New Format for NASBP Fly-in Helps Attendees Prepare for Meetings with Their Members of Congress
NASBP introduced a new format to this year’s Fly-in where attendees were briefed on the issues to bring to the attention of their Members of Congress in advance of their day on Capitol Hill. See pictures below. NASBP hosted a Virtual Seminar the week before the Fly-in and held a shorter briefing the evening of June 11, the day before their meetings with Members of Congress on Capitol Hill. The new format for the Fly-in helped participants become more familiar with and better understand the issues.
"This year's Fly-in was a streamlined experience--more effective and to the point. The briefing at Wednesday's reception had more discussion from the attendees, and the shorter Program on Thursday was ideal and allotted more time for us to get to Meetings on the Hill," said Christian Downey, Secretary of Downey and Company of Albuquerque, N.M. "It really gave us more flexibility in scheduling those Hill meetings."
"I found the discussion during the Wednesday reception particularly interesting, because we not only discussed what was going on with the bills, but the hurdles the bills had to go through to get passed," added Downey. "The discussion helped me understand what needed to take place for the bills to get where we want them."
Morning Briefing
Like last year's NASBP Fly-in, the early morning NASBP program provided attendees the opportunity to hear Members of Congress speak. However, as Downey described, NASBP shortened the early morning session to enable attendees to schedule meetings in the late morning and still attend the NASBP program.This year, U.S. House of Representative John Duncan (R-TN-2nd) spoke followed by U.S. House of Representative Grace Meng (D-NY-6th).
Congressman Duncan was introduced by his constituent, NASBP Member Chad Martin (pictured), and addressed several issues of importance to attendees, including information concerning the Special Public-Private Partnership (P3) Panel, which Duncan chairs, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) and the important reforms surrounding that enacted bill, as well as what is in store for the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), which is set to expire on September 30.
Representative Meng (D-NY-6th) (pictured) discussed her involvement as a co-sponsor of H.R. 776, the Security in Bonding Act of 2013, of which she agreed to sign on as co-sponsor after learning from her colleague from New York, U.S. House of Representative Richard Hanna (R-NY-22nd), of the abuses and well-documented cases where bad actors did not have the resources necessary to back the bonds they issued, placing both the government and small contractors at risk. Meng also discussed other issues which she supports in Congress such as legislation that would accelerate the claims process of the Veteran’s Administration.
Adam Hepburn, Legislative Director to U.S. House of Representative Richard Hanna ended the morning’s program by thanking the attendees and NASBP for supporting H.R. 776. Later that afternoon, several NASBP members from New York state visited Representative Hanna (pictured) to personally thank the Congressman for his efforts on behalf of the surety industry.
Off to the Hill
Armed with talking points and the one-page list of issues to leave with each office, attendees visited 60 offices representing 19 states and raised issues such as the importance of the surety bond product, H.R. 776, the Security in Bonding Act of 2013 and the importance of including bonds on federal legislation relating to P3s. Other familiar groups ascending on Capitol Hill at the same time as NASBP included the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and TRIP. This created a perfect synergy for groups representing the construction industry to discuss and press lawmakers for answers concerning the reauthorization of a highway surface transportation bill, which expires on September 30, and ways to fund the highway trust fund.
Lawmakers have grappled with either an increase to the federal gas tax by 10 or 15 cents per gallon–which is probably a non-starter in an election year–or find between $13 billion and $18 billion per year from other sources to maintain current infrastructure spending projects, such as limiting Saturday mail deliveries. The stakes are high, but failure to act could mean the delay of about 112,000 roadway projects and 5,600 transit projects–and cost the economy as many as 700,000 construction jobs in the next year. U.S. House of Representative John Boehner addressed the gas tax issue at a recent event attended by NASBP stating that it would be tough for him to get even 5 votes for an increase in the gas tax during an election year. See picture below of NASBP Member Howard Cowan to the right of Boehner with Larry LeClair to Boehner's left.
Final Debrief Session
Following the Capitol Hill visits, attendees were given the opportunity to share their experiences among their peers at a reception hosted by NASBP. Based on the conversations at the reception, Congressional offices were very interested in learning more about H.R. 776. NASBP staff members are in the process of following up with those offices with the goal of adding additional House sponsors and finding a member in the Senate to introduce a Senate version of H.R. 776. Earlier in the week, NASBP President Tom Padilla and Larry LeClair met with U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) at an event (pictured below) hosted by the Senator for New Mexico constituents. Padilla and LeClair discussed H.R. 776 with the Senator and described how Native Americans were harmed by fraudulent individual surety bonds. Senator Udall seemed very concerned with this activity. Earlier this spring, the House version of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included both components of H.R. 776, the individual surety provision as well as the increase in guarantee from 70% to 90% to Small Business Administration’s Surety Bond Guarantee Preferred Program. Fly-in attendees were instructed to inform members who serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee to ask them to retain both of those provisions in the Senate 2015 NDAA.
Each photo below has a rollover caption that identifies the individuals in each picture. To view these captions, simply roll your cursor over the photo and keep it in one place several seconds.