The Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act's Benefits For Small Businesses
Summary
House Committee on Small Business hearing before the Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural, and Rural Business Development, on February 15, 2022, on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's benefits for small businesses. Chairman Golden says the law allocates $550 billion in new funds for transportation infrastructure projects, supply chain improvements, broadband expansion, and water system upgrades, and cites a projected $1.3 billion for roads in Maine. Congressman Williams, introduced as Ranking Member, says the law adds hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt. Witnesses are Ed Mortimer of the United States Chamber of Commerce, Mark Ouellette of Axiom Technologies, LLC, Jason Shedlock of the Laborers' International Union, and Terrance Baker of a pilot car escort business.
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“The Infrastructure Investment And Jobs Act's Benefits For Small Businesses.”
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[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS
ACT'S BENEFITS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON UNDERSERVED,
AGRICULTURAL, AND RURAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
FEBRUARY 15, 2022
__________
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Small Business Committee Document Number 117-045
Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-800 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman
JARED GOLDEN, Maine
JASON CROW, Colorado
SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
TROY CARTER, Louisiana
JUDY CHU, California
DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
ANDY KIM, New Jersey
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking Member
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas
JIM HAGEDORN, Minnesota
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York
ANDREW GARBARINO, New York
YOUNG KIM, California
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
BYRON DONALDS, Florida
MARIA SALAZAR, Florida
SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
Melissa Jung, Majority Staff Director
Ellen Harrington, Majority Deputy Staff Director
David Planning, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
OPENING STATEMENT
Page
Hon. Jared Golden................................................ 1
Hon. Roger Williams.............................................. 3
WITNESSES
Mr. Ed Mortimer, Vice President, Transportation Infrastructure,
United States Chamber of Commerce, Washington, DC.............. 5
Mr. Mark Ouellette, President and Chief Executive Officer, Axiom
Technologies, LLC, Machias, ME................................. 7
Mr. Jason J. Shedlock, Regional Organizer, Laborers'
International Union, New England Region Organizing Fund,
President, Maine State Building & Construction Trades Council,
Portland, ME................................................... 9
Mr. Terrance Lee Baker, Owner, Operator, and Independent
Contractor, T.L. Baker Pilot Car Escort Services, Blooming
Prairie, MN.................................................... 11
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Mr. Ed Mortimer, Vice President, Transportation
Infrastructure, United States Chamber of Commerce,
Washington, DC............................................. 28
Mr. Mark Ouellette, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Axiom Technologies, LLC, Machias, ME....................... 31
Mr. Jason J. Shedlock, Regional Organizer, Laborers'
International Union, New England Region Organizing Fund,
President, Maine State Building & Construction Trades
Council, Portland, ME...................................... 33
Mr. Terrance Lee Baker, Owner, Operator, and Independent
Contractor, T.L. Baker Pilot Car Escort Services, Blooming
Prairie, MN................................................ 36
Questions for the Record:
None.
Answers for the Record:
None.
Additional Material for the Record:
JCN - Jobs Creators Network.................................. 39
THE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT'S BENEFITS FOR SMALL
BUSINESSES
----------
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022
House of Representatives,
Committee on Small Business,
Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural,
and Rural Business Development,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 11:01 a.m., via
Zoom, Hon. Jared Golden [chairman of the Subcommittee]
presiding.
Present: Representatives Golden, Carter, Delgado, Williams,
and Stauber.
Chairman GOLDEN. I will go ahead and call this hearing to
order.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a
recess at any time.
Let me begin by noting a few requirements. First, let me
say that standing House and Committee rules and practice will
continue to apply during remote proceedings. House regulations
require Members to be visible through video connection
throughout the proceeding, so keep your cameras on and remain
muted until recognized in order to minimize background noise.
If we do have any issue with that we will pause and ask
individuals to mute themselves or staff to do it for them.
In the event a Member encounters technical issues that
prevent them from being recognized for their questioning, I
will move to the next available Member of the same party and I
will recognize that Member at the next appropriate time slot
provided they have returned to the proceeding. Should a
Member's time be interrupted by technical issues, I will
recognize that Member at the next appropriate spot for the
remainder of their time once their issues have been resolved.
If we have technical issues, we may need to recess the
proceedings in order to address them.
And with that, let's turn to today's business.
