In addition to putting on the hair shirt for GSA’s
sins of excess in Las Vegas, the already reeling construction industry is
expected to take the flogging for enduring federal fiscal irresponsibility. The biggest casualty of the ongoing war of
words between the Obama administration and House Budget Committee chairman Paul
Ryan remains the unemployment strapped construction sector of the American
economy.
While the fiscal 2013 legislative appropriations
process is barely off the ground, the writing is already on the wall for
American construction. Cuts of 36% in transportation construction spending, and
10% in water resources infrastructure spending are embedded in the House budget
resolution. Failure of Congress to pass any long term reauthorization of the
federal Highway Trust Fund for President Obama’s entire term is emblematic of
the leadership vacuum in Washington, D.C.
Despite the loud professions of both political parties’
elected leaders that they want to reinvigorate the U. S. economy, it is very
clear none of them has a single clue how to go about doing that.
