We 'are working for a lifeline for all of these hard-hit markets,' said a cement executive. Transportation lobby wants stimulus

The transportation construction lobby — not exactly the sexiest special interest in Washington — is nonetheless primed to pave Capitol Hill with an aggressive campaign aimed at scoring what could be a massive stimulus for the struggling industry.

And it is spurred by two multibillion-dollar proposals, backed by Republicans and Democrats, that suggest their blitz might work, despite Congress’s zeal this year for spending cuts.


President Barack Obama is calling for monumental infrastructure investments in the name of job creation, using much of his address earlier this month before a joint session of Congress to tout as much.

Key congressional members, meanwhile, are pushing for a long-term transportation reauthorization bill that could include billions of dollars above initial expectations. Such a bill, in turn, could translate into lucrative, job-creating projects.

“The opportunity is now, front and center, for us to make our case,” said Andy O’Hare, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Portland Cement Association. “We certainly welcome and are working for a lifeline for all of these hard-hit markets.”

“Our efforts so far have borne fruit, and we’re going to be just as active in the next six months, which will be a critical time,” said Pamela Whitted, vice president of government affairs for the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association.

Efforts range from traditional inside-the-Beltway lobbying fare of lawmaker meetings and staffer briefings to more circuitous outreach efforts that seek out politicians on their home turf, such as meeting them while they’re back in their districts and inviting them to tour production facilities.

Take the National Asphalt Pavement Association, which has been petitioning congressional supercommittee members in their home districts while simultaneously pressing the Senate Finance Committee and congressional Ways and Means committees to keep its member companies in mind.

“It started over the August break — we were really hammering Congress really hard, and this month is a critical month to keep the pressure on the House and Senate,” said Jay Hansen, the National Asphalt Pavement Association’s executive vice president. “It’s definitely been busier this year than in past years, and we’re going to sustain what we’re now doing. I take it as a good sign that we’re at least at the point where government is paying attention.”

Construction material companies have struggled in recent years, as the need for the metals, concrete, rock and the like have waned along with road building, bridge repair and most every other transportation project that governments could conceivably defer or delete to save a dime. The companies and affiliated organizations in some cases also scaled back their government affairs efforts, too.

The Obama-driven federal stimulus plan of 2009 helped the industry. But the effects for the construction materials industry were fleeting, executives say.

The American Jobs Act that Obama announced this month could reverse the slide, which is why a pointed lobbying effort between now and next year is critical, they add.

During Obama’s rollout of his jobs bill proposal, he told Congress: “Pass this jobs bill and we can put people to work rebuilding America. Everyone here knows we have badly decaying roads and bridges all over the country. Our highways are clogged with traffic. Our skies are the most congested in the world. It’s an outrage.”

It’s unclear, however, whether a jobs bill will ever materialize as designed. Obama implored Congress to “pass it right away,” but congressional Republicans quickly derided it as needlessly expensive, and some Democrats publicly doubted the political feasibility of passing it en masse. Industry leaders are also wary of certain Obama-backed environmental regulation proposals, both related and unrelated, that they say could hurt their bottom lines.

That, construction material industry lobbyists say, is where the transportation reauthorization bill comes into play.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has said he has his party leadership’s blessing to seek additional revenue for a six-year reauthorization, which could prevent an expected 30 percent cut in transportation spending and be worth well into the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Alternatively, a two-year reauthorization is also being floated as an option.

Mica’s office referred questions to the committee staff, which did not return a request for comment. But this month, House Speaker John Boehner declared that he’s “not opposed to responsible spending to repair and improve infrastructure,” although he suggested such spending may need to be legally tied to increased domestic fossil-fuel production.

Acknowledging the politics involved, Laura Perrotta, director of government relations for the American Traffic Safety Services Association, said the situation is ripe for her group to launch a “big grass-roots push” and a “hands-on approach” to encourage progress.

It perhaps doesn’t get more “grass-roots” than the thousands of stop sign-red “Sick of traffic? Invest in highways!” bumper stickers the association has recently distributed across the country.

And while industry insiders haven’t played a major role in campaign funding at this juncture, they haven’t ruled out doing so either.

“It’s getting to be a dire situation for a lot of our smaller businesses,” said Perrotta, whose group represents the makers and suppliers of pavement markings, road signs, work zone traffic control devices and guardrails. “So we’re pretty excited right now. It’s an opportunity.”