Letters to the Hill

ABC in a letter today, expressed concerns with the legislation to Congressional leadership and members of Congress, including that the bill would raise taxes in a recession, exacerbate inflation, and cost American jobs. Recent analysis from the Joint Committee on Taxation also found that the bill would raise taxes on most Americans:

On July 28, the House passed the CHIPS+ legislation by a bipartisan 243-187 vote. As the $280 billion package to incentivize the semiconductor industry will be signed into law by President Biden in the coming days, ABC remains concerned over provisions in the bill that would expand Davis-Bacon requirements into the private sector. In a letter to U.S. Senators and Representatives, ABC highlighted these concerns. ABC is reaching out to key Senate and House members to pursue other legislative opportunities to push back against the expansion of Davis-Bacon in this bill and other legislation.  

ABC had also opposed detrimental labor provisions included in previous versions of the bill in the House and Senate that were not included in the final version of the legislation.

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 remains concerned that these wage requirements and a new proposed rule issued by the Biden administration will further limit opportunities for much of the construction industry to participate in programs and projects authorized under this legislation.

ABC will continue to educate members of Congress about the burdens these flawed wage requirements place on the construction industry, push back against the Biden Administration’s ill-advised rule, and advocate for commonsense reforms to Davis-Bacon regulations that will provide clarity for contractors and create accurate and timely prevailing wages.

On May 18, House Democrats passed the partisan H.R. 7309, to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Only 4 Republican supported the proposal in the 220-196 vote, Reps. Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Katka (NY), Kinzinger (Ill.), and Upton (Mich.). The bill is unlikely to pass the Senate in its current form.

ABC issued a key vote against the bill yesterday, opposing a number of harmful provision in the bill including the mandated expansion of union representation on state and local workforce boards at the expense of industry expert and employer input.

On May 19, ABC sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives, urging members to vote NO on H.R. 7688, Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act. 

This bill provides President Biden and the Federal Trade Commission with broad authority to set controls on the nation’s gas prices while doing nothing to address the true drivers of the real inflation that businesses are facing every day.

There is a critical need to address ongoing inflation throughout the country and the rise in gasoline and other materials costs; however, providing unprecedented power to federal authorities is not the way forward. ABC also remains concerned that the precedent set by this bill will vastly expand the enforcement authority of the FTC and could lead to other price control efforts that would expose the construction industry to unwarranted enforcement. It is clear that inflation is a factor in almost every construction input category. According to ABC analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index data, construction input prices are up 23.7% from a year ago, while nonresidential construction input prices are 24.0% higher. Input prices were up in 10 of 11 subcategories in April, with the largest price increases coming from natural gas (+16.9%) and unprocessed energy materials (+10.3%). Congress must look to commonsense, bipartisan solutions that address needs of our nation’s economy and better ensure affordable prices.