On Sept. 15, 2011, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill for FY 2012. The legislation provides annual funding for the Treasury Department, the Executive Office of the President, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, the Small Business Administration, the General Services Administration, the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and several other independent agencies.
A Coalition of conservative Republicans handed Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) a major defeat on Sept.21 as legislation allowing the federal government to continue operating through Nov. 18 was defeated by a 190-235 vote. 48 Republicans voted no on the measure.
Sept. 21 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an Accounting Standards Update to require employers that participate in multiemployer pension plans to provide additional quantitative and qualitative disclosures in their financial statements.
At this week’s National Chapter Leadership Conference, AGC chapter leadership and executives lobbied members of Congress to support legislation to repeal the 3 percent withholding mandate.
Sept. 15, 2011 marks end of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) six-year Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 program. Without question, it was the largest infrastructure investment program the U.S. Army has seen since World War II, with roughly $18 billion in military construction projects executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On Sept. 15, 2011, the House Judiciary Committee began consideration of H.R. 2885, the Legal Workforce Act, sponsored by Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). The legislation would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify.
Republicans won special elections for House seats in Nevada and New York on Tuesday, Sept. 13. Former state-Senator Mark Amodei (NV-R) convincingly defeated state Treasurer Kate Marshall (D-NV) by 22 percent in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, and entertainment businessman Bob Turner (R-NY) upset state Assemblyman David Weprin (D-NY) by eight points in New York’s 9th Congressional District.
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit reduction held its first policy hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 13, with testimony from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf on the drivers of the debt. The panel, which is tasked with finding between $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in savings over the next two years, was told by Director Elmendorf that if the committee ultimately recommends specific changes to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security, his CBO analysts would need several weeks to calculate their budgetary impact. Meaning, he said, that the committee likely needs to get a draft of its recommendations ready by early November - even though its official deadline is Nov. 23.
On Sept. 7, 2011, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved, by a 28-2 vote, the FY 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. AGC has prepared a summary of the impact of this legislation on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Civil Works program and the Bureau of Reclamation. To view the Committee report, please click here.
The House has begun consideration of a continuing resolution (CR) that would allow the federal government to continue operating through Nov 18.