AGC Weighs in on State of the Union

This week, AGC CEO Steve Sandherr sent a letter to President Obama, preceding his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 28.  The letter asks the president to deliver definitive bipartisan solutions to ensure more investment in our nation’s aging infrastructure. Specifically, the letter urges the president to offer reasonable solutions to address the pending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund, call for the creation of a Clean Water Trust Fund for water infrastructure projects, and commit to working with Congress to increase private sector investment in infrastructure projects. This letter is a followup to a letter Sandherr sent the president in November, urging the president to provide a true ipartisan solution to the Highway Trust Fund bankruptcy. The president has used previous State of the Union addresses to show his support for increasing infrastructure investment - AGC hopes he will once again stress the importance of investing in our roads, bridges, ports, airports, waterways, and water systems and demonstrate the leadership necessary to ensure the funding is available to make those investments. However, in the past the president has failed  to provide a solid way to pay for his infrastructure proposals. AGC also joined 24 members of the Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates to call on President Obama to address comprehensive tax reform in his State of the Union address. As a prominent member of the management committee, AGC has advocated that tax reform broadens the tax base, while lowering tax rates for corporations, pass-through businesses and individuals alike.  AGC has been educating lawmakers and key stakeholders on the negative impact that high effective tax rates have on job creation and economic growth for the construction industry (one of the highest among all industries at 31 percent). The letter can be viewed here. For more information, please contact Sean O’Neill at 202-547-8892 oroneills@agc.org