House Vote on Anti-Reverse Auctions and Design-Build Legislation Next Week The House Armed Services Committee recently included a number of AGC procurement reform priorities in a major Department of Defense bill – the National Defense Authorization Act.  The AGC priorities in the legislation include provisions that would help to:

AGC recently sent two letters opposing the possible use of a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate posted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The prospective PLA projects are at Joint Base Langley-Fort Eustis, Va. and Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.

June 19-20, 2014 | Washington, D.C. The Summer 2014 AGC Financial Issues Forum (FIF) will be held June 19-20 in Washington, D.C. The meeting is geared toward member company CFOs, CEOs and other senior accounting professionals –all forum attendees will have an opportunity to network and hear from tax experts and congressional representatives present on a wide variety of topics. Topics and speakers include:

Nebraska In last night’s Nebraska Senate primary, Midland University president Ben Sasse easily won the GOP nomination to succeed retiring Sen. Mike Johanns (R).  Sasse impressively scored 50 percent of the vote, followed by Sid Dinsdale's distant second place finish with 22 percent, and Shane Osborn's 21 percent. Mr. Sasse now becomes the overwhelming favorite to win the general election against attorney David Domina who won the Democratic nomination with two-thirds of the vote.

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the release of the final version of the joint House-Senate conference committee’s Water Resources Reform & Development Act: "The release of this water resources bill is yet another sign that investing in infrastructure is something members of both parties in both houses of Congress can and do support. Republicans and Democrats alike understand and appreciate the economic wisdom of improving our aging system of inland waterways, harbors, ports, locks and dams.

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the passage of a surface transportation measure today by the members of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee: "The fact that a new highway and transit bill proposed by Senators Vitter and Boxer received the bipartisan backing of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee shows members of both parties understand the value of investing in our aging surface transportation systems. This bill will make it significantly easier for state and local transportation officials to plan for and fund projects to rebuild bridges, repair roads and improve transit options.

This afternoon, the Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee announced that they will mark up their reauthorization of MAP-21 on May 15 and will release the draft text of the bill on May 12. 

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing examining the pending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund.  At the hearing, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reaffirmed previous projections that the Highway Trust Fund will face insolvency this summer and will be in need of nearly $100 billion over the next six years.  The committee is currently looking at both short- and long-term transportation funding options to fill the CBO projected revenue gaps in the Highway Trust Fund.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014 | 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT Hardhats for Highways invites you to attend a free webinar on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT.  During this webinar, we will discuss how you can get involved in the campaign, the tools available to help you be successful in your efforts, and real-life examples from a construction company on their Hardhats for Highways initiative. 

Congress is quietly bustling with activity on tax policy, with each chamber working on a separate track.   The House is scheduled to vote on the first of six expired tax provisions on May 9, which would permanently extend tax credits for research and development activities.