The latest: A record-setting infrastructure investment—the $1.2 trillion, bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—just needs to pass the House before it can be signed into law. However, a small faction of House progressives are holding it hostage until they can pass a very different, multi-trillion dollar “human” infrastructure bill—the Build Back Better Plan. This delay necessitated Congress passing a one-month extension of federal-aid surface transportation programs earlier this month.

The difference:

• The AGC-supported, bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) reauthorizes federal-aid surface transportation programs at record levels, invests in a variety of new infrastructure projects across the country, and includes sensible environmental permitting reform, all while not increasing taxes on construction firms nor containing new, burdensome labor requirements.
• The AGC-opposed Build Back Better Plan could increase taxes on construction firms of nearly all types and sizes, include AGC-opposed PRO Act provisions, and tie federal tax incentives to various workforce mandates on public and private construction projects.

What’s at stake: Thousands of construction jobs and projects are on the line if the House doesn’t act before the expiration of federal-aid highway, transit, and rail programs on October 31. Without passage, a wide variety of new projects will be unable to move forward and funding for ongoing projects will be in jeopardy. If the House again fails to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Congress MUST pass an extension of current law to provide funding for these vital surface transportation programs. Otherwise, federal payments to states for new construction projects will slow down, and, eventually, end.

Action required: Urge your members of Congress to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill to provide record investment and long-term stability in our nation’s infrastructure programs. It is crucial for every member of the construction industry to call on Congress to pass the IIJA before October 31 to avoid job losses and construction delays.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill represents the best chance to significantly invest in building and maintaining a broad range of physical infrastructure without unnecessarily burdening the construction industry with new taxes and workforce mandates. Our industry cannot let this historic opportunity pass us by.