This week at the AFL-CIO winter meeting, Vice President Biden told supporters that the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) could still be passed this year.   Though the challenge of pushing this legislation through the Senate became difficult with the election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), those in favor of the bill are still trying to find a way to get something passed this year. Some senators still would like to see a compromise, which AGC anticipates would include post cards instead of secret ballot elections - so-called "quickie" elections - to be held within a certain timeframe, and increased access to the work place by union organizers.  If unable to come to a compromise, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) has called for the Senate to vote on the legislation.AGC remains firm in the belief that there cannot be any compromise. AGC is concerned that even a genuine and well-intended proposal for a compromise could become a "Trojan horse" that EFCA's proponents would simply use to sneak EFCA past a cloture vote in the Senate. Unless and until EFCA's proponents completely and irreversibly abandon that legislation, the risk of a compromise becoming a "Trojan horse" for EFCA will remain too great for this industry to entertain any discussion of compromise. Click here to send a letter in opposition to EFCA to your senators. All senators need to keep hearing about opposition to EFCA.Read the latest article in the Wall Street Journal on EFCA.

In February, the Senate was unable to pass the nomination of Craig Becker to become a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).   Becker is the Associate General Counsel of the SEIU and the AFL-CIO and has been a prolific writer on the National Labor Relations Act, the law he would be responsible for interpreting and enforcing.   These writings have indicated his extreme views on labor law, such eliminating the role of employers in union elections and vastly limiting the role of employers in communicating with their employees. In addition, he is a strong advocate of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act and is certain to push the NRLB to effect changes to employee rights like those attempted by the bill.There is a strong possibility that President Obama will appoint Becker to the NLRB with a recess appointment during the Senate's Easter break. In remarks to the AFL-CIO winter meeting, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis hinted that the president would take this approach.  If this occurred, Becker would serve until the end of 2010. AGC opposes the nomination of Becker to the NLRB because of his controversial positions on labor law.  To write to Congress in opposition of this nomination, click here.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on March 3, 2010, to review how well the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has succeeded in its implementation of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007 (WRDA). Some of the reforms in that legislation were designed to revise how U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would address environmental mitigation, external review of controversial projects and project selection criteria that account for sustainable development practices.  Testimony offered by the AGC-led Water Resources Coalition reported several key findings, including the following:While USACE has made progress implementing the act, the process has been slow and not transparent;The current draft Principles and Guidelines, originally tasked to USACE, but later transferred to the Council for Environmental Quality, failed to meet Congressional mandate and needs to be reworked;The Water Resources Coalition recommended that Congress should enact legislation to establish a national levee safety program; andFederal legislation defining the goals and standards for watershed managers should permit flexibility and accommodate regional needs.AGC strongly believes that enacting a new bill is necessary to address these important issues and continue to provide the nation with a comprehensive and modernized water resources program.To view a copy of the Committee's report, click here.

Today the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee approved legislation, S.2989, designed to address contract bundling. This topic has become an area of growing interest for AGC members as the government is increasingly relying on this procurement method for the bidding of federal contracts. Unfortunately, AGC found that the legislation as proposed did not do enough to address bundling concerns and sent a letter to the Committee to state those concerns.This bill looks to address contracting bundling as follows: (1) accountability of senior agency management for all incidents of bundling; (2) timely and accurate reporting of contract bundling information by all federal agencies; and (3) improved oversight of bundling regulation compliance by the Small Business Administration (SBA).  The bill, however, does not address how bundling directly affects the construction industry.The bill also attempts to address subcontracting. The bill: (1) provides guidelines and procedures for reviewing and evaluating subcontractor participation in prime contracts and (2) provides for oversight to ensure speedier payments to small business subcontractors who have successfully completed work on behalf of the prime contractor. AGC expressed concerns that the bill does not address an obvious subcontracting issue, the counting of total subcontractor participation at all tiers.AGC has called on Congress to address concerns over the fact that construction contracts currently cannot be reviewed for contract bundling. Senate leaders have indicated they would like to work with AGC to help address our concerns on this issue, and well as other issues concerning small business contracting issues that Congress will consider in the coming weeks.

The Senate yesterday passed Majority Leader Reid's version of an initial jobs bill by a vote of 70 to 28.  Earlier in the week, an important cloture vote was approved when five Republican senators joined 57 Democrats to allow consideration of the legislation to move forward.The Senate bill contains the following provisions:Extends highway program authorization through December 31, 2010 at current funding levels.Provides additional revenue to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through the first quarter of 2011.Restores highway spending authority that was cut on September 30, 2009 due to a budget rescission in SAFETEA-LU.Allows public bodies to convert tax credit bonds to Build America Bonds.Exempts workers hired in 2010 that have been unemployed for at least 60 days from Social Security payroll taxes.Extends 2008 and 2009 section 179 expensing thresholds so that taxpayers may elect to write-off up to $250,000 of certain capital expenditures in 2010 in lieu of depreciating those costs over time.Action on the bill now moves to the House. The fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats have raised concerns that other elements of the bill violate the House statutory PAYGO budget rules which require an offset for any additional spending. In addition, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) has objected to the formulas used in the Senate bill to distribute the highway funding. While these issues are of concern to the House leadership, there is recognition that highway program authorization expires on Sunday, February 28, and some form of extension is needed. Therefore, they are considering a two to four week stop gap extension of the highway and transit programs packaged with an extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidies.In addition, the House leadership is concerned that changing the bill will require additional Senate action, which is not assured. After action is completed on this legislation, Majority Leader Reid intends to press for additional jobs related legislation, including additional funding for various infrastructure programs. The original House jobs bill included increased infrastructure funding.