Last November, the president signed the bipartisan
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The law allocates $550 billion
in new funds for transportation infrastructure projects, supply
chain improvements, broadband expansion, and water system
upgrades. This represents the most significant investment in
American infrastructure since the Federal Aid Highway Act in
1956.
American infrastructure has for too long been in decline.
Decades of underinvestment led to a decline in the quality of
roads, bridges, airports, and other types of hard
infrastructure. Both parties have recognized that this
trajectory was unsustainable and the effort to pass the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was genuinely bipartisan.
Democrats and Republicans in Congress, along with the White
House, worked to pass this once-in-a-generation bill and I was
proud to play a role in making this bill a reality, along with
my bipartisan colleagues in the Problem Solvers Caucus and in
the United States Senate. Together, we accomplished a goal that
has been pursued by Congress for many years under many
different administrations and have delivered for the country on
an important need.
The law will benefit communities across the country. In
Maine, it is projected to invest $1.3 billion in roads, $225
million for bridges, $390 million to remove dangerous lead
pipes and mitigate PFAS contamination and more than $100
million for affordable broadband expansion. These investments
are more than just dollar figures. They will lead to positive
change and are critical for the states' economy and for
economic growth.
When I talk to small business owners in my district, the
conversation often has turned through the years to
infrastructure. They rely on our roads, bridges, and broadband
to reach customers and to deliver their goods and services.
Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs tell me that the sad state of
American infrastructure has hampered their ability to grow.
This law speaks to their concerns because it is designed
specifically to help small firms compete for contracts awarded
with the funds it provides. Small construction firms and other
types of businesses will play a direct role in building and
repairing infrastructure projects funded by this law.
But there are also many more longer-term impacts for small
employers that are important to highlight. There is an emphasis
on funding for rural broadband networks to encourage more
economic development and revitalization in rural communities.
In my state, at least 83,000 people still do not have access to
a fixed, high-speed Internet connection, a figure that likely
understates the problem given what this Committee has heard in
testimony through the last couple of years about how we measure
broadband availability.
This lack of access to high-speed broadband has proven to
be an economic drain on many communities, impacting individual
success and education, wealth, and access to opportunities. By
increasing access to reliable broadband will help close the
digital divide and empower rural small business owners.
This law will also help the supply chain pressures that are
causing delays, shortages, and higher prices for small firms as
we look into the future. By improving the poor condition of our
roads, bridges, rail, and ports, we can help improve arrival
time for goods that are key for our business owners. Obviously,
they all need to be able to deliver goods in a timely manner to
their clients. It is just part of being a good business.
Investing in domestic manufacturing is another critical need
that can make our supply chain more resilient in the face of
global crises such as the pandemic that we dealt with over the
last 2 years.
The bill also dedicates funding to workforce development
and will invest in programs to ensure that small firms have
access to a labor force that is skilled and ready for
competition in the rest of the 21st century.
It is critical that we fully understand how this law will
help our nation's entrepreneur community, so today I look
forward to hearing from our panel about ways that small firms
can best utilize the available infrastructure resources to the
benefit of their communities and to their businesses.
With that, I would like to yield to the Ranking Member
today, Congressman Williams. Thank you for joining us.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
hearing today. And I want to also say that we miss Mr. Hagedorn
who is not with us today but he is a hard guy to follow and we
want to say we miss him.
Infrastructure was once a common ground where Members on
both sides of the aisle agreed. However, today, rather than
focusing on areas of importance to our economy and our
constituencies, such as improvements to our roads, waterways,
bridges, railways, and broadband, my democratic colleagues are
focusing on policies made of radical ideas such as the Green
New Deal. The Infrastructure Law where only a fraction of the
new spending will be going towards traditional infrastructure
adds hundreds of billions of dollars in new debt, and let's
face it, will only lead to higher taxes, continued inflation,
and will only make America less competitive. Furthermore,
nothing in the law was done to make any meaningful improvements
to regulatory and permitting processes, which is something
plaguing many small businesses today.
As we hold this hearing, inflation soars at a 40 year high,
7.5 percent, and gas prices have spiked at the highest price
since 2014. Rising costs continue to create uncertainty for
small businesses and makes it hard to compete with big
businesses who have larger pricing flexibility, long-term
contracts, and preferential purchasing agreements.
