Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/86182
Election ("AED Legislative Scorecard – House Votes" cont. from page 31) a two-year highway bill (Moving Ahead in Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21)), the House GOP caucus was divided on how to proceed, forcing its leadership to pursue another short-term extension. However, Democrats were adamant that the House should simply pass MAP-21 and many Republicans were against another extension at current investment levels, complicating passage. GOP leaders were twice forced to delay votes and round up necessary support. With just two days to spare before the sunset on the last continuation, the House passed an extension authorizing transportation programs through June 30, 2012, 266-158. The Senate followed suit, approving the measure by voice vote. House Vote 112-2-147, March 29, 2012. 6. MAP-21 (H.R. 4348) Despite Senate passage of MAP-21, the House had been unable to finish work on its long-term surface transporta- tion reauthorization bill, forcing House leadership to devise a strategy to move the process forward that would garner the votes necessary for approval. The plan was to pass a three-month extension as a shell bill to force a conference committee with the Senate to negotiate a final deal. In addition to the three-month continuation of the federal highway program, H.R. 4348 contained provisions to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, provide more certainty to harbor maintenance projects, prevent regulating fly ash as a hazardous material, speed environmental consid- erations for surface transportation projects, and provide money to restore oil spill zones in the Gulf. Many of these issues would ultimately prove a challenge for negotiators on the conference committee. The House agreed to the legislation, 293-127, followed by Senate approval, paving the way for appointment of a conference committee to negotiate a final highway bill. House Vote 112-2-170, April 18, 2012 7. Motion Instructing Conferees to Limit HTF Funding As the surface transportation conference committee worked toward a final highway bill report, House members wanted to force votes on issues related to the bill to get lawmakers on the record for and against certain policies. In the House, members may file "motions to instruct confer- ees," which are nonbinding "suggestions" by nonconfer- ence members for negotiators to take a certain position in conference. Many on the far right of the Republican caucus believed the federal government's role in infrastructure investment should be severely limited and even abolished. To that end, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) offered a motion to instruct confer- ees to restrict FY 2013 Highway Trust Fund (HTF) spending levels to $37.5 billion. AED and the transportation industry opposed this legislation, as it would have set a precedent for restricting 32 | www.cedmag.com | Construction Equipment Distribution | October 2012 an already underfunded federal infrastructure program. Fortunately, the House rejected the measure by a wide margin, 82-323. House Vote 112-2-378, June 8, 2012. 8. MAP-21 Conference Report Final Passage After nearly three years and 10 temporary extensions, the conference committee finally came to agreement on a final surface transportation conference report for House and Senate approval. The MAP-21 conference report authorized more than $40 billion annually for two years for highway contract authority, expanded Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innova- tive Act (TIFIA) funding, streamlined the project approval process, provided transportation enhancement reforms, and consolidated programs within the Department of Transpor- tation to restore accountability and transparency. MAP-21 will provide and sustain millions of jobs, and create roughly $7.2 billion in market opportunity for equipment dealers over the life of the bill. For years, AED concentrated efforts on obtaining certainty for equipment distributors through a long-term highway reauthorization bill. Working with allies on Capitol Hill and in the construction industry, and thanks to the active involve- ment of equipment distributors across the country, AED scored a major victory with passage of MAP-21. On June 29, the House agreed to the conference report, 373-52. Shortly thereafter, the Senate followed the House's lead by voting favorably on the bill, 74-19. President Obama signed MAP-21 into law on July 6. House Vote 112-2-451, June 29, 2012; Senate Vote 112-2- 172, June 29, 2012. 9. Repeal of Affordable Care Act (H.R. 6079) Shortly after the Supreme Court upheld the controversial Affordable Care Act, the House put forward a measure to demonstrate defiance to the president's controversial health care law. Republican House leadership proposed the Repeal of Obamacare Act (H.R. 6079) to scrap the sweep- ing health care law once and for all. A political and symbolic vote, it fell mostly along party lines, though five Democrats joined a united GOP caucus endorsing passage. The measure served as a reminder that the Supreme Court's ruling would not end the debate on health care reform. AED supports and will continue to fight for real, market-based alternatives that cut costs and restore certainty to the marketplace. The measure passed the House 244-185, but never made it to the Senate floor. House Vote 112-2-460, July 11, 2012. 10. Job Protection & Recession Prevention Act (H.R. 8) With a slew of taxes set to expire at the end of 2012, AED and the business community urged Congress to tackle the