Congress reconvenes January 6. High up on the Senate agenda is HR 7110, the infrastructure stimulus appropriation bill which passed the House last September. As presently written the legislation calls for spending nearly $63.5 billion dollars on state and federal construction projects, electric car battery development projects, job training programs, temporarily extended unemployment benefits, temporarily increased Medicaid assistance to states, and temporarily increased food stamp benefits. Of the $63.5 billion total appropriation, $40.7 billion is for construction projects.
Negotiations are underway to significantly increase both the total appropriation and the construction portion, up to a total appropriation of as much as $114.9 billion, with a construction portion of as much as $92.3 billion. When the bill leaves the conference committee, the total appropriation will likely be less than $100 billion, but a lot closer to that number than it is now. The proportion now allocated for construction projects is 64.2%. Environmentalists and other lobbies claim this represents overemphasis on construction, and will make every argument they can in efforts to reduce the share of the final appropriation allocated to construction. They want the difference to be devoted to their projects, at the expense of the construction industry and the skilled tradespeople who would otherwise be put back to work in the jobs created by the stimulus package.
Once the bill leaves the conference committee, it will be too late to preserve these lost jobs. Call your Representative and both Senators from your state as soon as Congress reconvenes, and let them know how important these skilled trade jobs are to the economy of your industry, your locality, and your state, or special interests will do everything they can to take federal dollars away from this important revitalization of the construction economy.
Negotiations are underway to significantly increase both the total appropriation and the construction portion, up to a total appropriation of as much as $114.9 billion, with a construction portion of as much as $92.3 billion. When the bill leaves the conference committee, the total appropriation will likely be less than $100 billion, but a lot closer to that number than it is now. The proportion now allocated for construction projects is 64.2%. Environmentalists and other lobbies claim this represents overemphasis on construction, and will make every argument they can in efforts to reduce the share of the final appropriation allocated to construction. They want the difference to be devoted to their projects, at the expense of the construction industry and the skilled tradespeople who would otherwise be put back to work in the jobs created by the stimulus package.
Once the bill leaves the conference committee, it will be too late to preserve these lost jobs. Call your Representative and both Senators from your state as soon as Congress reconvenes, and let them know how important these skilled trade jobs are to the economy of your industry, your locality, and your state, or special interests will do everything they can to take federal dollars away from this important revitalization of the construction economy.
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