It is no surprise that a recent survey from Goldman Sachs
found 76 percent of small business owners report that inflation
had a negative impact on their business's financial health over
the past 6 months. We are also experiencing record-breaking
backlogs at our ports, resulting in supply chain disruptions.
And just last week, the New York Times headline read this. It
said, ``A normal supply chain is unlikely in 2022.''
The economic headwinds do not stop there as the labor
shortage continues to stifle growth. With 10.9 million open
positions across the nation, the economy is still nearly 3
million jobs short of its pre-pandemic peak. NFIB reports that
almost half of all small business owners have job openings they
cannot fill. And further, 93 percent of small businesses that
were actively trying to hire found little to no qualified
applicants.
The rising cost of goods, delays in material, and labor
deficiencies are harmful for the construction industry and
cause infrastructure projects to be more costly and take longer
to complete. So instead of providing solutions, this
administration, the Biden administration, has forced government
mandates on businesses and employees and halted America's
energy independence. Many people claim to support small
businesses but they ignore the calls to reduce burdensome
regulations and put a stop to the current tax and spending
agenda. Washington cannot continue this reckless spending
habit. We must implement pro-growth policies that support small
businesses in combatting the current economic challenges.
As the administration continues to provide cost and
implementation guidance for the Infrastructure Bill, it is
imperative these projects are funded in a responsible manner,
and small businesses and rural communities are not left behind.
We must empower entrepreneurs in state and local governments to
be in the driver seat, not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
So, I look forward to hearing the testimonies of the
witnesses today, and Mr. Chairman, as a small business owner, I
think that we have real issues to address. So, I yield back.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
Very quickly, I will offer some direction into how the
hearing will proceed for our panel. Each witness is going to
start off with 5 minutes to provide a statement and each
Committee Member will have 5 minutes for questions. Please
ensure that your microphone is on when you begin speaking. I am
sure someone today will probably start having forgot. Do not
worry; we will remind you and you will get your full 5 minutes
but try to think ahead on that one. And of course, when you are
done, please go back to mute.
On to witness introductions. Our first witness today is
coming to us from the Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Ed Mortimer,
vice president of Transportation Infrastructure at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce. He has experience advocating for
infrastructure investment through the small business lens and
played an integral role in negotiating the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law. He also leads the Americans for
Transportation Mobility Coalition where he works alongside
businesses, labor organizations, transportation stakeholders,
and concerned citizens to advocate for improved and increased
federal investment in the nation's transportation system.
Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Mortimer.
Our second witness, Mark Ouellette is president and CEO of
Axiom Technologies. He has held a number of senior leadership
positions in the State of Maine. Previously, he was the
executive director of Mobilize Maine and has 20 years of
economic and community development experience. As president of
a full-service broadband provider in the State of Maine, his
testimony will help us understand the importance of broadband
to our rural small businesses.
Thank you, Mr. Ouellette, for joining us.
Third, Mr. Jason Shedlock, president of the Main State
Building and Construction Trades Council and regional organizer
for the Laborers' International Union of North America's New
England Region. In a prior lifetime, he served as a special
assistant to Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, and served as
chief of staff for D.C. Councilman Phil Mendelson. He has
demonstrated a true commitment through the years to workers in
our state as a gubernatorial appointee to both the Maine State
Workforce Board and the Maine Apprenticeship Council alongside
his position as an Executive Board Member of the Maine AFL-CIO.
Mr. Shedlock, thank you for being here today.
And I will now recognize Congressman Williams to introduce
our final witness.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for extending
me this opportunity to introduce Mr. Terrance Baker on behalf
of my colleague and good friend from Minnesota, Congressman
Hagedorn who is unable to join us today and we miss him.
Mr. Baker is the owner of T.L. Baker Pilot Car Escort
Services in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. Not only is Mr. Baker
a hard-working small business owner, but he is also a veteran
and served in the United States Navy as a lieutenant commander
and is a Naval tactics instructor. Mr. Baker, we thank you for
your service. In 2010, Mr. Baker started T.L. Baker Pilot Car
Escort Services, which escorts oversized and over dimensional
vehicles, directs traffic, and operates specialized trailers.
T.L. Baker Pilot Car Escort Services is one of the numerous
businesses who have been impacted by rising gas prices, supply
chain disruptions, and burdensome regulations. Mr. Baker is
constantly on the road and will provide us with a unique
perspective on infrastructure projects and the challenges small
businesses face today.
