This week, while conferees were attempting to reauthorize federal transportation programs, the House Appropriations Committee approved funding for transportation programs for FY 2013.

The House and Senate are moving closer to a deal on the highway and bridge portions of the surface transportation reauthorization bill.  This afternoon, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) issued a joint statement saying, “the conferees have moved forward a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a highway reauthorization bill.”

This week, the House Interior/Environment Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its FY 2013 funding legislation for the Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which also contains the funding for EPA’s State Revolving Funds (SRF) for clean water and drinking water infrastructure.

AGC joined other industry groups this week in sending a letter to members of the House Appropriations Committee making sure State Revolving Fund (SRF) projects are not hampered by harmful Buy American provisions. The House Interior/Environment Appropriations Subcommittee was reportedly working on language that would have applied requirements that the iron, steel, and manufactured goods on SRF projects are domestically sourced.

Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the FY 2013 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that would block two U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) rules on temporary foreign workers. The H-2B visa program permits employers to hire low-skilled foreign workers to come temporarily to the U.S. and fill temporary or seasonal labor for industries that include construction.

House and Senate Committee staffs continue to discuss proposals and exchange language on a variety of issues as part of the conference committee negotiations to develop a compromise transportation reauthorization bill with the hope of getting a bill completed by the June 30 deadline. The majority of discussions have focused on project delivery and environmental streamlining reforms.

Today, the U.S. Senate delayed consideration of a farm bill that would authorize $150 million for the nation’s only dam rehabilitation program. The stalemate came as a result of lawmakers’ inability to reach agreement on the number of amendments to be offered on the legislation.

The Senate began consideration of the Farm Bill and its amendments this week. Among those offered, Senator Barrasso (R-Wyo.) presented his AGC-backed legislation that halts forthcoming final guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) describing their new jurisdictional determinations.

Negotiations between the House and Senate over their separate versions of a transportation authorization bill accelerated somewhat last week when Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), together with Ranking Committee Republican Jim Inhofe (Okla.), personally delivered an offer of compromise language on provisions to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.). The “offer” was received by the House as a positive gesture. Chairman Mica said the House conferees would begin making "sequential counteroffers" that same day.

Yesterday, the House approved the FY 2013 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies appropriations bill totaling $32.1 billion – a cut of $965 million below the President’s budget request. The legislation provides the annual funding for the various agencies and programs under the Department of Energy (DOE) and other agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and its civil works program.