could lead to a shutdown similar to the recent FAA shut down. Both the programs and the gas taxes funding the program will expire on September 30. 

AGC led the construction industry’s effort to restart several billion dollars worth of airport construction projects.  The projects were halted in late July after Congress failed to pass an extension to federal aviation legislation because of a dispute over proposed changes to airline union voting rules and subsidies for air service to rural communities.  Without the legislation in place, the Federal Aviation Administration was unable to fund billions of dollars worth of airport improvement projects.The association worked to educate the media and members of Congress about the economic impacts of cancelling so many airport projects.  AGC chief economist Ken Simonson explained to Reuters, CNN, National Public Radio, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and many other reporters that the construction halt will cost 24,000 construction jobs, and threaten another 11,000 jobs in related construction supply businesses and 35,000 jobs in the broader economy.[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"4558","attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone size-medium wp-image-9664","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"167","title":"LaGuardia Event","alt":""}}]]Meanwhile, AGC CEO Steve Sandherr participated in an Aug. 1 media event with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to make the case that construction workers shouldn’t have to suffer because Washington can’t resolve an unrelated policy dispute. And AGC’s legislative team met with members of Congress to resolve the issue.Thanks in large part to AGC’s efforts, Congress enacted new temporary extension to the aviation legislation on Aug. 5, helping restart billions of dollars worth of airport construction projects.  The extension, however, does little more than put off the disagreements among lawmakers over the broader reauthorization of the FAA, which has been stalled over labor issues as well as funding levels and subsidies to rural airports. This means the FAA may face a similar shutdown threat when this short-term extension expires on Sept. 16.AGC will continue to work towards passage of a multiyear FAA reauthorization bill. You can send a message to your legislators through AGC’s web site urging Congress to complete action on this long overdue legislation.For more information, contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.

Upon completion of the debt ceiling legislation, Congress adjourned for its summer recess without taking up long-term highway and transit reauthorization legislation. While both the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) have released outlines of what will be included in their bills, neither has actually released legislative proposals. EPW Chair Barbara Boxer (D-CA) had hoped her committee would be able to mark up a bill prior to the recess, however, that did not happen.

On Aug. 5, the Senate approved legislation to extend the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorization through Sept. 16, ending a two-week partial shutdown. The Senate, even though it went into a month-long summer recess after Tuesday's vote to clear a debt ceiling bill, held a "pro forma" session last Friday morning to approve the legislation by unanimous consent and President Obama signed it into law.

Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) have introduced AGC supported legislation today to create a tax credit bond program dedicated to transportation infrastructure. Transportation and Regional Infrastructure Project bonds or TRIPs will be a financing tool to fund the transportation projects throughout the country.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report this week which documented that deteriorating surface transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 870,000 jobs, and suppress the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product by $3.1 trillion by 2020. The report, conducted by the Economic Development Research Group of Boston, showed that in 2010, deficiencies in America’s roads, bridges, and transit systems cost American households and businesses more than $129 billion, including approximately $97 billion in vehicle operating costs, $32 billion in delays in travel time, $1.2 billion in safety costs, and $590 million in environmental costs.

AGC's Stephen Sandherr joined Secretary LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt at New York's LaGuardia Airport to discuss the economic impacts of the abrupt halt to $2.5 billion worth of airport construction projects. The event took place at the halted construction project to demolish the decommissioned FAA Airport Traffic Control Tower.

Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska) have introduced AGC supported legislation today to create a tax credit bond program dedicated to transportation infrastructure. Transportation and Regional Infrastructure Project bonds or TRIPs will be a financing tool to fund the transportation projects throughout the country.

On Tuesday, AGC sent letters to the House and Senate urging passage of a multi-year aviation authorization bill to avoid further disruption to a construction industry that is already reeling from a steady decline in market opportunities which has resulted in the loss of 2.2 million construction jobs. The effort was made necessary after Congress failed to pass a short term extension of authorization for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FAA authorization expired on September 30, 2007, and Congress has passed 20 short term extensions of authorization to keep the agency and its programs operating.