The sequestration process that has now been triggered will need to cut the deficit by $984 billion over ten years.  This number reflects the $1.2 trillion in cuts outlined in the Budget Control Act minus the interest savings that will be achieved from deficit reduction. The result is that a little more than $100 billion in deficit reduction will be achieved annually through sequestration.

On Nov. 21, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction announced they had failed to come to a bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction measures.  The super committee’s failure means that $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts known as “sequestration” will take place in 2013.  The more immediate impact of the committee’s failure is Congress must now deal with several issues that were assumed to be addressed in the deficit reduction plan.

Nov. 21,  President Obama signed into law the 3 Percent Withholding Repeal and Job Creation Act.  The law permanently repeals the requirement that federal, state, and large local governments begin withholding 3 percent of each payment of $10,000 or more to a contractor after Jan. 1, 2013.  Today’s bill signing is the culmination of a five-year effort by AGC, chapters, members and industry stakeholders to repeal the 2006 provision.

AGC chapters continue to make their presence known to members of Congress through the AGC PAC. Recently, members of the Carolinas AGC, AGC of Tennessee, and Master Builders of Iowa delivered federal AGC PAC checks to Reps. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), and Tom Latham (R-Iowa).

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), and other House Republican leaders announced at a press conference today their plans to soon introduce H.R. 7, the "American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act". The legislation will include a five-year reauthorization of the surface transportation programs and will allow for expanded offshore oil and gas drilling, oil shale production, and Arctic National Wildlife Reserve oil exploration.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review cases challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The decision by the court was expected and the court will begin to hear arguments during the spring session with a possible decision this summer, only months before the 2012 presidential and congressional elections. AGC opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 because it would make employer-sponsored health care more expensive and more complex, making  it more difficult for small and large businesses to offer health care to their workers.

AGC is again attacking agency efforts to impose Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects.  This week, AGC sent letters to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Navy Facilities Engineering Command expressing strong concerns against their decisions to impose a project labor agreement (PLA) on three separate projects.

On Nov. 14, 2011, AGC submitted comments to the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) on a proposed rule that would impose limits on a federal employee’s ability to attend meetings and events held by any organization that employs lobbyists, regardless of whether the meeting would hold educational value for the federal government.

As the Bipartisan Committee on Deficit Reduction (super committee) runs up against their deadline of Nov. 23 to produce a budget cutting package, AGC continues to advocate for continued investment in infrastructure and comprehensive tax and entitlement reform.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), on Wednesday, delayed consideration of the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations bill until after Thanksgiving.  This legislation included $31.6 billion for energy and water programs, including funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with funding for financial services and the Department of State and foreign operations.  Earlier in the week, Sen. Reid had hoped to move forward with legislation; but when that effort failed after numerous senators objected, Reid attempted to move the energy and water legislation as a stand-alone bill.  That effort, however, was delayed when senators attempted to add numerous amendments, slowing debate.