On Sept. 11, House Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) joined with Committee Ranking member Nick Rahall (D-WV) to introduce the Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2013 (WRRDA), H.R. 3080, which authorizes approximately $10 billion for new construction projects through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Civil Works program (i.e., navigation, flood control, locks, dams, and environment restoration).  Take action and urge your U.S. Representative to support H.R. 3080.

Over the last two weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives toss-up races were profiled. Today, we look at one of the Senate toss-up races – Sen. Mark Pryor (D) vs. Rep. Tom Cotton (R). Like many of its southern neighbors, Arkansas has a long history of voting Democratic.  Of its 45 governors, only seven have been Republicans, three of which were elected after 1874.  This voting pattern is consistent in presidential elections as well.  From 1836 to 1968, only one Republican won the state.  Things, however, began to change in 1968.  Since then, voters chose Republicans in eight of the last 11 – Carter (once) and Clinton (twice) being the exceptions. 

AGC submitted comments to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) concerning the continuation of waivers from Buy America requirements for manufactured products that are not substantially made of steel or iron and for the minimal use of foreign steel products. Current FHWA regulations require that steel and iron products permanently incorporated into Federal-aid highway construction projects must be domestically produced. Starting in 1983, FHWA waived this requirement for manufactured products that are not substantially steel (traffic signals, its equipment, etc.), even if some components of the manufactured product are made of steel. In December 2012, FHWA issued a clarification, indicating that “substantially” means that a manufactured product must be 90 percent steel or iron. FHWA has been challenged in court on this interpretation and is seeking support for the clarification. FHWA also asked for comments on its policy allowing the minimal use of foreign steel products if their cost does not exceed $2,500 or .1 percent of the project cost, whichever is greater.

Government Shutdown Possible Over Differences of Opinion about How to Defund Obamacare  This week, the House Appropriations Committee introduced a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the daily activities of the federal government, from the start of the fiscal year (FY) on Oct. 1 through Dec. 15, 2013.  The CR will fund the government at current post-sequestration levels of $986 billion, which is nearly $20 billion more than House-passed budget levels for FY 2014 and nearly $70 billion lower than the budget levels passed in the Senate for FY 2014.  The CR is necessary because the House and Senate have failed to enact any of their 12 annual appropriations bills.  The length of the bill is intended to allow congressional leaders and the president to deal with the need to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and other budget issues without the threat of a government shutdown.

Construction employment stagnated in August, while the industry unemployment rate fell and a majority of companies reported difficulty finding workers, according to an analysis of new government data and an industry survey by AGC of America. Association officials called for education and immigration reform measures needed to ensure an adequate supply of skilled workers.

An estimated 1,400 people working for Pittsburgh area construction firms and their suppliers will lose their jobs because a Pennsylvania Senate-passed transportation funding measure failed in the state house, according to an analysis released today by AGC of America.  Those job losses would be three times higher than the number of construction jobs added in the area during the past year and threaten to reverse recent industry job gains, association officials cautioned.

The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in response to the administration’s decisions to finalize two new employment rules despite federal data indicating no need for the new measures:  “The administration’s decision to finalize two new oppressive employment regulations for federal contractors forces us to object to measures whose goals we support and objectives our members already meet.  That is because these rules will force federal contractors to spend an estimated $6 billion a year to produce reams of new paperwork proving they are doing what the federal government already knows they are doing.

After more than a decade of debate, Congress is at a critical phase for comprehensive immigrate reform In order for the construction industry priorities to be included, contractors must contact their Members of Congress immediately.

AGC Urges Removal of Construction Services Procurement Option On Aug. 13, AGC sent a letter to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) strongly urging the federal agency to remove from its reverse auction (RA) platform the construction services options. GSA recently launched a reverse auction platform that enables any federal agency to conduct the procurement of certain construction services and materials through an online reverse auction.

The 2013 Highway and Utilities Contractors Issues Conference will be held Nov. 7-9, 2013, at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Ariz.  Industry professionals from companies involved in building highway, bridge, utility and underground construction, transit, airport runway and rail projects will benefit from this conference.  Presentation and discussions on major trends in highway and utility construction will be featured, including: