Construction Legislative Week in Review

House Prepares to Vote on Health Care Bill; AGC Members Urged to Contact Representative

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:32:04 +0000

AGC urges members to contact members of the House of Representatives and ask them to oppose H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care Choices Act. AGC opposes this bill because it will not control health care costs and will likely increase the cost of health care across the board. The House will likely vote on this proposal [...]

New Ad Shows Real Cost of Health Care Reform

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:30:53 +0000

AGC is supporting a new ad campaign launched as part of a broad business community effort to explain some of the economic challenges various proposed health care "reform" efforts pose for employers nationwide. View the new advertisement here, and write to Congress using AGC's Legislative Action Center.

Senate Defers Action on Highway Extension; Auto Execs Suggest Higher Gas Tax

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:29:51 +0000

With the highway and transit programs operating under the terms of a seven week continuing resolution until December 18, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) had intended to press for floor time to consider a six-month extension of the programs that would have remedied an $8.7 billion rescission of contract authority [...]

New Video Ad Shows How Poor Road Conditions Cost Lives

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:28:53 +0000

A new video advertisement from the Transportation Construction Coalition, co-chaired by AGC, highlights the findings of a new study that shows 22,000 Americans die each year on deficient roadways. Watch the video here.

House, Senate Pass Expansion of Home Buyer Tax Credit, Net Operating Loss Carryback

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:27:22 +0000

Both provisions included in AGC's Recovery Plan Congress this week passed legislation to extend federal unemployment benefits (H.R. 3548) that included an expansion of the first-time home buyer tax credit and five-year carryback of net operating losses (NOL). The current $8,000 first-time-home-buyer credit is set to expire on November 30, 2009. Congress voted to extend the credit [...]

New Mandated Paid Sick Leave Bill Introduced in the House

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:25:39 +0000

This week, the Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.), introduced a bill to provide five days of paid sick leave to employees that have symptoms of a contagious illness or have been in close contact with someone who has the symptoms. The Emergency Influenza Containment Act is a direct result [...]

Senate Environment Committee Bypasses Republicans, Approves Cap and Trade Bill

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:24:28 +0000

Following a three-day Republican boycott of a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee business meeting to consider S. 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and ten Democrats voted to approve the bill without considering any amendments. None of the panel's Republican members were present for the vote. Senator [...]

T and I Committee Reviews Recovery Act Progress

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:22:31 +0000

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Water and Environment held a hearing on Recovery Act progress, including updates from representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Civil Works Program. Additional witnesses included representatives from state and local governments administering Recovery Act dollars. AGC has expressed [...]

Elections Impact - Both Republicans and Democrats Declare Victory

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:21:35 +0000

Republicans are declaring victory with Tuesday gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey, saying that it is a clear vote against the aggressive overreach of Congress and the Obama administration. Democrats on the other hand are saying that they picked up a seat in New York that had been held by the GOP for more [...]

Election Wrap-Up

Jim Young — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:19:30 +0000

Although the outcomes of elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia we followed ended according to plan, getting to the end did not go as expected. New York's special election in the 23rd district was definitely the biggest shocker: Republican Dede Scozzafava suspended her campaign just days before the election. Realizing that she was down [...]