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Members of Congress Join ABC in Advocating for Fair and Open Competition

June 30, 2021

On June 28, eight members of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services sent an ABC-supported letter to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen expressing concerns about the department’s guidance on $350 billion worth of federal funding for state and local fiscal recovery allocated in the American Rescue Plan and the encouragement of project labor agreements on federally assisted water, sewer and broadband projects.

“At a time when the global pandemic has upended our workforce, disrupted our businesses, and created economic turmoil, this Administration should not be promoting project labor agreements on public works construction projects that will institute arbitrary, discriminatory barriers to recovery at the expense of taxpayers,” the House members wrote. Rep. Ted Budd (N.C.), sponsor of ABC’s priority legislation, the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1284), led the letter with fellow Republican Reps. Ann Wagner (Mo.), Alex Mooney (W.Va.), William Timmons (S.C.), Andy Barr (Ky.), Warren Davidson (Ohio) and French Hill (Ark.) joining as signatories.

This congressional effort advocating against government-mandated PLAs comes as the Biden administration reportedly prepares an executive order to expand federal agencies’ use of PLAs by replacing President Obama’s Executive Order 13502—which encouraged federal agencies to consider requiring PLAs when awarding contracts of at least $25 million—with an order that is likely to mandate PLAs on more federal construction projects.

As Congress considers infrastructure legislation, ABC will continue to lead advocacy efforts to ensure that any federal investment in our nation’s infrastructure benefits all of the U.S. construction industry, regardless of labor affiliation. Learn more about ABC’s opposition to government-mandated PLAs and support for the Fair and Open Competition Act at freeenterprisealliance.org/foca.

ABC members concerned about the Treasury’s push for PLAs on federally assisted construction projects are encouraged to write the Treasury by July 15 via ABC’s grassroots campaign and ABC members can also write the Biden administration in opposition to the forthcoming pro-PLA executive order.

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