Government Affairs: New Beginnings

Words: Dan Kamys

New Beginnings

Stephen A. Borg  

What a way to kick-off the New Year. The Mason Contractors Association of America kicks off a new magazine, the new Congress gets sworn in on January 3rd, and President Trump gets inaugurated on January 20th. Well what does this mean for you? For starters, you will be hearing less from me and more from Members of Congress in this column, but more importantly it means that the federal government will be committed to much more small business friendly regulations, laws, and priorities. We here at MCAA are keeping our eyes on many priorities and look forward to working with the new Administration and Congress to promote our priorities and our industry, but in particular we see great opportunities in the following areas that seem to be priorities for President-Elect Trump and Congressional Leaders: Broad-based, comprehensive business tax reform. President-elect Trump, recently nominated cabinet secretaries, and Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle have mentioned how important tax reform is going to be early in 2017 and we fully expect Congress to tackle this endeavor right out of the gate. Specific tax reform we are paying attention to is repeal of the “death tax”, lowering of overall tax rates, and tax incentives to re-invest in businesses. Infrastructure investment package.  President-elect Trump and his closest advisors have mentioned numerous times their desire to pass a package to invest and encourage private investment in our nation’s infrastructure, particularly mentioning roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and airports. This would provide our industry with a massive influx of projects and opportunities throughout the country. Repeal of many of the over-burdensome, infeasible Obama Regulations. I don’t have to tell you how many regulations the Obama administration has issued that are putting a death grip on your companies. From silica, to overtime, to injury reporting to name just a few these regulations are making it near impossible for you to run your business. Leaders in Congress and the Trump Administration have made it clear that one of their first priorities is to remove many, if not most of these over-burdensome regulations. We will be utilizing the relationships and respect we have been building throughout the years on Capitol Hill to ensure that the voice of mason contractors is heard loud and clear as these decisions are being made. It is exciting to see a number of our friends and champions from Capitol Hill being named to Cabinet positions and being considered for top spots in the Administration. And this is where we need your help. Take the start of 2017 and all of the new, exciting endeavors at MCAA to kick-start your commitment to getting involved in our Government Affairs program and staying engaged with your elected officials. These relationships are invaluable!  We are swinging with the big boys and now is the time to re-double our efforts when there is so much potential for the federal government to help our industry and your business. Be on the lookout for further details in the near future, but please put a hold on your calendar for the Annual MCAA Legislative Fly-In during the week of May 15th 2017. We are standing at the start of new beginnings and we need your help to build our industry up.
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