As the House and Senate head for the end of their lame-duck session, must-pass tax and appropriations bills are advancing. The final versions of both measures will have a major impact on construction. An $858-billion tax bill on Dec. 14 was sent to the Senate for final passage. The bill extends 2001 and 2003 individual rates, offers alternative-minimum-tax protection for many and cuts employees’ Social Security payroll taxes to 4.2%, from 6.2% for one year. Those provisions would help small design and construction firms taxed at individual rates as partnerships or S Corporations. Family-owned firms would get a boost from
There was no shortage of takers for the $1.2 billion in federal passenger-rail funds that newly elected Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio said they don’t want. U.S. Dept. of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Dec. 9 that 14 states may divide the $1.2 billion that earlier had been awarded to Wisconsin and Ohio. California will get the largest share of the turned-back funds, $624 million. Many observers will be watching Florida to see whether the $342.3 million the Sunshine State gets in the redistribution will be enough to keep alive a proposed Tampa-Orlando rail line. Governor-elect Rick Scott
There is good news and bad news for construction in a revised, expanded Senate version of the tax package worked out earlier between the White House and Republican leaders. For construction, the positive news among the additions made to the package by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is a one-year extension of a tax break for wind, solar and other renewable-energy projects. The bad news is that the measure does not include an extension for the Build America Bond (BABs) program, which is slated to expire on Dec. 31. Reid introduced the bill
Seeking to wrap up unfinished appropriations business, the House has approved a $1.09-trillion, catch-all spending package that funds federal agencies, including construction programs, through Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2011. It also extends authorizations for surface transportation and aviation through Sept. 30. Those programs are running on stopgap authorizations, which lapse Dec. 31. The spending package, which the House narrowly passed on Dec. 8 on 212-206 vote, freezes total discretionary spending at 2010's $1.09-trillion. But many major individual construction programs were cut below their 2010 levels. The bill does hike Defense Dept. spending by $4.9 billion, but but to
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation is redistributing to 14 states $1.2 billion in high-speed-rail funds originally awarded to Wisconsin and Ohio, whose governors-elect have pledged to kill rail projects launched by their predecessors. Related Links: Rail Plans Hit Bumps Rail Dollars Rolling U.S. DOT said on Dec. 9 that California would get up to $624 million, the largest share of the reallocated rail funds. DOT had previously awarded $3.2 billion to the Golden State for its ambitious rail plan. Florida will get as much as $342.3 million under the redistribution. The state's incoming governor Rick Scott, has said he's opposed
Construction and engineering companies—and workers on jobsites or in offices—would benefit from the “framework” of an agreement between President Obama and congressional Republicans on a package of new tax breaks and two-year extensions of current rates and other incentives. The framework deal, which Obama announced on Dec. 6, next goes to Congress. Key Democrats there appear not to be on board yet. Leading Republicans’ initial reactions were positive. Lawmakers must take action by Dec. 31, when many of the tax provisions at issue are slated to lapse. Construction and engineering industry officials like the framework in general and expect its
More than half of the members of a presidential commission have endorsed an aggressive deficit-cutting blueprint that includes a proposed 15¢-per-gallon boost in the federal gasoline tax. Eleven of 18 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform members voted for the wide-ranging plan, but that was three votes short of the 14-member supermajority needed for formal approval. Still, commission members who gathered on Dec. 3 in a Senate hearing room for the voting session were optimistic that the plan, contained in a final report titled “The Moment of Truth,” would have an impact on future federal budget debates. One panel
Construction and engineering companies--and individual workers on jobsites or in offices--would benefit from the "framework" of an agreement between President Obama and congressional Republicans on a package of new tax breaks and two-year extensions of current rates and other incentives. White House photo by Pete Souza Obama announces outline of deal with Republicans on taxes The framework deal, which Obama announced on Dec. 6, next goes to Congress. Key Democrats there appear not to be on board yet. Leading Republicans' initial reactions were positive. Lawmakers must take action by Dec. 31, when many of the tax provisions at issue are
A former executive with a United Kingdom subsidiary of the then-Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc. has pleaded guilty to a charge that he conspired to bribe Nigerian government officials to win contracts for a $6-billion project in that country, the U.S. Dept. of Justice said. Related Links: Halliburton Terminates Relations with Former CEO A. Jack Stanley Ex-KBR CEO Guilty of Bribery Nigeria charges former US VP Cheney over bribery KBR Statement Wojciech J. Chodan, a former commercial vice president and consultant to the KBR subsidiary, entered a guilty plea on Dec. 6 in federal district court in Houston on one
Construction's unemployment rate showed another year-over-year improvement in November, dipping to 18.8% from the November 2009 level of 19.4%, but also was worse than October's 17.3%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest monthly employment report, released on Dec. 3, also shows that construction lost 5,000 jobs in November, on a seasonally adjusted basis, after gaining 3,000 in October. Looking at industry segments, BLS reported that the 6,800 jobs lost in specialty trade contractors last month more than offset gains in the buildings and heavy-civil construction sectors. November was the second-consecutive month in which the construction jobless rate was lower than
