By Mike Oscar, ASA
The Electoral College confirmed the 2020 Presidential Election results, making Joe Biden the President-Elect. While the Democrats will keep control of the U.S. House, the Republicans won 21 of the 38 “red-to-blue” districts the Democrats were eyeing as potential gains, and increased their number in the House by 9, making it the smallest majority in 18 years (222 to 211). With more than 200 House seats, Republicans can make themselves an extremely powerful minority. Finally, the Senate now stands at 48-48. With the two Georgia Senate seat runoffs: Sen. Perdue (R) v. Jon Ossoff (D) and Raphael Warnock (D) v. Sen. Loeffler (R) not scheduled until January 5th, the Senate will have to wait until then to organize and determine leadership posts, along with committee chairs and ranking members. If the final Senate makeup is 50-50, then the Vice President would be the tie breaking vote.
Based upon the election results noted above, and as we enter 2021, we will continue to monitor and update you on how critical issues such as energy and infrastructure funding, corporate tax rates, Buy American Hire American, the Affordable Care Act, worker classification enforcement, cannabis legalization, and more will impact you and the construction industry.
In the interim, as members of Congress return for the “lame duck session,” we anticipate a very busy legislative agenda addressing our key issues such as enacting additional COVID-19 funding legislation, along with passing the FY21 appropriation funding bills, the National Defense Authorization Bill (NDAB), and the conference report on the Water Resources Development Act. On the NDAB, we will be working to ensure H.R. 2344, the Small Business Payment for Performance Act, which would compel agencies to be accountable for changed work they order by funding their own construction projects in a timely manner, instead of diverting that financial burden to the small contractors, remains included as an amendment to the final bill.
Additionally, we’ll be working to ensure final passage of the Construction Procurement Improvement Act (reverse auction), which passed the Senate unanimously on December 19, 2019. Currently, the legislation awaits final consideration in the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Finally, we’ll be working on the introduction of the Small Business Protection Act of 2020, which would attempt to eliminate the unfair competition our members face with the federal government and Federal Prisons Industries.
We will continue to update you on our legislative and regulatory efforts, and please feel free to join our Government Relations Committee to add your voice to our agenda.
About the Author
Mike Oscar is Director of Government Relations for the American Subcontractors Association, leading ASA’s government and industry advocacy programs, including federal legislation, government regulations, and industry collaboration and coalitions. A partner at Gray and Oscar, LLC, Mike has 20 years of experience in government affairs and 12 years of service on Congressional staff. During his tenure on Capitol Hill, he worked in both Republican and Democratic offices in the U.S. House and Senate, giving him rare institutional knowledge of both chambers and caucuses.
