In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to move rapidly this year on major infrastructure legislation and pledged to issue a directive to raise the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors in construction and other service industries.
The flurry of statements from design and construction groups reacting to the Jan. 28 speech contained words of praise for Obama’s references to public works—especially urging lawmakers to wrap up new surface transportation and water resources measures this summer. But industry organizations also said that the administration must provide more details, especially about infrastructure funding.