Jim Riley, Director, Government Affairs
John Boling, Director, Government Affairs
Joe Colaneri, Director, Government Affairs
Patricia Maeder, Division Coordinator
www.nssga.org
Action Center
e-Digest
- CALLS FOR GAS USER FEE SUSPENSION CONTINUE
- NSSGA ISSUES A2 ACTION ALERT IN RESPONSE TO USER FEE SUSPENSION PROPOSALS
- IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER FOR THE TCC FLY-IN!
- NSSGA CONTINUES MINE SAFETY BRIEFINGS
- NSSGA MEMBER TESTIFIES AT HOUSE HEARING ON NON-CONSENSUS STANDARD MAKING ORGANIZATIONS
- HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE EXPRESSES OPPOSITION TO EXPLOSIVES USER TAX
- WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT (WRDA) STILL TREADING WATER IN SENATE
- WITHOUT BUDGET, APPROPRIATORS START WORK
- SAVE THE DATE: NSSGA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS/COMMUNITY RELATIONS FORUM SET FOR BALTIMORE IN NOVEMBER
CALLS FOR GAS USER FEE SUSPENSION CONTINUE
Calls for suspension of the gasoline user fee increased last week with both House and Senate leaders attempting to devise legislative packages to respond to increasing gas prices. One option that continues to be raised is suspension of the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline user fee.
Several members of the House have written House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) calling for a 30-day suspension of the user fee. NSSGA and its TCC and ATM partners oppose any suspension and have registered opposition in letters to Congress. NSSGA President and CEO Joy Wilson urged Congressional leadership to resist using the gas user fee for short-term political gain, which could have long-term ramifications for the nation's highway system.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) proposed a "Gas Tax Holiday Rebate" of $100 to taxpayers. Frist initially wanted to suspend the gas tax as part of the plan, but many Senate Republicans said there is no guarantee oil companies would pass along the savings to consumers. Opposition from business was quick to another propsal to pay for the consumer gas user fee rebate by repealing the accounting method known as "last in first out," or LIFO, and instead require businesses to account for sales on their inventories in a way that would raise their tax liability. Subsequently, this idea, too, was scuttled.
Members of Congress appear to be responding to opposition from highway interests to suspending the user fee on gasoline. NSSGA has issued a legislative action alert calling on its grassroots to contact their member of Congress on this important issue. (See following article.)
NSSGA ISSUES A2 ACTION ALERT IN RESPONSE TO USER FEE SUSPENSION PROPOSALS
NSSGA has activated its Aggregates in Action A2 grassroots network in response to growing calls from members of Congress to suspend the highway user fee as a means of giving consumers some relief from high gas prices. A2 activists are being asked to contact their members of Congress and make certain they understand that a suspension of the gas user fee is no guarantee of lower prices for consumers at the pump. Further, such a suspension would set a dangerous precedent for highway funding. The Highway Trust Fund (HTF) would lose revenues and as many are suggesting, the funding loss would be made up from other sources, which would violate the HTF's firewalls.
You can use the sample letter provided in NSSGA's online Legislative Action Center or call NSSGA's Washington Action Hotline at (800) 450-8293 to be connected directly to the U.S. Capitol Switchboard and ask to speak with your Members of Congress Washington offices. Talking points are also available in the Legislative Action Center for those who prefer to call or write letters of their own. Make your voice heard today!
It is not too late to register for the TCC Fly-In. NSSGA needs your participation to help build the case for increased investment in our nation's highway system and to register opposition to proposals to suspend or repeal the gasoline user fee.
The Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) Fly-In is scheduled in two weeks, May 17-18, at the J. W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. NSSGA is holding a Government Affairs Committee meeting in B-354 of the Rayburn House Office Building from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on May 17 before the start of the fly-in with special congressional guests. Lunch will be served. Plan on attending and receiving the latest update on issues of importance to the aggregates industry!
The fly-in officially begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Marriott. There will be a TCC congressional reception on May 17 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer. NSSGA will hold a ROCKPAC Major Donors ($500 - $5,000 contributors) dinner beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Bolton Room in the Capitol Hill Club. U.S. Rep. John Jimmy Duncan (R-Tenn.), a leading candidate for chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, will be our guest.
The morning of May 18 will begin with a breakfast speaker followed by a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill. The featured Fly-In guest speaker is political analyst, author and pundit Larry Sabato, who wrote Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election. Sabato is director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Please RSVP your attendance to Patricia Maeder for both the Government Affairs Committee Meeting and the ROCKPAC dinner.
Click here to register for the TCC Fly-In Conference. Registration for the full event is $175 per attendee. The cut-off for the hotel room block was Friday, April 14. There are still rooms available for May 17 and May 18, but the TCC room rate is no longer in effect. Contact the J. W. Marriott Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue at (202) 393-2000 to reserve your hotel rooms as soon as possible as the hotel is filling up fast.
Come to Washington and help us take our message to Congress!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER FOR THE TCC FLY-IN!
