On June 21, the Senate passed a farm bill that would authorize $425 million—$85 million per year for five years—for the nation’s only dam rehabilitation program. The Small Watershed Rehabilitation program assists local communities with improving aging flood control dams, thereby helping to address public health and safety needs before a tragic dam failure occurs.
The General Services Administration (GSA) will issue a recommendation in the fall on whether the federal government should: (1) continue using a third-party certification system as the primary federal standard for energy-saving green buildings; and (2) determine if other certification systems, besides LEED, should be accepted.
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 House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2013 Interior and Environment Appropriations bill, which includes funding for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Forest Service, and various independent and related agencies. In total, the bill cuts of $1.2 billion below last year’s level, with $870 million (or 73 percent) coming in the form of cuts to the State Revolving Funds (SRF) for clean water and drinking water infrastructure.
The House and Senate leadership and conferees reached an agreement yesterday on the final outstanding issues in the transportation reauthorization negotiations. Logistical issues related to finalizing language and getting sign-off from all conferees has kept the conference report from being formally filed. The Senate and House, however, are still expected to vote on the measure before the June 30 deadline, in time to avoid the need for a 10th extension of highway and transit program authorization.
Today, the Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) – the individual mandate. As a result, most of the Affordable Care Act currently in effect will remain in effect unless future legislation revokes any of those provisions.
In June, representatives from the Nebraska Building Chapter and the Nebraska Chapter met with U.S. Senate candidate Deb Fischer (R) to present her with an AGC PAC check. Fischer is challenging former Governor and Senator Bob Kerrey (D) for the open seat, which became available when current Sen. Ben Nelson (D) decided not to seek re-election. At this time, the race is rated as a likely Republican pick-up.
On June 20, the House Appropriations Committee approved a funding measure that would provide $50 million for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) construction account—the same as FY 2012 levels, but $6 million below the president’s budget request. This account funds the project cost of design, construction and management of new federal GSA facilities.
On June 19, House Republicans took aim at the pace of the Obama administration’s effort to sell underutilized federal government properties. Holding a field hearing at a General Services Administration (GSA) owned heating plant in Washington, D.C.’s historic Georgetown, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) said the agency was not moving quickly enough to dispose of unused properties in its portfolio.
This week AGC and other members of the Tax Relief Coalition sent a letter to all members of the House and Senate warning of the economic impact of the impending “fiscal cliff” that would impose about $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases on the economy in 2013.