On Jan. 31, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 497, the Freedom for Health Care Workers Act, by a bipartisan vote of 227-203. ABC supported the legislation, which would eliminate the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate on health care workers and repeal the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services health care staff vaccination rule that continues to affect ABC members who perform construction work at health care facilities. ABC provided a statement in support of the bill ahead of passage.

The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act of 2023, or REINS Act, was recently reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.). The bill, which would require every new “major rule” proposed by federal agencies to be approved by both the House and U.S. Senate before going into effect, currently has 179 Republican co-sponsors.

On Sept. 29, the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing, “Investing in our Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure and Workers: Why it Matters,” which covered the impacts of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.  

On Sept. 28, after failing to secure the support of at least 59 of his Senate colleagues, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., requested that his efforts to attach language on federal permitting reform for energy projects be removed from the must-pass continuing resolution, ensuring smooth passage of a government funding bill ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline.

ABC opposes Democrats’ partisan reconciliation package, which would raise taxes in an economy pointed toward recession, exacerbate inflation and cost American jobs. New, restrictive labor policies included in the most recent proposal make the package even more damaging.  

In a letter to U.S. House Representatives, ABC urged members to support an amendment to the House appropriations bill (H.R. 8294) that would prevent the use of federal funds to support flawed, inflationary Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements. The amendment failed by a vote of 165-264.

ABC sent an action alert on to members July 11 urging them to oppose to Democrats’ proposal to impose a new tax hike on small businesses in their partisan reconciliation bill.

On June 16, House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer, Ky., and 12 other House Republicans sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget raising concerns about the implementation of President Biden’s Executive Order 14063, “Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects,”

More than 500 ABC members and chapter staff are in Washington, D.C., for ABC’s 2022 Legislative Week, meeting with leaders on Capitol Hill to advocate for fair and open competition and fight the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, project labor agreement mandates and burdensome regulations. Highlights of the fly-in included keynotes from Rep. Steve Scalise, R- La., House minority whip, and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., who spoke in favor of free markets and condemned the Biden administration’s regulatory overreach and the PRO Act.

ABC sent out an action alert for ABC members to urge their members of Congress to remove unnecessary, job-killing provisions in the US Innovation and Competition Act/America COMPETES Act bills.