As President Joe Biden’s busy first 100 days in office—which included enactment of a $1.9-trillion pandemic rescue bill and proposals for two other massive measures—wrap up, the months ahead also are expected to generate plenty of legislative and regulatory action with major impact for the construction sector.

The industry’s prime legislative focus in coming months will be the progress of one of Biden’s two proposed bills—the $2.2-trillion American Jobs Plan Act, unveiled on March 31. It includes about $1 trillion to fund what ENR views as traditional infrastructure programs.

拜登的计划赢得了建筑组织，工会，环境团体和国会民主党人的赞美。但是共和党人批评它太昂贵了，他们认为并不是核心基础设施和资金，这些基础设施和资金降低了2017年的公司税率。

As of Biden’s Day 100 on April 30, the potential legislation’s size, shape, structure and timetable are unclear and industry officials say developments are entering a new phase.

“拜登总统已将重点放在基础设施和就业方面的议程中，现在是时候该国会采取行动了，”国家沥青路面倡导协会执行副总裁杰伊·汉森（Jay Hansen）告诉ENR。新利luck“在他的第二个100天里，随着众议院和参议院委员会根据这些建议准备并报告立法文本，所有人的目光都将集中在国会上。”

美国工程公司委员会高级倡导副总裁史蒂夫·霍尔（Steve Hall）在接受采访时说：“我认为接下来的一百天对于定义……包装的参数（细节，日程表等）至关重要。”他补充说：“如果我们实际上要考虑今年成功的可能性，就需要在接下来的一百天内取得很多进展。我们需要从委员会中获取账单。我们需要将账单带到众议院和参议院地板。”

The Laborers' International Union of North America is among organizations pushing for the American Jobs Plan and its infrastructure components. "It's a jobs, jobs, jobs bill," says Terry O'Sullivan, its general president. "We're looking to get it over the finish line," he said in an interview.

A key question is whether Congress will aim for an omnibus multi-sector infrastructure package or split the legislation into several separate bills, each focused on a specific category.

大约十二名参议院共和党人于4月22日对美国就业计划做出了回应，其中5680亿美元的反销售额，其中较短的基础设施类型清单。

双方都表明他们愿意进行谈判。

“I applaud a group of Republican Senators who just put forward their proposal," Biden said in his April 28 address to a joint session of Congress. "We welcome ideas.”

共和党团体领导人参议员雪莱·摩尔·卡皮托（Shelley Moore Capito）在4月29日的声明中说，当天早些时候，她“与拜登总统关于基础设施的建设性和实质性呼吁”。

她补充说：“我们俩都表达了我们相互渴望的。...找到共同的立场来应对这些挑战并为美国人民带来结果。我准备以两党的方式成为促进基础设施立法的合伙人，就像我们过去所做的那样。”

Capito在较早的电视采访中承认，民主党人在任何时候都可以决定不采取两党路线。她说：“直到他们做到这一点，我将继续努力争取共和党原则，并缩小了更合理，常识的基础设施方案的重点。”

Moving on Legislation

Meanwhile there is definite progress on Capitol Hill on legislation related to individual infrastructure sectors.

The brightest sign emerged on April 29, when the U.S. Senate approved a measure providing $35 billion for drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure in an overwhelming 89-2 bipartisan vote. Similar, but larger, legislation has been introduced in the House.

Read related story on the Senate's $35-billion water infrastructure bill here]

Moreover, for the largest infrastructure sector, highways and bridges, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee continue work on drafting their versions of bills to reauthorize the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation, or FAST, Act, the most recent multi-year highway-transit law.

Michele Stanley, National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association vice president for government and regulatory affairs, says Democrats and Republicans on both committees are committed to completing a FAST Act successor. They even are looking far ahead, discussing the shape of an eventual conference committee to work out differences after each chamber approves its version of the bill, she said in an interview.

One impetus pushing the lawmakers and staff is that surface transportation is the only infrastructure sector facing a hard, and looming, deadline. A FAST Act extension expires on Sept. 30.

奥沙利文的劳工工会说,他是looking for a "robust" five-year measure that will eclipse the $305-billion FAST Act. He also hopes to see union-friendly provisions included in the eventual transportation bill, such as prevailing-wage, apprenticeship and local-hire requirements.

On the other hand, Associated Builders and Contractors is concerned about those same provisions, says Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. Brubeck says they are included in the American Jobs Plan framework that the White House released in March.

Looking at the path forward for an infrastructure bill, Stanley says one option lawmakers may pursue is to combine individual bills such as highways and transit, drinking water and wastewater treatment and maybe others into a bigger package.

“I could see that that merged bill looks like $800-900 billion in order to get to a [bipartisan] compromise that both sides would be able to vote on,” she says.

Pro and Con on PRO Act

Although infrastructure is the top construction legislative priority, other important measures are pending or are on the horizon.

A fierce battle is underway over the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act, which the House passed in March. The building trades and other labor unions strongly support the bill.

在拜登（Biden）通常的亲工会倾向的另一个例子中，他在4月28日给国会的讲话中呼吁立法者批准。奥沙利文说：“我们从来没有一位总统比拜登总统更友好。”

But ABC, the Associated General Contractors of America and other business groups are fighting to block the measure in the Senate.

AGC政府关系副总裁吉米·克里斯蒂安森（Jimmy Christianson）说，参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默（Chuck Schumer）（D-N.Y.）“在有50个共同发起人的情况下，已向AFL-CIO A投票承诺。目前有47。”

在参议员尚未承诺某种方式或另一种方式的国家中，已经发起了针对参议院措施的运动。

ABC's Brubeck said in an interview that if the bill makes it to the Senate floor, it probably would face a filibuster, if current filibuster rules remain in place.

