On Oct. 10, the administration announced a list of 14 infrastructure projects to be expedited through a permitting and environmental streamlining process. These projects are part of President Obama’s efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal permit decisions and environmental reviews in order to create jobs by moving projects quickly from conception to completion. 

On Oct. 12, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on a key component of President Obama’s America’s Jobs Act – the creation of a national infrastructure bank.  The president’s infrastructure bank plan calls for a one-time appropriation to help finance transportation, water, and energy infrastructure projects.  AGC has long supported the creation of a national infrastructure bank as a supplement to traditional funding. We also believe the priority should be to fully fund existing programs and utilize current financing tools available to finance transportation infrastructure projects.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 50-49 to block the president’s $447 billion jobs plan from being considered on the Senate Floor.   The House has no intention of considering the president’s plan as a whole.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Representative Richard Hanna (R-NY) said sustained, long-term federal infrastructure investments are needed to jump start the economy during the National Chapter Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 20.  The two GOP members of Congress chided the Obama administration for neglecting long-term legislation in favor of making large, temporary, political payoffs that did little to rebuild infrastructure as part of the stimulus.  They also said growing federal regulatory burdens were stifling small business growth and hiring and said they were working to repeal the “idiotic” 3 percent withholding measure.  As Representative Hanna, a former contractor, said if businesses don’t succeed, government doesn’t succeed.

The nation’s rural roads and bridges are rapidly deteriorating, causing the fatality rate along back roads to triple the national average for highway fatalities, according to a new report on rural road conditions. The report’s findings prompted members of the business, construction and transportation communities to call for passage of long-delayed federal legislation to fund road repairs and bridge maintenance.

EPW Releases Bill Outline, Holds Hearing A bipartisan deal on policy and spending provisions of the highway section of the surface transportation reauthorization has been reached by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-OK).  The bill has not yet been released, but Senators Boxer and Inhofe issued a 3 page outline of their bill on Tuesday.  The bill, called Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP -21) would provide $86 billion in contract authority for the federal highway program over the next two years. 

AGC noted that the success of federal flood control systems is a reminder of the value and savings of long-term federal investments in infrastructure.

In collaboration with the Transportation Construction Coalition and Americans for Transportation Mobility, AGC and the Ohio Contractors Association launched an ad campaign in Ohio Thursday to push for new federal transportation investments and legislation.

Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Kay Bailey Hutchison, (R-Texas) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) announced a new proposal for the creation of a federal infrastructure Bank on Tuesday.  The legislation, which has yet to be introduced, is called the “Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for the Long-Term Development Act” (BUILD Act) and will create a federal government owned but independent financing authority.

AGC released a new national plan Tuesday detailing measures to stimulate demand for construction.