Construction Reinvented.
Is Any Of The Stimulus For Construction Real?
Conflicting Budget Resolutions Go To Conference
Late Thursday afternoon the House passed its version of the five year budget resolution, and just before midnight Thursday the Senate passed its conflicting version. As far as the construction industry is concerned, the major conflict is the difference in approach to transportation infrastructure funding. The Senate version slashes over $72 billion from the amount budgeted by the House for surface transportation infrastructure construction over the next five years, completely negating all the appropriations passed in the economic stimulus package for transport infrastructure construction. The Senate numbers will result in the stimulus appropriations representing mere acceleration of planned spending into the first year of a five year budget, rather than any additional investment in national highway, bridge, waterway, airport, railway and transit construction.
Both bills passed along strict party line votes, without a single Republican vote in favor of the bills in either house of Congress. They will now go to conference committee for reconciliation of the differences, and House Budget Chairman John Spratt said staffers from the House and Senate will begin talks during the upcoming two week recess to speed things along. Let's hope the conferees understand that failure to restore the $72.1 billion investment in transport infrastructure approved in the House budget is essential to avoid completely gutting the economic stimulus of the construction industry.
Is $7.2 Billion For Broadband Construction Going Begging?
In remarks at a convention of the cable TV industry in Washington D.C. yesterday, House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher spoke out against open access requirements which could discourage major cable networks from applying for $7.2 billion in grants for construction of broadband towers and other facilities to make internet access available in presently unserved and underserved areas of our nation. The funds, appropriated in the economic stimulus legislation passed earlier this year, have so far been rejected by major cable operators because of the absence of a clear regulatory definition of what "open access" means in terms of availability of facilities to other networks at wholesale rates. Boucher urged the major industry players to apply for the grant money.
Another bottleneck in the way of funding these tower construction contracts is the dispute among Congressional leaders over where the money should be spent. Boucher and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman want the new facilities to be built in both unserved localities, and underserved localities where some service is available. Republicans Joe Barton and Cliff Sterns, ranking members on Waxman's committee and Boucher's subcommittee, want to restrict all the $7.2 billion to construction in completely unserved localities. Until these two regulatory bottlenecks are resolved, the construction contractors waiting for these projects to be released for bidding will continue to go hungry.
Late Thursday afternoon the House passed its version of the five year budget resolution, and just before midnight Thursday the Senate passed its conflicting version. As far as the construction industry is concerned, the major conflict is the difference in approach to transportation infrastructure funding. The Senate version slashes over $72 billion from the amount budgeted by the House for surface transportation infrastructure construction over the next five years, completely negating all the appropriations passed in the economic stimulus package for transport infrastructure construction. The Senate numbers will result in the stimulus appropriations representing mere acceleration of planned spending into the first year of a five year budget, rather than any additional investment in national highway, bridge, waterway, airport, railway and transit construction.
Both bills passed along strict party line votes, without a single Republican vote in favor of the bills in either house of Congress. They will now go to conference committee for reconciliation of the differences, and House Budget Chairman John Spratt said staffers from the House and Senate will begin talks during the upcoming two week recess to speed things along. Let's hope the conferees understand that failure to restore the $72.1 billion investment in transport infrastructure approved in the House budget is essential to avoid completely gutting the economic stimulus of the construction industry.
Is $7.2 Billion For Broadband Construction Going Begging?
In remarks at a convention of the cable TV industry in Washington D.C. yesterday, House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher spoke out against open access requirements which could discourage major cable networks from applying for $7.2 billion in grants for construction of broadband towers and other facilities to make internet access available in presently unserved and underserved areas of our nation. The funds, appropriated in the economic stimulus legislation passed earlier this year, have so far been rejected by major cable operators because of the absence of a clear regulatory definition of what "open access" means in terms of availability of facilities to other networks at wholesale rates. Boucher urged the major industry players to apply for the grant money.
Another bottleneck in the way of funding these tower construction contracts is the dispute among Congressional leaders over where the money should be spent. Boucher and House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman want the new facilities to be built in both unserved localities, and underserved localities where some service is available. Republicans Joe Barton and Cliff Sterns, ranking members on Waxman's committee and Boucher's subcommittee, want to restrict all the $7.2 billion to construction in completely unserved localities. Until these two regulatory bottlenecks are resolved, the construction contractors waiting for these projects to be released for bidding will continue to go hungry.
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