The U.S. Senate is struggling to finish its work on its nearly $900 billion version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with a vote expected by the end of the week. The U.S. House of Representatives passed its $819 billion version by a vote of 244 to 188 on January 28 with no Republican support. Senate debate on the package has been largely partisan where neither party holds enough seats to guarantee passage. As a result, a bipartisan group of Senators is working with the Obama Administration to craft a compromise which would eliminate more than $50 billion in "wasteful" spending proposed in the bill. At the same time, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) believes there are enough votes to pass the measure as early as Thursday evening.While differing from the House version in cost, the Senate version is largely similar in the spending and tax provision it proposes. Both bills, for example, recommend over $150 billion in federal construction spending and authorize nearly $50 billion in new and existing bonds to finance infrastructure projects. The Senate version, however, includes a costly provision to "patch" the alternative minimum tax (AMT) for 2008 at a cost of about $70 billion. It also includes an amendment that would increase the $7,500 first-time homebuyer credit to as much as $15,000 for any home purchased in 2009 and remove the repayment requirement. In addition, the Senate passed an amendment to paper over free trade concerns regarding the "Buy American" requirements in the bill, but did not approve an amendment to remove the controversial provision.The House and Senate must still negotiate a final package and pass it before presenting it to the President for his signature. We strongly urge you to reach out to your employees, your suppliers, your subcontractors and your state and local community leaders to ask them to use the tools on the AGC Web site to contact their Senators and Representatives. Urge your members of Congress and Senators to add additional infrastructure investment to the bill. For more information on the economic stimulus proposals and to contact Congress, visit www.agc.org/stimulus.Highlights of the Senate Stimulus Package:Highway and Transportation Funding: Over $47 billion for transportation infrastructure, including $27.1 billion for the federal-aid highway program; $5.5 billion for competitive surface transportation grants (new program); $8.4 billion for transit; $3.1 billion for Amtrak and high-speed rail; and $2.5 billion for airport improvements.Building Infrastructure Funding: Over $58 billion for building infrastructure repair, renovation, and construction, including $9.3 billion for the General Services Administration; $6.3 billion for Military Construction; $3.4 billion for Veterans Affairs construction; and $20 billion for public school and higher education construction.Water and Environmental Infrastructure: Over $24 billion for water and environmental infrastructure, including: $4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) program; $2 billion for the Drinking Water SRF; $1.4 billion for U.S. Department of Agriculture rural water grants and loans; $4.6 billion for the Corps of Engineers; $1.4 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation; and $6.4 billion for former weapon production and energy research site cleanup.Tax Provisions: One-year deferral of the 3 percent withholding tax on government contractors; a 5-year carryback of net operating losses; extension of small business expensing and 50 percent bonus depreciation; a tax credit bond option for states and local governments; extension and increase in unemployment benefits; temporary suspension of taxation on unemployment benefits.Other provisions in the bill:Davis-Bacon Requirements: Any projects funded directly or assisted in whole or in part by and through the federal government will have Davis-Bacon wage requirements. In addition, the bill calls for the application of Davis-Bacon to any projects funded by tax bonds.Buy American: The bill mandates that iron, steel and manufactured goods used in the construction and repair projects funded under the bill be produced in the United States. The provision "shall be applied in a manner consistent with United States obligations under international agreements."Federal Contracting Requirements: The House bill would apply the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to contracts awarded with stimulus funds where pre-existing contracting regulations do not exist. The Senate bill does not contain a similar provision.E-Verify: The House bill contains language that would make any contractor who receives funds through the stimulus to use the E-Verify electronic verification system. The Senate bill does not have this provision, although an amendment could be offered that would make the same requirement.

On January 30, President Obama issued three executive orders favorable to organized labor. The orders include:Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws - reverses an order issued by Pres. Bush requiring federal contractors to post a notice informing workers of "Beck" rights (the right not to join a union).This executive order also requires contracting agencies to include a new clause in government contracts. Under this contract clause the contractor agrees to post a notice containing content issued by the Secretary of Labor in its workplaces. Failure to post the notice or failure to comply with the provisions of the notice and related rules, regulations, or orders established by the Secretary can result in contract cancellation, termination or suspension, or debarment. The contractor is also required to include the contract clause in subcontracts. AGC is concerned about the vagueness of the executive order regarding the content of the notice and regulations and about the extreme remedies established for simple failure to post a notice without any finding of substantive labor law violation.Economy in Government Contracts - prevents federal contractors from being reimbursed for "persuader" activity expenses (expenses incurred in trying to influence workers' decision about whether to form a union or engage in collective bargaining).Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts - requires service contractors, when contracts change, to offer jobs to qualified workers already working on the project.AGC also anticipates that a fourth executive order that addresses government-mandated project labor agreements (GMLAs) will be issued soon. AGC will keep you informed of developments as they occur.To review AGC's position on GMLAs, click here.

While supporters of the (so-called) Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) are making a push to introduce this legislation in the House very soon and are making a last call for original cosponsors of the bill, AGC is working to discourage cosponsorship of the "card check" bill. AGC opposes the Employee Free Choice Act because it would take away a worker's right to a federally supervised private ballot election when deciding whether or not to select union representation. It also imposes unrealistically short deadlines for labor-management negotiations over a first contract before mandating third-party interference.AGC supports the status quo, which allows both card-check recognition and secret-ballot elections to establish union representation and remains the most fair and reliable way to determine the desire of employees to be represented by a union.More than 2000 letters have gone to members of congress in the last 24 hours discouraging members from cosponsoring this legislation. If you have not already done so, please contact your Members of Congress to urge them not to cosponsor or support the bill by using AGC's Legislative Action Center. It only takes a minute to send a letter.

