Over 500 contractors, material suppliers, equipment distributors and manufacturers, and other construction industry businesses participated in the 2015 Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Legislative Fly-In, held this week in Washington, D.C. The groups heard from House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wisc.), Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx about the prospects for passage of a long-term transportation reauthorization bill and a fix for the Highway Trust Fund. TCC members then spent a day visiting with their Congressional delegations pointing out that the uncertainty of not having a long-term reauthorization bill in place has caused states to reduce lettings going into the construction season and undermines contractor hiring and training of new employees and making investments in equipment. AGC’s Highway and Transportation Division Chair Tom Foss participated in a press conference with Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and ranking Democrat Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called to highlight the need for Congress to act.
Highway and transit program authorization ends on May 31 and the Highway Trust Fund will have insufficient revenue to support ongoing obligations sometime this summer. Feedback from the speakers and Hill visits indicate that it is unlikely that Congress will be able to pass legislation before the deadline and yet another short-term extension will be necessary. This highlights the need to continue to press your senators and representative through Hardhats for Highways, asking them to fix the Highway Trust Fund.
For more information, please contact Brian Deery at deeryb@agc.org or (703) 837-5319. Return to Top