President Obama‘s State of the Union Address Takes Administration from “Winning the Future” to “Winning the Election”

On Jan. 24, 2012, President Obama issued his State of the Union address to call on the federal government to reform itself by streamlining the federal government and cutting burdensome regulations for Americans who are still hurting from the recession. The president mentioned he has proposed over 500 regulatory reforms designed to save $10 billion over five years. With respect to infrastructure investment, he touted his plan, which was implemented in fall 2011 as a pilot program, to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of federal permitting and review processes for construction projects. He also announced he would sign an Executive Order making the program permanent.  While these initiatives have had a positive impact on a limited number of projects, it will take changes to the law to really speed up project delivery. President Obama also proposed several ideas that will have a very tough time passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. In particular, he once-again called for a millionaire tax, an immigration reform package, new clean energy and renewable energy incentives. AGC will closely examine these proposals as they are detailed by the White House and also provide a detailed report on the President’s next steps, which include announcement of his FY 2013 budget. For more information, please contact Marco Giamberardino at (703) 837-5325 or giamberm@agc.org.