This week, Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) unveiled their FY 2013 appropriations bill, H.R. 933 – the Consolidated and Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013.  The bill includes five individual appropriations bills for spending in the following agencies: Defense, Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Homeland Security, and Commerce/Justice/State. The bill is currently being debated on the Senate floor.   Both the House and Senate versions of H.R. 933 leave the $85 billion March 1 budget sequester in place, but by changing the account-level priorities within each agency in those two (House) or five (Senate) bills, they can lessen some of the more disruptive effects of the sequester.

On Friday, Congressional leadership and President Obama failed to reach a deal to avert the $85 billion in automatic and indiscriminate budget cuts, called sequestration. The president signed an order directing the start of the spending cuts late Friday evening.  AGC has estimated that $4 billion in federal construction funding could be cut...

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the release of President Obama’s Infrastructure Investment Plan: “President Obama is right to continue to focus on the nation’s significant, and growing, infrastructure needs. As he noted in his State of the Union address, the condition of many of the nation’s aging bridges, highways and other essential infrastructure is unacceptably poor. And he is absolutely right to point out the need to identify additional sources of revenue for transportation investments, including from the private sector."

The Wyoming Senate this week, with a vote of 18-12, passed legislation to increase the state’s motor fuels tax by ten cents per gallon for highway improvements. The bill is expected to generate approximately $72 million annually in revenue for road maintenance and improvements in FY 2014, which begins July 1, 2013. 

The Highway and Transportation Division meeting - March 8, 2013, during AGC’s 94th Annual Convention in Palm Springs, Calif. - will feature two outstanding speakers: Joseph C. Szabo, administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, will discuss the Obama Administration’s vision of the transportation future calling for increased investment in high speed rail.

This week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 152, the Disaster Relief Act of 2013, which provides $50.7 billion in funding for relief and recovery efforts in the states impacted by Hurricane Sandy.   The bill passed by a vote of 241 – 180, with 49 Republicans and 192 Democrats voting yes and 179 Republicans and 1 Democrat voting no.  The bill now goes to the Senate, which reconvenes next week after the Presidential Inauguration.

This week, the Senate followed the White House’s request for $60.4 billion in emergency spending in response to the damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.  The Senate bill, the Fiscal Year 2012 Disaster Assistance Supplemental, provides the same level of funding as the President’s request, but makes some changes that expand the scope of the bill beyond direct relief from Sandy.

Forty years ago today, the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution went into effect. The Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, known as the Clean Water Act (CWA), became law after the bill was vetoed by President Nixon.

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement today in reaction to Congressional passage of a 27-month highway and transit measure:

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the recently-announced deal on a 27-month federal surface transportation bill by the Congressional conference committee: “The members of the conference committee have demonstrated the kind of tenacity, perseverance and flexibility that is often required to craft significant pieces of legislation like this new highway and transit bill.