The impacts of the pandemic on the operational elements of advocacy have been profound.
[Note: at press time, White House and Hill negotiators continue to discuss a next coronavirus bill. There is no agreement yet to include in this report. However, we do expect a bill to be developed, and that it will include elements important to ICPI and its members. This material will be addressed in other ICPI messaging.]
The impacts of the pandemic on the operational elements of advocacy have been profound. All, or nearly all, of federal advocacy has reverted to remote/virtual mode.
The House and Senate are not taking personal visits by outsiders to congressional offices. Even if personal visits were allowed, visits might be pointless because many personal and committee staff are working at home. Countless meetings, symposia, hearings, markups and more have been postponed or cancelled altogether. The cramped Hill offices, hallways and elevators are simply not compatible with social distancing protocols.
Members of Congress are spending more time at home in their districts and are limiting their physical travel to DC. Procedures are evolving to facilitate it. Committee hearings are being held by the new “hybrid” method (i.e. virtual mode). The House has developed a stop-gap method for voting by proxy not only in committees but also for floor voting. In-person fundraisers have been cancelled; for the time being only virtual options are available.
These developments would have been unthinkable only eight months ago.
In the new era, remote operations have become the only way.
Much of this may not be a temporary aberration that will end with a good COVID-19 vaccine. Much may become permanent, simply the modern way of doing things. The new skills, customs, behaviors and procedures being learned for this pandemic may not be unlearned.
Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, considerable action relevant to ICPI is occurring in the Second Session of the 116th Congress. All action is synergistically impacted by 1) the pandemic, 2) its economic impacts, and 3) the 2020 electoral season. The first two of these factors have not been seen before, and the third is one of the most unique political situations in the recent history of the U.S. For the present, most, not all but most, of the action relevant to ICPI has trended in directions supported by ICPI. ICPI is working to see that continue.
FY21 THUD Appropriations, including Permeable Pavements language. The House Appropriations Committee has adopted language recommended by ICPI in the Committee Report to accompany the House version of the FY21 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill.
Subsequently the full House of Representatives voted in late July to pass the THUD legislation as part of an appropriations “minibus” combining several appropriations bills. This action follows several months of remote advocacy by ICPI recommending and supporting the language.
The language adopted by the House Appropriations Committee in its Committee Report to accompany the FY21 THUD Appropriations Bill is as follows:
Permeable pavements. —The Committee encourages the Secretary to accelerate research, demonstration, and deployment of permeable pavements to achieve flood mitigation, pollutant reduction, stormwater runoff reduction, environmental conservation, and resilience for new road construction and retrofit of existing roads. The Committee encourages the Secretary to conduct structural evaluations of flood-damaged pavements, with emphasis on local roads and highways subject to flooding and extended periods of inundation. Such evaluations will contribute to understanding the mechanisms of flood damage and how permeable pavements might be used to prevent or reduce damage from future flooding.
ICPI would like to thank the House Appropriations Committee for its continued appreciation of the public policy benefits of permeable pavements and its support for their inclusion to enhance stormwater mitigation, green infrastructure development and water harvesting.
ICPI has provided the same recommendation to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which plans to act later on FY21 appropriations.
The timing for all FY21 appropriations remains unknown given the complicating factors mentioned in the introduction. Several legislative mechanisms are possible, including a Continuing Resolution. Procedurally, it is important that the House adopted the language reprinted above because it sends a strong favorable message, and because its adoption by the House makes the issue more likely to be included in any House-Senate negotiation. Because ICPI supports the language in the House report, ICPI’s strong preference would be to pass any vehicle that would carry the House report language with it. ICPI is following developments closely regarding FY21 THUD Appropriations.
A major general infrastructure bill appears unlikely, but a highway reauthorization remains possible. At the beginning of 2020, both parties and both sides of the Hill expressed strong interest in passing a major infrastructure bill. Those prospects appear remote at this time.
However, there remains the possibility that a highway/surface transportation bill might be passed prior to the 2020 elections. A primary reason for this possibility, and distinguishing from a general infrastructure bill, is that the current highway reauthorization is slated to expire on September 30. Some manner of new law, or extension of current law, is needed to avoid a lapse in authority.
There has been Hill action on the issue. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a bipartisan bill out of committee in 2019.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee introduced and moved a bill this summer. The House bill has features that are of interest to ICPI.
Unfortunately the House legislation is a partisan bill and contains a number of controversial provisions.
The House and Senate bills are far apart, and a compromise does not seem within reach.
ICPI has signed industry letters supporting passage of an infrastructure bill.
Perhaps the most likely outcome given the calendar, the differences between the House and Senate bills, and the lack of movement on some supplemental new source of funding for the Federal Highway Trust Fund, might be a short-term extension of the current highway authorization. While a short-term extension would be preferable to simply allowing existing authority to expire (which would wreak havoc with current highway projects and all who are working on them), ICPI would prefer a new bill.
The looming question for a short-term extension is how short is short-term. This could be a decisive factor, depending on the outcome of the elections. It would determine which White House and Congress would be in control of drafting the next bill.
Under the current political lineup inside the Beltway, no novel breakthrough on highway construction or funding seems likely or even possible. This might change in 2021 depending on the outcome of the elections.
Enactment of a bipartisan Water Resources Development Act Reauthorization, with features of interest to ICPI, is quite possible. The House has passed a 2020 Reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act. The bill was assembled with bipartisan involvement and has bipartisan support. The committee report to accompany the bill lists many water development projects for which stormwater action is mentioned specifically.
Meanwhile the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has reported out of Committee its bipartisan bill, America’s Water Infrastructure Act, which would also reauthorize WRDA and could be compatible/conferenceable with the House bill. The Senate bill includes several provisions of interest to ICPI. This bill is now on the Senate Calendar, eligible for floor consideration.
The Committee chairs have expressed an interest in working together to develop a consensus bill. A consensus bill does seem possible in this instance.
ICPI is following progress on the bill with focused interest, and may offer material to the likely conferees who would negotiate a consensus bill.
The Report from the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, mention of cement and concrete. The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis has issued a report in which, as expected, cement and concrete are identified as significant contributors to CO2 releases and global warming.
The report recommends, among other things (highly condensed from the lengthy document): that federal procurement for cement, concrete, and other materials for transportation projects should comply with the “Buy Clean” requirements for low-emissions materials; calls for reduction of carbon emissions from building materials; recommends procurement of low-emission materials and products for federally funded projects; recommends establishing tradable performance credits for materials and products; and much more.
The document is a report, not legislation. We expect it may be referred to in political campaigns leading up to the 2020 elections. For the time being, we expect no near-term impact. However, depending on the outcome of the 2020 elections, it might assume greater policy importance in 2021.
H-2B Worker Visa developments. Leading into June, there had been considerable legislative and regulatory activity affecting the H-2B worker visa issue. ICPI and the H-2B Coalition had been supporting appropriations provisions intended to make additional highly skilled worker H-2B visas available and to curtail some of the bureaucratic impediments in the program.
However, in June, that progress came to an abrupt halt when the President announced suspension of new issuances of most worker visas, including H-2B worker visas, through the end of 2020. The reason given for the suspension was the impact of the pandemic on national unemployment.
ICPI and the H-2B Coalition continue to look for ways to reinvigorate action on the issue, but the outlook is lackluster at best through the end of 2020.