Today's nationally-televised health care summit, as well as upcoming November elections, have renewed the urgency for a health care reform bill, despite problems reconciling the House- and Senate-passed versions. The summit included leaders of both parties and the White House.In the days leading up to the summit, several Democratic senators explored using the partisan reconciliation process to pass reform that includes a public option against the desire of moderates in their party. While the president did release an outline of his own plan this week, it remains uncertain if Democrats will have an official agreement or if the Republicans will make significant contributions to the process.The president's proposal attempts to bridge the gap between the House and Senate and the summary released outlines some changes to the employer mandate provisions.  The proposal: Continues to cost about one trillion dollars.Requires employers to help defray the cost of coverage for their employees who receive tax subsidies to purchase health coverage on their own.Changes the transition to the employer responsibility policy for employers with 50 or more workers by subtracting out the first 30 workers from the payment calculation (e.g., a firm with 51 workers that does not offer coverage will pay an amount equal to 51 minus 30, or 21 times the applicable per employee payment amount).Changes the applicable payment for firms that do not offer coverage and have more than 50 employees to $2,000, one-third less than the average House assessment for a typical firm and less than half of the average employer contribution to health insurance in 2009.  (A significant note to the construction industry is the proposal applies the same firm-size threshold across the board to all industries, unlike the Senate version that singled out the construction industry.)Fully eliminates the assessment for workers in a waiting period, while maintaining the 90-day limit on the length of any waiting period beginning in 2014.The Senate is expected to extend unemployment insurance and COBRA benefits later this week.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has held 14 hearings to date on the progress of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and the latest hearing Tuesday dealt with the first full year of the program. According to the Committee, the ARRA has resulted in 10,348 highway, transit and wastewater projects breaking ground, creating or sustaining nearly 300,000 direct jobs and 938,000 indirect jobs, while 5,700 more projects are in the works. Additionally, the Recovery Act is helping improve to 24,000 miles of roads and 1,100 bridges. Finally, 77 percent of the stimulus' formula-based road and transit spending, or $26.4 billion, has been put out to bid by state officials.The Committee's analysis of the job creation from the ARRA validated that infrastructure investment is a significant job creator. AGC was also encouraged by the Committee's call for further investment in infrastructure as a means for job creation. Other issues from the hearing included the recent TIGER grant awards, small business and minority/women contractor participation in Recovery Act contracts, and implementation of Buy American provisions.

Sharp criticism from both parties was leveled at the Obama Administration's plans to cut the budget for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a hearing yesterday before the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. The Army Corps would receive $4.9 billion under the president's fiscal 2011 budget request, down from the $5.4 billion appropriated for the agency in the current fiscal year.The budget request slashes the investigation account, which funds project studies, from $162 million this year to $104 million in 2011. The proposal also cuts $39 million in funds for operating and maintaining existing projects, suggesting $2.4 billion for the account next year. In addition, the construction budget would drop to $1.7 billion, compared with $2 billion awarded by Congress for this fiscal year.Rep. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.), Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Chairman, said his staff estimated those cuts would result in the loss of more than 350 ongoing studies or projects. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) also expressed concern that the cuts to the construction and operations and maintenance accounts could result in shutdowns of key waterways like the Tennessee River. Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp, the Corps' Chief of Engineers, said that many of the nation's locks are old -- the average is 58 years of service -- and that the Corps recognizes that the key to keeping them operating is good maintenance.AGC believes that in order to complete ongoing infrastructure projects in a timely and efficient manner and to save future costly repairs by adequately addressing the existing backlog of critical deferred maintenance, funding for the Corps of Engineers Civil Works budget must increase to at least $7.0 billion for FY 2011.

U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) this week introduced the "Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act of 2010" in an effort to reduce the tax burden on middle-class families and American businesses, while eliminating "many of the tax expenditures that benefit narrow special interests."  The Wyden-Gregg proposal would eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax and reduce the number of individual tax brackets from six to three: 15 percent, 25 percent, and 35 percent. The standard tax deduction would be tripled for low- and middle-class taxpayers, and taxpayers would be able to file a simplified one-page 1040 form.  For business, the Wyden-Gregg proposal would reduce the top corporate tax rate and replace the existing six corporate rates and eight brackets with a single flat rate of 24 percent.  The proposal would also allow small businesses with gross annual receipts of up to $1 million to be able to expense permanently all equipment and inventory costs in a single year. The 2001 and 2003 Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2010.  The Obama administration has generally proposed extending the tax cuts for low- and middle-income tax payers.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Wednesday proposed legislative language for a new package of tax extenders and long-term extensions of expiring laws as part of the Senate Democratic leadership's jobs creation agenda.  The "American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act" would extend nearly $30 billion in expired tax provisions through 2010, including several that could benefit the construction industry, such as the 15-year shortened cost recovery period for leasehold, retail, and restaurant improvements and restaurant new construction.  The measure would also include long sought after funding relief for multiemployer pension plans that would allow plans a longer 30-year amortization of investment losses incurred in 2008 and/or 2009. Senator Reid plans to take up the bill as early as next week.