Related Links: Congressional Budget Office analysis of Budget Control Act of 2011 Text of Budget Control Act of 2011 After weeks of partisan battles on Capitol Hill, Congress averted a government default by passing legislation to boost the government’s debt limit and trim its budget deficit.Construction industry officials had feared default would have led to widespread interest-rate hikes and a slowdown in project financing and new projects.President Obama signed the measure, the Budget Control Act of 2011, on Aug. 2, a few hours after the Senate approved it by a 74-26 vote. The House had cleared the measure one day
A congressional battle that blocked passage of a new stopgap Federal Aviation Administration bill has caused the FAA to issue stop-work orders on about 80 airport engineering and construction contracts, totaling more than $790 million, around the country.The failure to pass a new authorization bill before the old one expired on July 22 has also tied up an additional $2.5 billion in infrastructure funds, as FAA put a hold on awarding new grants from its Airport Improvement Program (AIP). Moreover, the agency furloughed about 4,000 of its 47,000 workers.The closing of the AIP grant window is a bigger problem for
As the clock ticked closer to the Aug. 2 deadline for raising the federal debt limit, the focus shifted to dueling plans from Senate Democrats and House Republicans. Both proposals, unveiled on July 25, would raise the debt cap and cut deeply into federal spending, but the plans themselves differed sharply on the timing and structure.Lawmakers on each side maintained they did not want to see the U.S. default, but they remained at odds and continued to blast the other's proposals. Construction industry and state officials also hope lawmakers can avert default, which economists say could drive up interest rates
Key Senators have reached agreement on more elements of a two-year, $109-billion highway transit bill. However, attaining that funding level requires identifying $12 billion to add to the amount that the Highway Trust Fund can provide, they acknowledge.Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), an architect of the plan, noted at a July 21 hearing that the current authorization expires on Sept. 30. “It's clear that we have to act,” she said. The measure's title will be Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, or MAP-21. But by ENR press time, the bill had not been
As an Aug. 2 deadline looms on raising the federal debt limit and with no deal yet in sight (at ENR's press time), anxious construction industry officials await Washington's next move as lawmakers negotiate a plan to steer the U.S. clear of a default on its debt obligations. Photo by AP Wideworld DEADLINE NEARS: McConnell (2nd from right) floated back-up plan with phased debt-limit boost. He has been discussing the plan with Reid (3rd from right). Related Links: Center for American Progress Report on Perils of Not Raising Debt Ceiling Construction economists say if congressional leaders and the White House
Related Links: 2010 Inspector General Report on Iraq Reconstruction Three former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project officials and two foreign contractor employees have been charged with 54 counts of bribery, fraud and conspiracy linked to $50.2 million worth of Corps construction contracts in Iraq, the U.S. Justice Dept. says. The new charges, unsealed on July 14, expand the list of defendants and their alleged offenses brought in a criminal complaint last October.Charged in the federal indictment are John A. Salama Markus and Onisem Gomez, two U.S. citizens and former Corps project engineers in Iraq. Also named is Ammar Al-Jobory,
As outlines of new House and Senate transportation bills come into sharper focus, it is clear the construction industry will be hard-pressed to get even a small federal funding boost above current levels for highways and transit. That outcome would be another blow to construction firms bracing for the end of the federal stimulus program and enduring spending cuts by state and local transportation agencies.Two plans are on the table. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) on July 7 formally unveiled a $230-billion, six-year transportation framework. In the Senate, Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer
Construction's unemployment rate continued its downward trend in June, falling to 15.6% from May's 16.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Last month's rate also was significantly better than the June 2010 level of 20.1%. The latest monthly BLS unemployment report, released on July 8, also had some discouraging numbers for construction, however. Construction lost 9,000 jobs in June on a seasonally adjusted basis and its jobless rate was still the highest among major U.S. industries. Nearly all construction segments posted job losses in June. The exception was nonresidential specialty trade contractors, which recorded a gain of 3,100. The largest
John C. Truesdale TRUESDALE, a Democratic former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board and five-term veteran, died on July 3 from cancer in Annapolis, Md., said the board. He was 89. Truesdale served under recess appointments by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, retired once, and then served again as chairman in 2001 at age 80. In 1995, he upheld an NLRB administrative ruling that the carpenters' union could not fire 10 independent union group members for “disloyalty” during a 1991 organizing drive. He and two other board members ordered Sigurd Lucassen, then union president, to re-instate and compensate
The AFL-CIO says it is seeking to pull together at least $10 billion in private and public funds over the next five years to invest in infrastructure projects, with the money coming from pension funds, federal, state and local governments, contractors, financial companies and non-profit organizations. The plan, which union officials announced on June 29 at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting, also includes spending at least $20 million in union-related funds over the next 12 months to make energy-efficiency improvements to public and private buildings. The AFL-CIO will kick off that effort by issuing a request for proposals to do
