At a November 4 Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on the nomination of Michael Mundaca to be assistant treasury secretary for tax policy, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) urged extension of the Build America Bonds program set to expire in 2010.  Created in the Recovery Act, the Build America Bonds program is a new financing tool that allows states and local governments to obtain much-needed funding, at lower borrowing costs, for projects such as the construction of schools, hospitals, transportation infrastructure, and water and sewer upgrades.  Wyden asked Mundaca during the hearing whether he would support extending the program or some version of it.Since the program was launched in April, about $47 billion in bonds have been issued, according to Mundaca's response.  He agreed that the program has been "extraordinarily successful," adding that "it's too successful to allow it to simply go away." Wyden, along with Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) have been champions of the Build America Bonds concept, and offered at the hearing that the transportation bill may be a legislative vehicle in which to expand the program. AGC has called for the Build America Bonds program to be expanded and made permanent in its Build Now for the Future: A Blueprint for Economic Growth.For more information, contact Karen Lapsevic at (202) 547-4733 or lapsevick@agc.org.

AGC is lobbying Capitol Hill to enact legislation in 2009 to provide single- and multi-employer pension plan funding relief to lessen the effects of investment losses in 2008 and 2009.  In a letter sent to all members of the U.S. House of Representatives today, AGC urged the House to cosponsor H.R. 3936, the Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act, sponsored by Representatives Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) and Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio). Under the bill, multi-employer plans that meet a solvency test would be eligible for relief through two options that would allow employers to repay recent losses over a 30-year period, and employers would be unable to increase plan benefits for two years.  For plans in endangered or critical status, the bill would extend the rehabilitation and funding improvement periods.  The bill would also facilitate alliances and mergers of funds, and allow the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) to provide assistance to lower long-term costs.  The bill would also update PBGC benefit guarantees. The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to consider H.R. 3936 in the next couple of weeks.  The Senate has yet to introduce similar legislation.AGC, along with the National Coordinating Council on Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), has been advocating for legislation to provide relief to troubled defined benefit pension plans.  AGC will continue to work with NCCMP and Congress to enact pension funding relief legislation prior to the end of the year. AGC urges members to contact their Senators and Representatives in support of H.R. 3936 by using AGC's Legislative Action Center.  If your company contributes to a multi-employer plan that would benefit from the legislation, you are able to customize the letter to describe your company's situation to your members of Congress.For more information, contact Karen Lapsevic at (202) 547-4733 or lapsevick@agc.org.

Following the Department of Labor's announcement that the U.S. unemployment rate in October had risen to 10.2 percent, President Obama said his administration is considering "additional investments in roads and bridges" as a way address the nation's dire unemployment situation.The president did not provide any details in terms of a time frame or how "additional investments" would be paid for, but he did make it clear that his economic team is looking at additional highway funding as a way to spur job growth. Meanwhile, AGC and coalition partners continue to push for a six-year surface transportation reauthorization.  Working against a December 18 deadline, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee are trying to pass a six-month extension of SAFETEA-LU in order to continue working on a long-term investment.  Objections from two Republican senators are slowing the debate, but the House has already passed a three-month extension with the intention of working on a long-term bill.For more information, contact Sean O'Neill at (202) 547-8892 or oneills@agc.org.

