TAKE ACTION: Urge Your Congressman to Support WRRDA The House of Representatives is slated to vote on the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), H.R. 3080, next week. Please take action and urge your U.S. Representative to vote “yes” on H.R. 3080.

The race for the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, tantamount to a special election victory in the Boston suburban 5th Congressional District, was projected to finish within a razor-thin margin.  It didn't. State Sen. Katherine Clark, riding a large turnout from her Malden-Melrose political base, pulled away from Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian when the last quarter of the vote was counted to clinch the Democratic nomination with 32 percent of the vote.  Koutoujian finished ten points behind at 22 percent.  In third, exceeding his polling expectations, was state Rep. Carl Sciortino notching 16 percent.  State Sens. Will Brownsberger and Karen Spilka brought up the rear with 15 and 13 percents, respectively.  Spilka was the most disappointing performer based upon previous polling releases.  Her own two Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research Group surveys both showed her in second place, just a single point behind the leader.

With time running out to raise our nation’s debt limit by this Thursday, Oct. 17 and the government entering its 15th day of being shutdown, House and Senate leaders are working to cobble together deals in their respective chambers. This morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are expected to brief their Senators on a compromise deal that materialized yesterday.  Terms of the tentative deal include: a debt limit increase through Feb. 7, 2014; funding the government at post –sequester levels of $986.3 billion through Jan. 15, 2014, while providing some flexibility in case the sequester-imposed $10 billion spending cuts go into effect in January; an agreement on an immediate bicameral conference on the budget and on a long-term tax and spending plan, with a deadline for a final conference agreement by Dec. 13; and two Obamacare-related provisions requiring income verification for those individuals receiving a subsidy and a delay of a reinsurance tax, which would levied on health insurance companies which will ultimately be passed on to small businesses and employees who are covered by their employer. If Senators from both parties sign off on the deal, it can be considered on the Senate Floor as early as Wednesday afternoon. 

As the partial government shutdown continues into its tenth day, there have been signs that a potential, short-term deal to end the government shutdown and avert a national default by temporarily raising the debt ceiling may be in the works.  Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner (R-Ohio) and President Obama had dueling press conferences this week, each detailing their requirements for ending the shutdown and averting default.  Speaker Boehner insisted on the president sitting down with Republicans to discuss a path forward, while the president reiterated his position for a clean continuing resolution and refused to negotiate spending cuts as part of a debt ceiling increase.  These press conferences did, however, yield some movement, with the president planning to meet separately with Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate.  These talks and the potential ramifications of not raising the debt ceiling have injected a very small bit of optimism that, at the very least, an agreement can be reached on averting a government default.

Twenty-two term Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.-13), the most senior Republican in the House (4th overall), announced that he will not seek re-election next year in his marginal Tampa Bay district.  The veteran congressman is one of sixteen Republicans who represent a district in which President Obama outpolled GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Last November, the President carried the 13th district with a 50.1-48.6 percent margin. 

Proposed Rule Would Limit Federal Contractor Response Time to Evaluations On Oct. 7, AGC submitted comments objecting to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council’s proposed rule that would shorten the minimum 30-day past performance evaluation (PPE) review period for federal contractors to just 14 days. Under the proposed rule, a federal agency must post the PPE to the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) after the 14-day contractor review period expires, whether the contractor objects to the PPE or not.  Contractors, however, would be able to submit comments for inclusion in the PPE on PPIRS if they fail to meet the 14-day requirement. The proposed rule does not require the government to make those changes in a defined amount of time, which AGC indicates in its comments.

AGC Calls for Agency Economic Justification for Bundling & Increased Oversight On Oct. 10, AGC submitted testimony to the House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce, which held a hearing on the impact of federal contract bundling on small businesses. While not opposed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) use of Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOCs) or the Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s (NAVFAC) use of Multiple Award Construction Contracts (MACCs), AGC noted federal agencies increasing use of these contracting vehicles and those contracts’ ability to shut out many contractors from federal work for long periods of time.

Waters Advocacy Coalition to Hold Webinar on How Report Could Impact your Business EPA is seeking comments on its recently released draft report, Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence, which details how smaller, isolated water bodies are connected to larger ones, and its conclusions.  

Debt Ceiling Looms The partial government shutdown is on its third day and there is no clear indication as to how it will end or how long it will last.  The House of Representatives and the Senate have spent almost a week playing a game of legislative ping-pong, where the Senate passed four clean continuing resolutions (CRs) and the House Republicans refused to pass a clean CR and  have, instead, passed four CRs that include provisions either repealing, defunding or delaying different parts of  Obamacare.  The Senate Democrats have voted down all four House-passed CRs because of the respective Obamacare provisions.  In addition to Obamacare, House and Senate CR’s differ in length: the Senate wants a 45-day CR (Nov. 15), while the House prefers a 75-day CR (Dec. 15).  Both House and Senate bills include the post sequester funding levels of $986.3 billion. That funding level is considered a victory for Republicans because Senate Democrats are drafting their FY 2014 appropriations bills at funding levels of $1.058 trillion.

Earlier this week, AGC chapter leaders descended upon Washington, D.C. for its annual National and Chapter Leadership Conference. This conference is designed to bring chapter leaders together to discuss best practices and meet with members of Congress to address AGC's top legislative issues. AGC members visited with more than 100 members of Congress and their staff.  During these meetings with legislators, AGC members used the opportunity to urge support for immigration reform, for changes to procurement laws, for changing elements of Obamacare and increased federal investment in infrastructure by fixing the Highway Trust Fund and passing the Water Resources Development Act.