On July 14, AGC outlined its priorities for the bipartisan infrastructure package to the group of bipartisan senators who are drafting the legislation. In addition to significant investments in physical infrastructure, AGC calls for investing in the construction workforce, streamlining the federal environmental review and permitting process, improving the construction supply chain, as well as ensuring provisions restricting the expansion of highway capacity are not included. AGC and industry stakeholders continue to meet with the Senate offices working on this legislation to highlight construction industry priorities. The timing for when the legislation will be released and ultimately voted on continues to be unclear. However, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said the Senate will push to vote on it before the chamber breaks for the August recess.
Each year the AGC Education and Research Foundation offers undergraduate and graduate level scholarships to students enrolled in ABET or ACCE accredited construction management or construction related engineering programs. The application opened July 1, 2021 and closes November 1, 2021.
The week of June 28, the House is set to vote on the INVEST in America Act, legislation to reauthorize the nation’s surface transportation programs. This legislation passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee earlier in the month on a near party-line vote. In addition to the $547 billion included in the legislation for surface transportation programs, the package also includes two other bills to reauthorize the nation’s waste and drinking water programs. While AGC is supportive of the House continuing the reauthorization process, we have reservations about some of the policies contained in the bill, such as a lack of environmental review and permitting reforms and a limitation on the ability to construct new highway capacity. As the legislative process moves forward, AGC will continue to encourage House members to make necessary improvements to the bill that will address these policies concerns.
On June 23, a bipartisan group of senators announced an agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure framework with the White House. The framework—found here —includes $579 billion in new spending to rebuild America’s roads and bridges, improve public transit systems, invest in broadband infrastructure, and upgrade our airports. While this plan does appear to have bipartisan support, the path forward remains unclear, as Speaker Pelosi announced that she would not move similar legislation in the House until the Senate passed both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and partisan reconciliation infrastructure bill. In addition, there are a significant amount of details that have yet to be determined.
On June 16, a bipartisan group of senators—10 Democrats and 10 Republicans— announced an agreement on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. The two-page plan includes $579 billion in new spending (on top of reauthorized transportation programs) to rebuild America’s roads and bridges, improve public transit systems, invest in broadband infrastructure, and upgrade our airports. Of that total, $110 billion would be dedicated for roads, bridges, and major projects. The group states the plan would be paid for in part by repurposing unspent COVID relief funds, indexing the gas tax to inflation, implementing a fee on electric vehicles, and adjusting customs user fees. Several of these pay-fors have been rejected in the past by the Biden Administration in talks with Senate Republicans led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
On June 10, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved legislation to reauthorize federal-aid highway and transit programs, on a mostly partly line vote. This five-year, $547 billon bill will now go to the full House for a floor vote at a yet to be determined date. An AGC analysis of this legislation as passed by committee may be found here. While AGC is supportive of the investment levels in this legislation, the association has significant concerns with the bill’s significant restrictions to building new highways and expanding highway lanes and lack of environmental review and permit streamlining initiatives, among other things.
Other Senate Committees Must Act on Transit, Rail Programs
Annual Survey by HCSS and Associated General Contractors of America Finds Drivers and Passengers are at Greater Risk of Injury and Death in Work Zone Crashes As Officials Urge Drivers to Be Careful this Summer
On May 20, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released a new initiative to permit, on an experimental basis, contractors to utilize geographic, economic, or other hiring preferences on federal-aid highway projects. This “local hire” initiative will be carried out as a pilot program for a period of 4 years (unless extended) under FHWA’s existing experimental contracting authority. AGC is broadly opposed to local hire preference policies. After yesterday’s pilot program release, AGC CEO Steve Sandherr stated, in part: “[T]he problem with local hire programs, however, is that they solve the symptom and not the problem...too many communities have defunded their career and technical education programs and as a result there are often too few local workers with any interest in construction careers or basic skills that would make them qualified to be hired.”
Supports AASHTO Request for Additional Highway & Bridge Investment