BCA's Washington Briefing
follow us on facebook follow us on twitter follow us on youtube July 31, 2015


BCA, 268 OTHER BUSINESS GROUPS URGE REVERSAL OF OZONE PLAN

 

This week the BCA was one of 269 business groups, led by the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Business Roundtable, that sent a letter to the President and copied the entire Congress urging the President to instruct the EPA to retain the existing 75 parts per billion ground-level ozone standard and not adopt the economically and socially ruinous new standards.

"A stricter ozone standard could close off communities across the nation to new jobs and economic growth, requiring reductions to near-background levels in many places," the groups wrote in a letter to the president on Wednesday. "We are bound by the limits of technological feasibility, and this regulation mandates controls that even the EPA admits are unknown."

 

The ozone limits are unfeasible given current technology and would be expensive for business and consumers, not to mention leading to energy shortages due to the closure of coal-fired power plants. The ozone regulations are so outlandish that certain national parks would be in violation, according to recent findings.


Here's a link to an advertisement in the New York Times outlining our position.

Click here to read the letter.

 

Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that President Obama may extend the deadline for states to comply, from 2020 to 2022, allowing time for likely court challenges.

 

Obama's plan would have the most significant impact on energy supply and cost of any environmental plan promoted by any president. The plan consists of three major environmental regulations, which combined are intended to drastically cut power plant emissions, the Times reports.

 

The rules aim to end plentiful and cheap coal as an energy source and require expensive and unreliable wind and solar power. Under the rules, the EPA would require states to draft plans to lower emissions from power plants. The agency also would force a plan on any state that does not draft one.


The Business Council of Alabama is the exclusive representative in Alabama of the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
MANUFACTURERS ASSESS HEALTH CARE SPENDING

 

Manufacturers have three objectives when contemplating health care policy: controlling costs, expanding coverage options, and getting access to better information,according to the National Association of Manufacturers.

 

A new NAM white paper on health care spending has good news but also a warning for employers and policymakers. While some 92 percent of manufacturing-sector workers are eligible to participate in company-offered insurance, U.S. manufacturers need flexible options to slow cost growth, the NAM said.

 

The average annual cost for a family plan in the manufacturing sector has jumped 50 percent in less than a decade, according to the white paper that cites Kaiser Family Foundation figures. If the pace continues, by 2025 the average annual cost of a family health insurance plan could reach $34,776.


To help save billions over the next decade, the NAM says it supports eliminating the medical device tax and the employee benefits tax, and reducing employer reporting requirements. More flexibility is needed by allowing and easing access to defined-contribution models and hybrid ownership of plans to encourage employers to contribute to the cost of insuring their employees at an amount that is sustainable for the employer and predictable for the employee.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

House, Senate Fund Short-Term Federal Highway Bill

Roll Call (Lesniewski 7/30) "The Senate passed its long-term highway bill shortly after noon Thursday, and then agreed to a House-passed three-month extension before completing work for the day. The margin for final passage of the long-term bill was fairly healthy, 65-34. The House's patch was passed overwhelmingly:  91-4. For senators involved in crafting a six-year authorization with about three years' worth of offsets to plug the hole in the Highway Trust Fund - the solution is not ideal. They would have preferred the House stick around to at least consider accepting the Senate bill.

 

"But absent that, as Environment and Public Works ranking member Barbara Boxer told CQ Roll Call, they want House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., and ranking member Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., to see how closely they can work to the Senate's bill in crafting their own. The House passed a bill to continue transportation funding through October 29, with about an $8 billion transfer to the Highway Trust Fund, before making a quick escape.


"The highway coalition split both parties throughout, as evidenced by the 65-35 vote to limit debate on the underlying bill Wednesday. Thirteen of the 35 against were Republicans, and the concerns expressed about the legislation ran the gamut. Some senators objected to the attachment of an authorization of the Export-Import Bank, some contested various offsets and still others questioned the efficacy of safety provisions."

House Leaves Until September

The Hill (Marcos 7/29) "Summer break is now officially underway for the House with lawmakers expected to be out of Washington until September. The House adjourned Wednesday evening for its five-week August recess and won't have votes again until Tuesday, Sept. 8.

 

"In one of its final votes before adjourning, the House passed a three-month extension of highway funding that punts this month's debate to Oct. 29. House GOP leaders opted to let members go home for the August recess a day early in part to leave the Senate with no other option but to pass the temporary highway funding patch.


"The Senate is expected to accept the House's three-month bill, after initially refusing to back down from a six-year measure that only provides funding for three years. The House's three-month highway bill notably does not include a renewal of the Export-Import Bank's charter, which expired at the end of June. The House will have a full plate when it returns to session the Tuesday after Labor Day."
PROUD PARTNERS OF

US Chamber of Commerce   National Association of Manufacturers
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
Sixth District
 U. S. Rep. Gary Palmer
202.225.4921

HOUSE CALENDAR            SENATE CALENDAR