Congress at Impasse Over Budget Proposal – Shutdown Possible

President Obama began last week by unveiling a $3.7 trillion FY 2012 budget and the House of Representatives finished the week by debating and passing a continuing resolution to fund the remainder of FY 2011. If Congress fails to pass the funding bill by March 4, the government will be forced to “shut down” for the first time since 1995. The 2011 bill is necessary because Congress failed to pass a bill last year and the government has been operating under a short term extension.  Currently, there are major differences between the funding levels supported by the House, Senate and White House. Adding to the complexity of finding a compromise is the fact that Congress does not return to Washington, D.C., until next week due to the Presidents Week recess, which will give both bodies of Congress only a few days to work out their differences. The House-passed bill cut $64 billion, including cuts to stop the implementation of various elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill also included amendments that would block: the implementation of new emission requirements on cement plants; the development of new EPA regulations governing the disposal and storage of fly ash; and a number of new regulations further regulating storm water run off. The debate also included efforts to repeal Davis Bacon and prohibit project labor agreements, both of which failed. Included in the House Republicans’ budget are cuts of nearly $18 billion in construction spending (about half of the cuts are in BRAC, High Speed Rail and Water Infrastructure). An analysis of the cuts is available here.  AGC worked against many of the cuts to construction spending, urging Members of Congress to work to reform and improve programs rather than just slash spending. For more information, please contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.