The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has different definitions of what constitutes a seasonal employee or worker when determining the size of an employer and whether an employer must offer insurance to those employees.

Visit www.HardhatsforHighways.org and Tell Congress to Solve the Transportation Funding Problem On Wednesday, the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure held their kickoff hearing on surface transportation reauthorization.  The current authorization expires on May 31.  The only witness was Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, who pitched the committee on the need for the administration’s reauthorization proposal, the GROW AMERICA Act. 

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline by a vote of 270-152.  Twenty-nine Democrats voted to support the measure, which passed the Senate on Jan. 29.  The bill faces an expected veto by President Obama, who says he wants the State Department to finish an ongoing review process before deciding to approve the project.For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at oneills@agc.org or (202) 547-8892.

On Feb. 2, President Obama released his $4 trillion fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request.  The budget calls for tax changes to offset increased spending for defense, infrastructure and job training and education programs.  The budget also includes tax increases for corporations and top individual earners.

Visit www.HardhatsforHighways.org Today Time is running out for members of the House to sign the bipartisan letter, authored by Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Members Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) and Dan Lipinksi (D-Ill.), along with Ways & Means Committee Members Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), and commit to supporting transportation funding initiatives. 

In addition to a lawsuit challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new representation-case procedures rule (also known as the Quickie Election rule), legislation in Congress will be considered that would nullify the rule. The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a resolution that would nullify the regulation, if passed by both chambers and signed by the president. The resolution could be introduced in the Senate as early as next week and a similar proposal will make its way through the House. The CRA is a powerful procedural tool that Congress can use to exert oversight over the administration and requires only a simple majority in the Senate, therefore eliminating the typical 60 vote threshold needed in the Senate to pass legislation. While the CRA has been used successfully once before, it would remain unlikely that the president would sign such a bill and therefore the best option for blocking the rule remains the judicial challenge.

The House passed legislation this week that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by a vote of 239 to 186.  The vote was decided almost entirely on party lines with no Democrats supporting it. The vote was the first repeal vote for the new Congress; however, even if the bill made it to the president’s desk, he has indicated that he would veto the bill.  The plans for a repeal vote in the Senate remain uncertain.  They may take up bipartisan legislation that replaces the ACA’s definition of a full-time employee at 30 hours-per-week with the more traditional definition of 40 hours-per-week, which passed the House earlier this year.

Members of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee held a joint hearing to examine the state and local impact of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposed rule expanding jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.

On Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted to mark up seven expired tax provisions, aiming to make permanent certain benefits related to conservation easements, S corporations and business expensing in tax code, among other items. The House is expected to take up the committee bills next week. AGC will continue to advocate for passage of the following bills next week in the House and through the Senate:

Last Friday, and what came as a surprise for many supporters, Gov. Mitt Romney stated that he will not pursue the White House for a third time.  Much speculation is occurring as to how this development affects the remaining GOP presidential aspirants.