Aaron Spencer//January 25, 2012//
President Obama delivered his State of the Union address Tuesday evening largely focusing on the economy and the growing wealth gap in the U.S. He said we should restore the economy to one where 鈥渆veryone gets a fair shot.”聽But the Associated Builders and Contractors trade association said the speech was just more of the same from the president.
ABC National Chairman Eric Regelin聽issued his reaction in a press release:
鈥淚n his speech, the president said 鈥榳e can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share,’鈥 Regelin聽said. 鈥淵et, one of his first official acts when he took office was to sign an executive order on project labor agreements that discriminates against the 87 percent of the nation’s construction workforce that chooses not to belong to a labor union.
Regelin is referring to that encourages federal agencies to use union-only on construction projects that cost more than $25 million. PLAs are project contracts that essentially require workers to unionize. They establish employment conditions for workers such as recognizing the union as the chief bargaining power, following union rules and paying union dues.聽President George W. Bush had banned federal agencies from imposing PLAs on federal construction projects, but President Obama reversed that ban.
Obama specifically spoke about the construction industry, saying, “In the next few weeks, I will sign an Executive Order clearing away the red tape that slows down too many construction projects. But you need to fund these projects. Take the money we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home.” Regelin responded:
鈥淚t is not clear at this point what President Obama meant when he spoke of removing red tape from construction projects, but any sincere effort to do so must involve the elimination of government-mandated project labor agreements and Davis-Bacon wage requirements on taxpayer-funded construction projects,鈥 Regelin said.
The Davis-Bacon Act is a law that聽requires a聽 for federal construction projects.
Obama also called for a new “millionaire’s tax” that would require millionaires to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. To that, Regelin said:
鈥淭he president’s insistence on a so-called 鈥榤illionaire’s tax’ to fund his various priorities will expose the 80 percent of construction firms that are taxed at the individual rate to a significant tax increase,鈥 said Regelin. 鈥淭his does not represent a 鈥榝air share’ that will help the economy and create jobs, but rather the president’s continued use of the nation’s job creators as his personal piggy bank.
Obama, now in what many pundits say is “campaign mode,” is .