On behalf of the Jobs and Careers Coalition (JCC), we appreciate the HELP Committee’s July 27 executive session to markup five bills drafted to address America’s workforce shortages. Despite job gains, the disconnect between job openings and workers filling those jobs is such that there would be 1.9 million more workers on the payrolls if the Labor Force Participation Rate was the same as in February 2020. The JCC is a Washington, DC-based business group focused on job training and workforce development.

The National Asphalt Pavement Association, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association, and Portland Cement Association would like to share our opposition to Perry Amendment #58 to the National Defense Authorization Act. Collectively, the cement, concrete, asphalt, and aggregates industries are working to reduce our carbon footprint. A critical part of that is advancing the use of lower-carbon versions of these critical construction materials that are market ready and recognized by consensus-based standards setting organizations.

The undersigned diverse group of construction and business associations strongly support the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1209/S. 537) ––introduced by Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind.––and urges members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to vote in support of this legislation at the markup expected to occur on June 12.

The undersigned business groups strongly support the introduction of your Main Street Tax Certainty Act of 2023, legislation to make permanent the 20-percent deduction for small- and individually-owned businesses (Section 199A). Your legislation would provide certainty to the millions of S corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships that rely on the Section 199A deduction to remain competitive both here and overseas. Individually- and family-owned businesses organized as pass-throughs are the backbone of the American economy.

The 32 undersigned organizations oppose the following bills being considered at the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee markup on June 21, 2023: the Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (“PRO”) Act (S. 567), the Healthy Families Act (S. 1664), and the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 728).

The undersigned organizations (“the Business Community”) offer these comments in response to Office of Management and Budget’s (“OMB”) April 7, 2023, “Request for Comments on Guidance Implementing Section 2(e) of the Executive Order of April 6, 2023.” The Business Community recommends to OMB that it withdraw the draft guidance and recommends to President Biden that he restore the original Executive Order 12866. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ (OIRA) open-door policy granting meetings to any party interested in a regulation under review has reinforced the rigor and leg

High Court Strikes Down EPA's Efforts to Expand Its Authority; ARTBA and NSSGA Partnered During Legal Battle

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) campaign to regulate all U.S. ditches hit another roadblock May 25. The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed with the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) that the agency exceeded its authority in developing new wetlands regulations.

The Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO or Partnership) and the 104 undersigned organizations again urge the Department of Labor’s (DOL or Department) Wage and Hour Division to abandon or at least postpone issuance of its announced proposed rulemaking altering the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Department's Fall 2022 Regulatory Agenda targeted this May for release of a proposed rule.

The undersigned business groups strongly support the introduction of your Main Street Tax Certainty Act of 2023, legislation to make permanent the 20-percent deduction for small- and individually-owned businesses (Section 199A). Your legislation would provide certainty to the millions of S corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships that rely on the Section 199A deduction to remain competitive both here and overseas. Individually- and family-owned businesses organized as pass-throughs are the backbone of the American economy.

As you draft the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill we urge you to provide robust funding for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Mining Research Program, whose work is essential to advancing the wellbeing of the men and women of the mining industry. As you know, NIOSH conducts critical applied research, develops criteria for occupational safety and health standards to protect workers, and provides technical services to government, labor, and industry.