After much uncertainty, late last week Congress struck a deal to collectively pass the remaining appropriations measures for FY 2012. The legislation, (H.R. 3671, H. Rept. 112-331) funds the federal agencies under the remaining nine Appropriations bills, including: Defense, Energy and Water, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior/Environment, Labor/Health and Human Services/Education, the Legislative Branch, Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, and State/Foreign Operations. AGC has advocated for this measure to come together to ensure predictability for the FY 2012 federal construction programs for both the construction industry as well as the government.

The last twelve months have been interesting, aggravating and not very productive. Between Election Day 2010 and Christmas Day 2010, the President, House and Senate agreed to a continuing resolution that funded the government through March, they agreed to an extension of the Bush tax rates, an extension of emergency unemployment benefits and a payroll tax holiday that reduced the employee portion of funds withheld for social security.

The Capitol is nearly empty today. Republicans and Democrats continue to fight in the media over legislation that would extend the payroll tax holiday, extend emergency unemployment and delay cuts in Medicare payments to doctors also known as the “Doc fix”.   The House has passed a one-year extension of these three policies. The Senate has passed a two-month extension.  The Senate has adjourned for the year and the House is demanding a House-Senate Conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate approaches.  Failure to resolve the difference before January 1 will result in cuts in payments to doctors serving Medicare patients, an abrupt end to emergency (99 week) unemployment benefits and of course the full social security withholding (6.2%) beginning the first pay period in 2012.

Members of the AGC PAC Contributions Subcommittee heard the latest on the presidential race from Republican National Committee Political Director Rick Wiley during the PAC’s quarterly conference call. Wiley discussed the Electoral College challenge President Obama faces given the current economic and political climate. In addition, he suggested that the Republican presidential nominee may not be determined until April, as the lion share of delegates are up for grabs in later, winner-take-all primary states.

On Dec. 9, the NLRB withdrew its complaint against the Boeing Company over the new plant in South Carolina due to a settlement with the machinists union in Washington State. The NLRB General Counsel filed a complaint April 20, 2011, against Boeing, claiming that Boeing violated federal labor law by building a second production line for its Dreamliner at a non-union factory in South Carolina in retaliation against past strikes by the unions.

On Dec. 14, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Sharon Block (D) and Richard Griffin (D) to fill two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.  Block is the current Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Labor and Griffin is the General Counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers.

On Dec.13, the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife held a hearing entitled "Our Nation’s Water Infrastructure: Challenges and Opportunities." The hearing featured testimony from Environmental Protection Agency Jim Hanlon, who is the Director for the Office of Wastewater management – with jurisdiction over the Clean Water State Revolving Fund. Representatives from the engineering community were also there to discuss their latest report on water infrastructure.

On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committed moved several bills out of their committee.  S. 1449, the Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety Improvement Act ; S. 1950, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act; S. 1952 the hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Improvement Act; and S. 1953, the Research and Innovative Technology Administration Reauthorization Act address federal highway safety and research policy and will be part of the committees overall contribution to the surface transportation reauthorization bill.

The Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011 (H.R. 2845) final language was agreed on last week and the bipartisan, bicameral work of the House and Senate committees of jurisdiction resulted in swift house passage Monday. The legislation authorizes funding for programs of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) through FY 2015. 

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) announced on Dec. 13 that the House and Senate have come to agreement on a roughly $900 billion FY 2012 spending plan.  However, numerous disputes between House and Senate leaders have put the deal on hold and a government shutdown is now looming.  The current continuing resolution is set to expire at midnight on Dec. 16.  AGC has advocated for this measure to come together to ensure the vast majority of the federal construction programs are well funded for the next fiscal year, as this legislation includes the remaining nine appropriations for FY 2012.