但是，他不排除Pro-Pro Act立法者试图通过和解机制通过该法案的可能性，或者需要简单的多数。他说：“当然，有些规定可能会违反行政命令或不同的立法工具。”

Along with the infrastructure authorization bill, or bills, construction sector groups will keep a keen eye on fiscal 2022 appropriations measures, because most funding in authorization bills is subject to annual appropriations.

预计在监管方面也有活动。

First to move forward is likely to be an Occupational Safety and Health Administration COVID emergency temporary standard. It now is under review at the Office of Management and Budget, says Nick Goldstein, American Road & Transportation Builders Association vice president for regulatory and legal issues.

该标准是有组织的劳动力的重中之重，可能会迅速生效，也许是在联邦公报上出版的。

Artba今年年初写信给OSHA，以对即将到来的标准发表意见。戈德斯坦在接受采访时说：“我们认为这里不应该有一种适合的方法。”

He notes that transportation construction workers are often outside and socially distanced and their anti-COVID precautions might well be different from those needed in confined indoor spaces, such as meatpacking plants or assembly lines.

Focus on Environment, Energy and Climate

Biden also is expected to make further moves on environmental regulations. Goldstein assumes administration officials will look at possible actions, from modifications to repeal, regarding the Trump rewrite of the Waters of the United States rule, which determines the scope of federal authority over various types of bodies of water.

另一种可能性是有关特朗普修改《国家环境政策法》的行动，该法案为建筑项目环境影响声明和不太敏锐的审查制定了要求。

“我希望您会看到监管提案开始发展this政府的优先事项 - 也许这比撤消上一届政府所做的事情要快得多。”戈德斯坦说。他说，例如，可能包括气候变化以及环境正义和公平。

政府和国会上个月还宣布加强联邦努力在美国清理，研究和调节广泛新利luck的PFAS化学品，因为越来越多的州也这样做。

Central to all Administration actions in the first 100 days—and going forward—is Biden's announced action earlier this month to cut carbon emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030 to help mitigate climate change. The reduction is double what the Obama Administration pledged in 2015. The current administration has unveiled multiple efforts to support renewable energy, modernize the electric grid and reduce automobile emissions.

“Progress starts with the kinds of commitments the Biden Administration is making and the goals they are putting in place, and we see these actions as a positive development that could unlock a period of tremendous growth across the U.S,” Dan Johnson, Mortenson president and CEO, told ENR by email.

Biden, in the first 100 days, canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and indefinitely halted oil and gas leasing on federal lands, among other things. At the same time, on April 28 the Senate used the Congressional Review Act to roll back a Trump administration rule and reinstate Obama-era controls on methane leaks from oil and gas wells.

“The administration is taking a comprehensive whole-of-government approach to decarbonization by deploying resources across the federal government,” says Brady Hays, vice president at Black & Veatch. “Development of GHG emitting energy will no longer be the top priority moving forward.”

参议院民主党人支持拜登（Biden）的努力，以鼓励更多可再生能源，包括proposed overhaulon April 21 of the energy tax code that would revamp tax breaks for clean energy projects, as well as a companion measure to repeal many existing tax incentives for fossil fuels.

清洁能源的激励措施

The administration is at the mercy of Congress to take steps to incentivize renewable energy but is taking what action it can, including4月27日宣布的计划为了在美国提供82.5亿美元的能源贷款，以升级和扩展该国的电网，从而提供更多的清洁能源连接。

其他公告支持海上风，长期电池存储，绿色氢的生产，车辆电气化以及该行业的整体弹性。

美国和英国在Burns＆McDonnell的传输开发和战略总监James Amato说，这些公告“比我想象的要比我想象的要重要得多。”“任何目前在北美能源市场的人都应该对这些公告感到非常高兴。”

拜登政府还试图在特朗普时代开始越来越大的海上风开发发展，三月份宣布a goal to install enough offshore wind turbines to produce 30,000 MW of electricity by 2030.

阿马托说，这是第一次为海上风的政策和融资“一起在祭坛上”。

“In my mind it reinforces the confidence that lenders or investors can have in that market,” says Jake Merriman, managing director for transmission at Burns & McDonnell.

The U.S. offshore wind sector has included expertise from Europe, Merriman said. But he, as well as Hay and Amato, agree that the U.S. construction sector has been moving toward supporting renewable energy through programs to retrain workers from fossil fuel industries.

More efforts are needed, however, such as getting states and the federal government to align in siting transmission lines from offshore projects to onshore electric grids. Policy changes related to clean energy are also needed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

阿马托说，FERC主席理查德·格里克（Richard Glick）“将不得不努力处理几件事”。

行政说that with the shift to renewables, the model of a regulated monopoly for U.S. utilities designed by Thomas Edison more than 100 years ago, "is on life support.” Additionally, the agency's Order 1000, enacted in 2011 to help ease transmission planning and cost allocation, has not worked as planned and needs to be revamped.

尽管推动了更多清洁能源，但梅里曼和阿马托指出，天然气仍然是桥梁燃料，因为转换为可再生能源的燃料将需要时间。

“We are optimistic that there will be a tremendous amount of design and construction work from the proposed bill for years to come,” Hays said.

故事更新4/30/2021 with comments from Associated Buliders and Contractors and Laborers' International Union of North America.