By Mike Oscar, ASA’s Director of Government Relations

In the second week of June, ASA advocates visited our Nation’s Capital to ensure the voices of subcontractors, who make up three-fourths of the construction industry, were heard. Along with the visit to Capitol Hill, ASA was also invited to meet at the White House and speak out about the need for tax reform. This was a special opportunity and further highlights the value of ASA’s advocacy in Washington D.C.

The visit came as both Chambers of Congress and the White House are diligently working to finalize the budget reconciliation bill among other legislative priorities. Forty-nine (49) ASA advocates, one of the largest groups in recent history, participated in 15 Senate meetings and 20 House meetings to discuss ASA’s legislative priorities and to weigh in on the tax provisions currently being discussed within the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

ASA members also participated in several high priority group meetings:

• Senate Small Business Committee – Members met with Small Business Committee Legal counsel to discuss the Small Business Payment for Performance Act and the collaborative effort to amend the legislation and advocate for its support.
• Sen. Maizie Hirono (D-HI) – Members met with Senator Hirono’s staff to discuss federal procurement issues. Senator Hirono’s position on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Small Business Committee is valuable and we have a strong working relationship with her team.
• Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) – Members met with Senator Daine’s Finance Committee staff to discuss the Main Street Tax Certainty Act. Senator Daines authored the legislation which would make the 20% pass through business tax deduction permanent, and ASA supports the legislation.
• Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) -Members met with the Senator’s Tax Counsel for the Finance Committee to reiterate their priorities in the tax reform legislation and to advocate for continued tax certainty for small businesses.
• Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) – Members met with key members of the Senator’s staff to discuss his legislation, The Water Infrastructure Subcontractor and Taxpayer Protection Act. ASA supports this legislation which seeks to improve project delivery and reduce risk of default on federally financed water infrastructure projects by requiring surety bonds on contractors working public private projects.
• Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) – Sen. Kelly is the Democrat co-sponsor of the Water Infrastructure Subcontractor and Taxpayer Protection Act. Members had an opportunity to meet staff to reiterate their support of this legislation which requires surety bonds for federally funded water infrastructure projects.
• House Small Business Committee minority and majority staff – Members engaged senior staff for both the minority and majority on federal procurement issues, and more specifically the Small Business Payment for Performance Act.
• Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) – Members met with Rep. Stauber who is the sponsor of the Small Business Payment for Performance Act which mandates quick payment for contractors following change orders. Rep. Stauber is also Co-chair of the Congressional Construction Procurement Caucus, and we are grateful for his time and continued advocacy of our issues.
• Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) – Members met with Rep. Scholten’s staff to discuss ASA’s legislative priorities and other small business issues. Rep. Scholten is the democratic Co-chair of the Congressional Construction Procurement Caucus, and we appreciate her advocacy.
• Rep. Bost (R-IL) – ASA members met with Rep. Bost’s key staff to discuss bonding issues. Rep. Bost is the sponsor of the P3 legislation requiring bonding for federally funded public private partnership projects. We appreciate Rep. Bost’s continued efforts to amend the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act with this legislation.

One result of these meetings was an interview on June 16 with Andrew Christ and Scott Holbrook on Fox News Business Network, as they, along with ASA, support President Trump’s pro-business agenda, which includes the tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Thank you to this elite group for their prodigious advocacy efforts during our annual Capitol Hill visit. Hope to see YOU next year!