Associated Builders and Contractors unimpressed with Obama’s address

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PORTLAND, Ore. – ABC National Chairman Eric Regelin issued his reaction in a press release:

“In his speech, the president said ‘We can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share,’” Regelin said. “Yet, 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 work force that chooses not to belong to a labor union.”

Regelin is referring to Executive Order 13502 that encourages federal agencies to use union-only project labor agreements on construction projects that cost more than $25 million. President George W. Bush had banned federal agencies from imposing PLAs on federal construction projects, but 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:

“It 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.”

The Davis-Bacon Act is a law that requires a prevailing wage 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:

“The president’s insistence on a so-called ‘millionaire’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. This does not represent a ‘fair 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 taking key points of his State of the Union address on the road.

AARON SPENCER writes for the (Portland, Ore.) Daily Journal of Commerce, a sister publication to The Mecklenburg Times.