NSSGA kept up its aggressive advocacy on the mine safety issue in the Senate last week with meetings in the offices of two more key players in the mine safety issue, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Minority Whip. NSSGA was praised by Sen. Durbin's staff for being proactive on the issue while Sen. Rockefeller's office offered to share with the association subsequent drafts of the mine safety legislation in the coming days and weeks.
NSSGA continues to focus on the differences between the aggregates industry and the coal industry in its Capitol Hill visits. The offices we have visited generally agree with our perspective that "one size does not fit all" on this issue and that the unique characteristics of aggregates mining should be taken into account in any mine safety legislation. We will continue to make our case forcefully before all the key House and Senate members. Upcoming meetings will involve Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that has primary jurisdiction over this issue, and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), an author of one of the key mine safety bills before Congress. We will also be meeting once again with Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Chairman of the Senate Health Committee. NSSGA will update you as the mine safety bill moves through Congress.
NSSGA CONTINUES MINE SAFETY BRIEFINGS
NSSGA Pulverized Minerals Division Vice Chairman Jim Ruddell of Franklin Industrial Minerals testified on behalf of NSSGA at an April 27 House Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing on non-consensus standard making organizations. Of particular focus was the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Mr. Ruddell expressed the concern of NSSGA members about the process by which ACGIH establishes Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) that become de facto regulations by incorporation into regulatory standards developed by OSHA and MSHA. Further, governmental members of the ACGIH that are working on developing standards may be employed by MSHA and OSHA, the very governmental regulatory agencies writing the regulations. NSSGA expressed support for consensus standard setting organizations whose process is transparent.
Subcommittee Chairman Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) exhibited frustration with the Department of Labor and said that he believed incorporation of ACGIH standards in OSHA regulations was a violation of the OSH Act. He stated his intention to continue hearings on this issue and to call in Department of Labor representatives next. NSSGA will continue to work with the subcommittee in the effort to bring the standard setting processes into the "sunshine." Jim Ruddell's testimony can be accessed on NSSGA's website.
NSSGA MEMBER TESTIFIES AT HOUSE HEARING ON NON-CONSENSUS STANDARD MAKING ORGANIZATIONS
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce and Related Agencies held a hearing on the FY '07 budget of the areas under its jurisdiction on April 26. A focus of the hearing was the administration's proposal to impose a user tax on commercial explosives in order to fund the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms(ATF). Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said in his opening statement that the proposed $120 million tax "would not do." Ranking Democrat Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) contended his state would be the most heavily impacted by the tax and that the impact would increase as it ripples "through the economy." Both impressed upon the ATF witness that the Judiciary Committees, the authorizing committees with jurisdiction on this issue, must approve the user fee first and that the administration had done nothing to advance the tax.
NSSGA and its colleagues in the SSAFE (Safety & Security Alliance For Explosives) coalition have followed up with letters to Wolf and Mollohan to reiterate opposition to the administration proposal. NSSGA's policy position paper on the proposed explosives user tax can be accessed on NSSGA's website.
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE EXPRESSES OPPOSITION TO EXPLOSIVES USER TAX
Despite 82 senators calling for floor action on this legislation, no floor time has yet been scheduled on this important water infrastructure bill. The House passed its $10.6 billion version of WRDA last June. While a number of hurricane-related projects have been pulled out and inserted into the supplemental spending bill working through Congress, the price tag is still expected to be close to the House passed version. According to Senate aides, there are a number of amendments the Environment & Public Works Committee is continuing to negotiate along with an agreement limiting floor time that need to be concluded before the bill will come to the floor. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-Tenn.) office was deluged with calls from agriculture interests last week weighing in to urge consideration of the WRDA bill. NSSGA and its coalition partners are continuing to call for speedy floor action on this bill.
WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT ACT (WRDA) STILL TREADING WATER IN SENATE
With the prospects for a budget resolution outlining spending priorities still uncertain, appropriators are planning to get three spending bills out of the starting gates this week. Of interest to the aggregates industry, the Interior and Environment Subcommittee is planning a May 4 mark-up of a plan that allocates money for the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency. NSSGA will keep a watchful eye on the amount allocated to the U.S. Geological Survey's Minerals Information Team, as well as the funding level for water infrastructure programs. Full committee action on the spending bill is expected next week with possible floor action by the end of the month.
WITHOUT BUDGET, APPROPRIATORS START WORK
NSSGA's Government Affairs and Communications & Community Relations divisions have joined forces to present the first Government Affairs/Community Relations Forum, Nov. 12-14 at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore hotel in downtown Baltimore, Md. This exciting new forum will bring together experts and practitioners of government, community and public relations to share best practices with aggregates industry professionals. More information about the program and registration will be available on the NSSGA website shortly, as will the event brochure. Pencil in the dates now, however, so you won't miss this great opportunity to learn and share.
SAVE THE DATE: NSSGA GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS/COMMUNITY RELATIONS FORUM SET FOR BALTIMORE IN NOVEMBER
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