U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, brought information from Washington, D.C. to his district in Montgomery at the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs & Issues breakfast at the Alabama Activity Center this week.
Rep. Rogers, who represents Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District, mentioned President Trump’s proposed infrastructure plan that will require states to match federal outlays.
“I’m most optimistic about the infrastructure bill,” Rep. Rogers said. “We’re going to pass an infrastructure bill of a trillion dollars but you better have a match.”
Rep. Rogers prediction is a clear signal to the Alabama Legislature to approve infrastructure financing in order to create the required match for road and bridge maintenance and new construction. He said he expects Congress to consider the infrastructure plan in September.
Rep. Rogers said Congress’s next goal is to tackle taxes.
“There’s a real desire for comprehensive tax reform,” he said. “I’m very optimistic about lower rates and getting rid of the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax.”
MANUFACTURERS PRAISE PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS
The National Association of Manufacturers congratulated President Trump for fulfilling regulatory and appointment promises during this first 100 days in office. The NAM said Trump has kept his promises by moving swiftly with executive orders and important appointments at key agencies and has continued to reach out and listen to NAM concerns about the duplicative and overreaching regulations that prevent manufacturers from reaching their full potential.
“Manufacturers have a champion in the White House when it comes to rethinking red tape and implementing a smarter regulatory process that will empower us to create more well-paying American jobs and compete-and win-in the global economy,” the NAM said. “His unprecedented focus on regulatory reform and relief has boosted our confidence and paved the way for growth and job creation. We look forward to continuing to work with him, his administration and Congress to make more progress on manufacturers’ policy priorities.”
NAM URGES SUPPORT FOR DOMESTIC MANUFACTURERS
The nation’s largest manufacturing association is calling on the U.S. government to fight initiatives by global institutions including the United Nations that will harm U.S. manufacturing jobs and exports.
In an opinion piece in The Hill, National Association of Manufacturers Vice President of International Economic Affairs Linda Dempsey announced a NAM-led coalition fight against anti-U.S. manufacturing initiatives.
The NAM and 14 other industry association members of Engaging America’s Global Leadership (EAGL), a coalition the NAM helped launch, wrote multiple Cabinet-level officials and purchased an advertisement urging greater U.S. leadership to improve accountability and transparency at the institutions. “The NAM will continue to work with the administration and Congress to hold these institutions accountable, improve U.S. oversight and coordination and expand the efforts of the U.S. and other governments to speak with one voice,” Dempsey wrote.
Manufacturers already face tough global competition and now face meddling from global institutions like the United Nations that could harm U.S. manufacturing jobs and growth, NAM said. “The key to further enhancing U.N.’s effectiveness is attitude: cooperation instead of duplication, sharing instead of competing, and collective responsibility instead of circumstantial individual interests,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said.
In 2015, the U.N. leadership sought an open conversation on access to medicines and the barriers to access but the panel was “hijacked by those pushing a polarizing, anti-innovation agenda and became a politicized assault on the concept of intellectual property, a cornerstone of U.S. manufacturing.”
U.S. stakeholders, including manufacturing industries that the new coalition, EAGL, represents, remain firmly committed to an ambitious bilateral, regional, and multilateral economic agenda in partnership with the international community to transparent, high-quality initiatives focused on global challenges, and to constructive U.S. leadership in these forums, Dempsey wrote.
The Business Council of Alabama is the exclusive representative of the NAM in Alabama.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Trump Opens the Door to More Pipelines Being Approved
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Hackbarth 5/11) “We could soon see a break in the logjam of pipeline projects waiting for federal approval. President Donald Trump nominated two people to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) … Neil Chatterjee, a senior energy adviser to McConnell who previously worked for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Robert Powelson, a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, for terms expiring in 2021 and 2020, respectively, an emailed statement from the White House late Monday shows.
“Currently FERC is down to two people on the commission … below its quorum of three, leaving it unable to sign off on new pipeline construction projects. Bloomberg reported this is delaying $50 billion in energy infrastructure investment: At least a half-dozen pipelines valued at $12 billion face imminent delays, while projects valued at $38 billion are slogging through an approval process that’s slow in the best of times. An additional $25 billion of proposed developments just beginning the application process also could be slowed if the situation persists late into the year.
“Needless to say, pro-energy folks are happy with President Trump’s nominees and hope for speedy confirmations. ‘Given the complexity and importance of the issues before the Commission, President Trump made phenomenal picks in Commissioner Powelson and Neil Chatterjee’, said Christopher Guith, Senior Vice President at the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy.”
Alabama Rep. Aderholt Applauds Creation of Agricultures Affairs to Benefit Rural Farms
Robert Aderholt (05/11) “House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt applauded Agriculture Secretary Perdue’s reorganization of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to include the creation of a new Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. Establishing the Undersecretary position emphasizes trade’s significance and importance with the agriculture economy.
“‘America’s strength lay not just in our ability to protect our allies but also to feed them. I have long said that Americas strength might lay not just in our military capabilities but in the fact that we have one of the strongest agricultural economies in the world. Realizing the strength of our farmers comes through trade. Quite frankly, our farmers and ranchers can compete with any country in the world if we are given a level playing field. An Under Secretary of Trade whose whole mission is to ensure that we have open markets, to provide proteins, and produce, will only make our rural economy that much stronger’.
“‘I am encouraged that one of Secretary Perdue’s first acts is to establish this new Under Secretary. This position will raise the profile of the American economy’s agricultural sector and focus on promoting American goods overseas. Secretary Perdue’s reorganization recognizes the importance of USDA programs in rural America. Conserving land for future generations and providing a safety net for our farmers, producers, and ranchers will now be under one roof’.”