Operating Engineer - Winter 2015

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Politics & Legislation Can the New Congress Get Anything Done? THE 114TH CONGRESS is underway with Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate. Right out of the gate, Congressional leaders made passage of the Keystone XL pipeline their top legislative priority. The House acted first and the Senate followed, both with bipartisan support, passing legislation that took the decision away from the President and deemed the pipeline ready for construction. As of this writing, President Obama plans to veto the bill when it reaches his desk and continue the current process of review by the State Department over the merits of the project, a process that has been going on for six years now. Although the pipeline project did garner widespread support in Congress, there are not enough votes to overcome the anticipated veto. There are a number of new faces in Congress, with many members supportive of Operating Engineers, from both sides of the aisle, not returning to Washington. The IUOE Legislative and Political Department has been meeting with new members and identifying those who are willing to work with us on core issues like the preservation of the Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Acts, investing in our national infrastructure, and protecting and strengthening the overall rights of workers. Legislation of importance to Operating Engineers in the 114th Congress is the authorization of a new, long-term highway bill and the updating of the laws that govern energy production for projects such as natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas export facilities and power plants. We also anticipate fights on the floors of the House and Senate over anti-union legislation, such as bills to repeal or weaken the Davis-Bacon and Service Contract Acts and even an attempt to pass a national right-to-work law. Rabid union foes like Rep. Steve King (R-IA), Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and others, have signaled that these fights are sure to come over the next two years. The International will be doing everything it can to move our pro-jobs, pro-worker agenda, while fighting off any anti-union legislation. Members can keep up to date on all of these legislative issues by routinely checking the IUOE web site and get active by signing up for the Engineers Action and Response Network (EARN), also through the web site. 6 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER
Road Ahead for Long-Term Transportation Bill Still Unclear OUR NATION’S ROADS stretch more than 4 million miles and support 3 trillion vehicle miles each year. But in 2013, the American Society of Civil Engineers graded our roads a D on its Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, in part because congestion alone cost the economy an estimated $101 billion annually in wasted time and fuel. Our bridges, too, merited only a C+. It shouldn’t take horrific events like the 2007 collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis – which killed 13 people – and the 2013 I-5 Skagit River Bridge collapse north of Seattle to remind us that our transportation infrastructure is under-funded and falling apart. More than 25 percent of our bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, and that’s simply unacceptable. Because the gas tax hasn’t been raised in more than twenty years, the Highway Trust Fund is at constant risk of insolvency. Last August, Congress narrowly averted bankrupting the Fund by passing the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which provided funding through May 31st of this year. But that means that in just a few short months, if Congress fails to pass a new surface reauthorization, the Department of Transportation will be forced to ration highway and transit funds for states. It’s not enough for Congress to simply pass another short-term extension at that point, either. Truly effective infrastructure construction and repair takes place over the long term: you can’t build a new highway or bridge in just a month or two. Without certainty about long-term federal investment, many states have already begun to pull back from transportation projects – exactly the opposite of what our surface transportation network and economy need now. And without a long-term funding plan, transportation jobs will continue to languish. While many parts of the economy have improved significantly from the Great Recession, unemployment in the construction sector still stands at 9.8 percent. While most of the economic effects of transportation investment accrue over the long-term, 68 percent of jobs related to infrastructure investment are in the construction sector – so investing in surface transportation means investing in good jobs for Operating Engineers and other construction crafts. There is hope: many in Congress have stopped ignoring the urgency of this problem and have begun to propose solutions to this funding crisis. Some have called for an increase in the federal gas tax and indexing it to inflation for future investments to the Highway Trust Fund. Others are looking to tax barrels produced at the refinery level, instead of at the pump, in order to prop up the fund. And others, including President Obama, are looking to generate billions through international corporate tax reform and dedicating that revenue to the fund over the next six years. Several other proposals have also been floated, but it’s unclear which of these might gain momentum and consensus before the Highway Trust Fund becomes insolvent, yet again, at the end of May. The IUOE has allied with other labor and business groups to pressure Congress into passing a long-term bill that will make serious investments in our roads, bridges, and transit systems and that will bring good paying jobs to Operating Engineers for years to come. WINTER 2015 7
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Operating Engineer - Winter 2015

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