Thousands of AGC members respond to call to actionLast Saturday night the House passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act 220 to 215 (click here to view how your members voted) along party lines with 39 Democrats opposing and one Republican supporting.The debate now shifts to the Senate where Majority Leader Harry Reid is getting Presidential pressure to wrap up the debate before Christmas and Reid may force the Senate to work Saturdays in December to debate the bill. However, there is still no final bill in the Senate and Senator Reid will not have a Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of his latest draft version of health care reform until the end of this week.  With the close House vote, the Senate will be more deliberate and methodical in its approach than the House. Senate moderates who represent states where House members opposed the bill will now feel a tremendous amount of pressure from their constituents, which creates one more hurdle Senate Democratic leaders have to overcome in order to convince already skittish moderates to support reform.Senate targets are the senators from the following states: Arkansas, Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, North Carolina, Nebraska and Virginia. For more information on proposed health care reform, visit AGC's Health Care Web site.AGC opposed the $1 trillion "Affordable Health Care for America Act," because it failed to address the root cause of rising costs, will likely eliminate competition and restricts economic growth with punitive penalties for employers. AGC members answered the call to action last week by sending over 4,000 letters to Congress in less than 24 hours in opposition to the bill. This response brings this year's efforts to over 8,000 individual messages. As the debate shifts to the Senate, AGC of America will again be calling on Chapters and members to advocate for affordable, quality health care through broader coverage, choice and competition in the marketplace.Key provisions of the House bill include:Employers will be subjected to an 8 percent payroll tax for each employee that does not receive coverage from the employer, even if the employer offers adequate benefits - as determined by a government entity - but the employee chooses to enter a government plan.Mandated expansive coverage and the existence of the public plan in the legislation will likely eliminate much of the nations' private insurance. It is not feasible that the government can be both regulator and participant in the health care system.The $1 trillion bill will be financed by $460 billion in new taxes and $500 billion in future Medicare cuts. The new taxes include a surtax for individuals with income above $500,000. This tax will be especially harsh for businesses structured as pass through entities where the business taxes are paid by the individual company owners, making it more difficult for the employer to operate the business and create or even retain jobs.The punitive business taxes and new and future mandates on insurance coverage will fail to lower the costs of purchasing health care and could stifle economic growth at a time when the industry is already suffering unemployment that is nearly double the national average.For more information, please contact Jeff Shoaf at (202) 547-3350 or shoafj@agc.org.

President Obama convened a White House Summit on Thursday to discuss actions that can be taken to create jobs. Leaders from business, labor and state and local government, including former AGC president Doug Pitcock who served as AGC's representative, were invited to participate.

AGC urges members to contact members of the House of Representatives and ask them to oppose H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care Choices Act.AGC opposes this bill because it  will not control health care costs and will likely increase the cost of health care across the board. The House will likely vote on this proposal over the weekend. For additional information and to access AGC's Legislative Action Center, visit http://www.agc.org/cs/health_care_reform.

AGC is supporting a new ad campaign launched as part of a broad business community effort to explain some of the economic challenges various proposed health care "reform" efforts pose for employers nationwide.View the new advertisement here, and write to Congress using AGC's Legislative Action Center.

With the highway and transit programs operating under the terms of a seven week continuing resolution until December 18, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) had intended to press for floor time to consider a six-month extension of the programs that would have remedied an $8.7 billion rescission of contract authority problem and extended the Highway Trust Fund firewalls.However, the Senate calendar has filled up with consideration of pending appropriations bills and other measures and it appears unlikely that the highway extension will be considered any time soon. If Congress resolves the government funding for the remainder of FY 2010, an additional continuing resolution may not be necessary.  Instead, it would be necessary to enact a separate transportation program extension. No progress has been made on a six-year authorization bill and finding a way to increase funding in the programs remains the biggest stumbling block.Auto executives speaking at a forum in Detroit this week said the best way to get more fuel-efficient vehicles on the road is to raise federal gasoline taxes. Gradually raising taxes to the point where fuel costs $4 to $5 per gallon was touted as the best way to stimulate demand for electric, hybrid and other alternatively fueled vehicles. Others called for even bigger increases in gasoline taxes.

A new video advertisement from the Transportation Construction Coalition, co-chaired by AGC, highlights the findings of a new study that shows 22,000 Americans die each year on deficient roadways.Watch the video here.

Both provisions included in AGC's Recovery Plan Congress this week passed legislation to extend federal unemployment benefits (H.R. 3548) that included an expansion of the first-time home buyer tax credit and five-year carryback of net operating losses (NOL). The current $8,000 first-time-home-buyer credit is set to expire on November 30, 2009.  Congress voted to extend the credit for an additional 5 months and increase the income limits to qualify, as well as to offer a new $6,500 tax credit for existing home buyers.The Recovery Act allowed businesses with gross receipts of $15 million or less that experienced net operating losses in 2008 to carry those losses back over the preceding five years.  The provision allows small businesses with deductions exceeding their income to get a refund for taxes paid in previous years.  The bill that the president is expected to sign shortly would expand the provision to allow all businesses to carryback net operating losses incurred in 2008 or 2009 over the preceding five years.  AGC called for enactment of both of these tax provisions in its Build Now for the Future: A Blueprint for Economic Growth.