"Today's construction figures underscore the dramatic decline in business activity that is putting hundreds of thousands out of work, endangering the viability of tens of thousands of businesses and dragging on the broader economy. This is a stark reminder of the need for immediate and significant federal investments in vital construction and infrastructure projects. Without those investments, we estimate over a million construction workers will lose their jobs while many of the small businesses that dominate the construction industry will close their doors. With these investments, however, construction companies will be able to save those jobs, expand payrolls and invest in equipment and supplies, while building the foundation for a stronger economy," said Stephen Sandherr, chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America.

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CNN's Lou Dobbs featured AGC member Doug Pruitt (Sundt Construction, Tempe, Ariz.) and AGC CEO Steve Sandherr in its January 29 broadcast.  Dobbs' Line-Item Veto series takes a careful look at the proposed stimulus plan, including the infrastructure investment component.[cnn=/video/bestoftv/2009/01/29/ldt.stim.infastructure.cnn]

The House on Wednesday by a vote of 244 to 188 passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the Stimulus Package. The Senate is expected to take up its version next week. The Senate version differs from the House version in funding totals for significant programs. AGC members were at the forefront of this legislative struggle, sending nearly 10,000 letters, delivering a petition signed by over 3,000 supporters and making thousands of phone calls to Capitol Hill in support of the construction portion of this legislation. The package includes significant funding for all of the major construction markets, in most cases exceeding typical yearly appropriations. The funds generally have to be put to work in 180 days, with unobligated funds reprogrammed by their disbursing agencies. All funds in the bill are required to be spent within 2 years.With the debate now in the Senate, we strongly urge you to reach out to your employees, your suppliers, your subcontractors and your local government and business community leaders to ask them to use the tools on the AGC Web site to contact your Senators. Visit www.agc.org/stimulus for more information.Highlights of the Stimulus PackageBuilding Infrastructure Funding: Approximately $55 billion in Building Infrastructure, including: $6.7 billion for GSA buildings; $8.5 billion for Military Construction; and $1 billion for VA Construction – all distributed at the discretion of the particular federal agency of jurisdiction. This also includes $20 billion for K-12 School and Higher Ed Construction, distributed by Title I formulas for K-12 and by a new formula for Higher Ed.Highway and Transportation Infrastructure Funding: Over $46 billion for transportation infrastructure, including: $30 billion for bridge and highway funding, to be distributed by existing formulas, with a portion of the funds within each state being sub-allocated by population areas; $12 billion for transit funding, with new construction being distributed on a discretionary basis, and upgrades, repair, and other assistance being distributed according to existing formula; and $3 billion for Airport Improvement Grants, distributed on a discretionary basis.Water Infrastructure: More than $15 billion for Water Infrastructure, including: $4 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund; $2 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund; and $1.5 billion specifically set aside for Rural Water and Waste Disposal projects. Water Resources construction also includes $4.5 billion for the Corps of Engineers, and $500 million for the Bureau of Reclamation.Tax Provisions: Permanent repeal of 3 percent withholding tax on government contractors, extension of increased small business expensing, extension of the depreciation bonus, a 5-year carry-back of net operating losses, long term extension and modification of the renewable energy tax production credit, a tax credit bond option for state and local governments, and numerous bonding provisions for energy, school construction and economic development.Other Provisions in the BillDavis-Bacon Requirements: Any projects funded directly by or assisted in whole or in part by and through the Federal Government will have Davis-Bacon wage requirements. In addition, the bill calls for the application of Davis-Bacon to any projects funded by tax bonds.Buy American: The House bill mandates that iron and steel used in construction and repair projects funded under the bill be produced in the United States unless found to be prohibitively expensive (by increasing the cost of the total project by 25 percent).Federal Contracting Requirements: The Federal Acquisition Regulation shall apply to contracts awarded with funds in the Act.  Contracts are encouraged to be awarded as fixed-price contracts through the use of competitive procedures. Any contract awarded with such funds that is not fixed-price and not awarded using competitive procedures shall be posted in a special section of the website Recovery.gov.E-Verify: The House bill mandates the use of the “E-Verify” electronic verification system for all businesses receiving funds derived from the stimulus, including both direct federal and federal-aid projects. Efforts are underway to get this provision removed from the final bill. The Senate may consider an amendment that would create a more expansive E-Verify requirement. This issue will likely be addressed in the House-Senate conference on the bill. 

AGC’s Ken Simonson spoke at a news conference on Capitol Hill January 27 in support of infrastructure investment as part of the stimulus package that passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday.  Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) hosted the event, which included representatives from the Change to Win Labor Federation, Information Technology Industry Council, AFL-CIO, Oracle Corp., and the National Electrical Contractors Association.Simonson stressed the importance of putting the nearly 900,000 construction workers who have lost their jobs since 2006 back to work.  AGC has advocated for infrastructure and public buildings investment long before yesterday’s vote, and Simonson’s urgings to turn a grim situation into an opportunity clearly left a mark. Simonson’s remarks were recorded by several media outlets, including Dow Jones.  View his comments here.

More than 4,500 people registered for the January 27 webcast titled "Have We Hit Bottom?" AGC and Reed Construction Data hosted the webcast, featuring AGC's chief economist Ken Simonson and Jim Haughey, who discussed the U.S. construction market, key trends and a look ahead.Simonson's comments were recorded in several outlets, including The Dallas Morning News. The webcast is available for download here. (Registration is free, but required.)

President Obama signed into law the first bill of his Presidency this morning.  The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restarts the filing period for a discriminatory act each time a paycheck is issued and potentially expands the class of people able to bring discrimination claims against the employer. The House of Representatives took up and passed the Senate version of the legislation this week and sent it quickly over to the White House.