House Appropriations Subcommittees Gear Up

Beginning action for the regular federal spending cycle, subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee approved some measures of potential interest to the construction industry this week, including $64.4 billion for the Justice, Commerce and Science budget, which includes another $400 million for jail construction and policed officer hiring in areas overwhelmed by illegal immigration problems. This measure passed after a 29-22 defeat of an amendment which proposed to rescind every dollar of the $625 billion stimulus appropriations which has not been spent so far.

A second appropriation measure for the Interior Department totaling $32.3 billion includes $10.75 billion for EPA clean water and drinking water projects and environmental cleanup activities, among other agency needs. This is in addition to the $10.95 billion for EPA projects in the stimulus package.

The third important measure for businesses in the Washington D.C. area is the appropriation measure providing for $3.7 billion for Congress itself, which includes down payments on a $100 million reconstruction of the U. S. Capitol Dome, and $700 million to rebuild the century old Cannon building housing legislative offices.

Agriculture Department Broadband Grant Rules Coming June 30

USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager announced yesterday that rules governing grants for broadband construction provided for in the stimulus legislation under the Rural Utilities Service will be published by June 30, opening the way for interested businesses to apply for these funds.

Climate Change Measure Continues To Rankle

It isn't just Republican Congressmen and Senators who are opposing the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009; the Obama administration's carbon cap and trade measure pending in the House. Democrat Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is threatening to filibuster the measure in the Senate unless an amendment permitting oil and gas drilling off the Florida coast is stripped from the bill. Meanwhile, on the House side, Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman are meeting in person today to see if they can resolve an impasse between the committee staffs on the question whether EPA or the Agriculture Department should control agricultural carbon offsets. At the same time, House Republicans are calling for alternative proposal to increase domestic oil and gas production, and construction of 100 more nuclear power plants in the next 20 years.

The problem for the construction industry is this: passage of the Democrat backed cap and trade bill will promote construction in certain energy sectors, and passage of the Republican backed measure would promote construction in other energy sectors. A deadlock resulting in no legislation on the subject, however, will stall energy sector construction for the next two years.

What's Coming For Business In Health Care Reform?

I have spent the last day and a half parsing the 615 page "draft" of Senator Kennedy's Affordable Health Choices Act. Without waiting for the Senator and his Committee to fill in the few significant sections stating only "Policy Under Discussion," here's what's in the bill as presented:

if you have health coverage now, you can keep it.

everyone who applies must be accepted.

all policies must be guaranteed renewable.

dependent coverage must continue up to age 26.

employers must offer coverage and file an information return identifying covered employees and telling how many months each employee was covered.

everyone must purchase health insurance, or pay a fine in an amount to be determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

all health insurance will be subject to the following requirements:

no exclusion for preexisting conditions
no premium differences based on health status, gender, past claims
premiums may vary from locality to locality based on local costs
premiums may vary based on age and family structure
no annual or lifetime limit to benefits payable

The bill leaves it up to the Secretary of HHS to determine the amount of the fine for not being covered during any period of 90 days or more, but I am predicting the amount will be equal to the individual coverage premium under the prior year's public plan as proposed in the legislation. How will the government know you aren't covered? Your employer will report social security numbers of those who are covered, and if you file a tax return and don't show up in the database of covered SSN's as reported by all employers, you will be charged the fine.

If you or your business has any concerns with these proposals, now is the time to get in touch with your Congressman and Senators.

Stimulus Controversy Continues

Arguments in Washington over the pace and effectiveness of spending the stimulus appropriations continued yesterday, with President Obama and Vice President Biden promising to increase the pace of spending to save and create jobs, while House Oversight and Government Reform ranking member Darrell Issa complained about the lack of any mechanism for tracking and monitoring the expenditures. At the beginning of yesterday's Cabinet meeting, President Obama announced that 150,000 jobs have been saved in the first 110 days since enactment of the legislation, and promised to create or save 600,000 more jobs in the next three months by speeding up the pace of spending. Vice President Biden added "What we're talking about here is putting some pace on the ball."

President Obama contends that the infrastructure and safeguards for spending the remaining $675 billion in stimulus appropriations is in place, and added, "... you haven't heard a bunch of scandals - knock on wood - so far." Before the cabinet meeting began, Representative Issa complained that "[President Obama] has put in place an impossible scenario where the federal bureaucracy will be asked to absorb and disburse an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars without any reliable mechanism in place to track and monitor stimulus spending."

House Appropriations Proposes $68.8 Billion For Transportation And Housing

Despite the delays in progress of a surface transportation reauthorization bill for the next six years, the House Appropriations Committee today is expected to propose annual discretionary appropriations for fiscal 2010 totaling $68.8 billion for the HUD and Transportation departments. There is no clear path for this appropriation in the Senate as yet, however.

E-Verify Funding Extension Through 2011 Proposed

The House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously approved a spending bill for the Homeland Security Department yesterday including reauthorization of the cost of the employer on-line work authorization program E-Verify for checking prospective employee eligibility to work in the United States. The reauthorization was requested by the Obama administration through 2012, but the Committee extended the program only 2 years amid hopes for enactment of comprehensive immigration law reform before the 2011 expiration.