The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has re-issued a proposed rule on representation-case procedures with a public comment deadline of Monday, April 7, 2014.
Today, the House voted 248-179 – with 18 Democrats joining all Republican members – in favor of modifying the Affordable Care Act’s (also known as “ObamaCare”) definition of a full-time employee. The current law defines full-time employees as those with 30 hours of service per week, which is below the 40-hour standard many employers use today and is not in line with current workforce practices.
Report Meetings and Share Pictures at www.HardhatsforHighways.org
Your Senators and Representatives will be back working in your home districts April 14-25. It is the perfect opportunity to set up meetings to discuss the importance federal highway funding has on your company and your job. We need to flood Congressional offices with in-person meetings where you present a company hardhat with the Hardhats for Highways decal.
This week, the House Budget Committee approved a budget for fiscal year 2015 on a partisan vote. The budget is expected to be voted on by the full House next week. This year’s House budget is somewhat unnecessary considering the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 – which became law in January – established spending totals and funding allocations for fiscal year 2015. For this reason, the Senate is not planning on taking up a budget resolution this year.
AGC, along with a broad-based diesel coalition, sent letters to the HouseHouse and Senate Appropriations Committees encouraging them to include $30 million in their fiscal year 2015 funding bill for grants, loans, and rebates made possible by the Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA). The program has an annual authorization of $100 million.
On Thursday afternoon, the Senate Finance Committee approved by voice vote a modified version of the “Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act”, which Chairman Ron Wyden released earlier this week to retroactively extend the tax provisions that expired at the end of 2013. The legislation would revive and extend for two years the tax preferences.
On Wednesday, House Budget Committee approved 22-16, in a party-line vote, a draft fiscal 2015 budget resolution that would adhere to the discretionary budget authority of $1.014 trillion for fiscal 2015. This budget calls for a number of pro-growth tax reform policies including:
U.S. Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno recently testified before the House Armed Services Committee in support of a new Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round in fiscal year 2017. With a reduction of some 200,000 active duty troops since the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and increased cuts, the Army representatives underscored the Department of Defense’s (DOD) deep desire and need to undergo a new BRAC round.
On April 2, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Commanding General Thomas Bostick and Assistant Secretary of the Army—Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy defended President Obama’s proposed nearly $1 billion cut to the Civil Works funding accounts in fiscal year (FY) 2015 before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. Compared to the enacted FY 2014 funding levels for Civil Works programs, the president’s FY 2015 budget includes a $531 million cut to the construction account, a $261 million cut to the operation and maintenance account—which funds dredging and harbor maintenance projects—and a $62 million cut to the Mississippi River and Tributaries account—which funds construction and dredging projects in the lower Mississippi region.
MI-8
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers' surprise retirement announcement is igniting a political scramble in south-central Michigan. The open 8th District should remain in Republican hands, but if Democrats can create a political wave in either the Governor or Senate race that translates into a turnout driver, then witnessing a competitive open seat campaign here becomes probable.