This afternoon by a margin of 228-191 – with ten Republicans voting against – the House of Representatives passed the Republican budget resolution for fiscal year (FY) 2013, the "Path to Prosperity."   The resolution remains unchanged from the proposal voted out of the Budget Committee last week after the defeat of several amendments offered during the debate of “The Path to Prosperity”.  A summary of the budget can be found here. 

AGC Federal & Heavy Construction Division members launched an all out offensive on the legislative front during last week’s Federal Contractors Conference in Washington, DC. As part of a series of organized Capitol Hill visits, AGC members provided their federal elected officials information on a range of issues, including small business contracting reform, the prevention of government-mandated Project Labor Agreements, a civilian BRAC for federal office buildings, legislation supporting the dedicated use of harbor maintenance tax revenues for harbor maintenance, legislation to stop the NLRB’s attempt at backdoor card check and passage of a transportation reauthorization bill, among others.

With recent presidential primary victories in American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Northern Marianas Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, Gov Mitt Romney has amassed nearly half of the delegates needed to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

This week, the construction industry has been hit with good news on the issue of federal jurisdiction over wetlands in the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous March 21 ruling, said that an Idaho couple could legally challenge an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) compliance order that told them to restore wetlands on their property.

AGC teamed up with our transportation and construction industry allies in sponsoring the “Rally for Roads” which took place on March 20 on the National Mall. Local construction companies transported construction equipment and nearly five hundred industry representatives, including workers in hard hats, provided the backdrop for the rally to draw attention to the economic importance of enacting a multiyear transportation reauthorization bill.

The House Budget Committee completed action on a proposed FY 2013 budget resolution, introduced earlier in the week by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). The proposal would reduce federal transportation funding investment from $88.6 billion in FY 2012 to $57.1 billion in FY 2013, a reduction of $31.5 billion (36 percent).

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) announced that he will introduce a “clean” three-month extension of highway and transit programs that contains no policy changes. The extension will not be taken up until next week. Chairman Mica said that the extension will give House Republicans time to work on completing a five-year version of reauthorization. H.R. 7, as reported from House committees.  Current program authorization expires on March 31, 2012. In addition to spending, authorization to collect the federal motor fuels tax expires at the same time. The proposed extension would run until June 30.

Yesterday, by a margin of 19-18, the House Budget Committee passed their budget resolution for fiscal year (FY) 2013, the "Path to Prosperity." Two Republicans, Justin Amash (Mich.) and Tim Huelskamp (Kan.), joined all Democrats in opposing the resolution.  A summary of the "Path to Prosperity" can be found here. The FY 2013 budget resolution is expected to be on the House floor next week where it will be opposed by Democrats and may face opposition from some Republicans.

Don’t Miss Out – Register Today!  The 2012 AGC Federal Contractors Conference will be held April 16-19, 2012, at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. This meeting is the only national event where contractors and federal agency personnel can meet in a collaborative forum to review federal construction contracting issues and trends from around the United States. These insightful and highly productive exchanges have solidified the need for both federal construction contractors and the federal construction agencies to share information on a wide variety of issues, foster better communication, and create real solutions.

Today, the Road Information Program (TRIP) released a report discussing road and bridge conditions in Hawaii.  The report highlights the additional costs a typical driver incurs, from wasted fuel, time lost in congestion and additional maintenance and repairs because of poor road and bridge conditions. Joining TRIP at the press conference was  John Romanowski, president of AGC’s General Contractors Association of Hawaii chapter and vice president of Jas. W. Glover Ltd. who reported on the latest construction job numbers, showing that the Honolulu area lost another 600 construction jobs - a 3 percent decline - between January 2011 and January 2012.