Mr. Baker, I cannot thank you enough for joining us today.
We look forward to hearing more about your small business
experience and on-the-road experience. And I also want to thank
all of our other witnesses for joining us today.
And Maine is certainly represented well, Mr. Chairman. And
I yield back.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you very much. I am certainly very
proud of Maine as no doubt you all are of Texas. And we are
happy to have some good representation from Minnesota as well.
I have seen a lot of testimony from people from Minnesota,
Mr. Baker, in the last few years. In the last Congress on this
Committee, I served alongside Pete Stauber as Ranking Member
who had a lot of great people from your state come and testify
before the Committee and now I have had the great opportunity
to serve alongside Jim Hagedorn. And I will add my thoughts and
prayers alongside Congressman Williams for Jim's ongoing
health, and we look forward to seeing him back in the halls of
Congress in Washington.
We will start with panel testimony here. First up will be
Mr. Mortimer for 5 minutes.
STATEMENTS OF ED MORTIMER, VICE PRESIDENT, TRANSPORTATION
INFRASTRUCTURE, UNITED STATES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; MARK
OUELLETTE, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AXIOM
TECHNOLOGIES, LLC.; JASON J. SHEDLOCK, REGIONAL ORGANIZER,
LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION, NEW ENGLAND REGION ORGANIZING
FUND, PRESIDENT, MAINE STATE BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES
COUNCIL; TERRANCE LEE BAKER, OWNER, OPERATOR, AND INDEPENDENT
CONTRACTOR, T.L. BAKER PILOT CAR ESCORT SERVICES
STATEMENT OF ED MORTIMER
Mr. MORTIMER. Great. Good morning, Chairman Golden,
Congressman Williams, and distinguished Members of this
Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before
you today on this critical issue to the business community.
My name is Ed Mortimer and I serve as vice president of
Transportation Infrastructure at the United States Chamber of
Commerce. I also serve as executive director of the chamber-led
Americans for transportation mobility.
Since 2000, this coalition that includes business, labor,
and other interested stakeholders has been advocating for
improved and modernized infrastructure. I am very honored today
to be joined--Wyuna is one of our founding Members of our
coalition and I am glad that Jason Shedlock is on this panel
with me. Business and Labor have been together on these issues
for many years. We may not agree on everything but we
understand the importance of modernizing our infrastructure to
both business and labor and we are glad to be hand-in-hand on
these issues moving forward.
As Members of this Subcommittee know, 96 percent of Chamber
Members have fewer than 100 employees, and 75 percent have
fewer than 10. Since over 100 years, the Chamber has advocated
for policies that help businesses, both large and small, create
jobs and grow our economy.
And for more than 2 decades, we have been at the forefront
of advocacy for investment in the modernization of America's
aging physical infrastructure. We have led various coalitions
to promote action at the federal, state, and local levels, to
take an infrastructure that was the envy of the world and to
modernize it. We know we have gone from a brick-and-mortar
economy to ecommerce, and we really need federal action to have
long-term economic growth. We have worked with Republican and
Democrat administrations and Members of Congress over the years
to have durable long-term policy.
There is an old say in Washington, ``There is no Democrat
or Republican bridge.'' These are American assets that each of
us benefit from. We are grateful for Congress for passage of
the historic Infrastructures, Investments, and Jobs Act that
was recently signed into law. Is it a perfect bill? It is not.
But again, this is bipartisan, durable policy that will allow
our nation to move forward and allow small businesses to plan,
to create jobs, and to grow for 50 years to come. For many
communities, whether they are minority, Appalachia, tribal,
agricultural, or rural, the dream of an inclusive social and
economic infrastructure is not a reality. We believe this
legislation can be a building block that will allow all of our
partners to move forward with modernizing our nation's
infrastructure. And again, it is a unique opportunity, once in
a generation, Mr. Chairman, as you said, to close gaps that
exist within our nation's infrastructure. It allows the private
sector to bring innovation and technology that we have been
having on the sideline for too long and allow us to think anew.
Let's build modern infrastructure. Let's bring infrastructure
that is more environmentally sensitive. Let's bring
infrastructure that is going to connect rural America with our
urban centers so every American has an opportunity for success.
As you all know, the Chamber has done studies with MetLife.
And again, small business owners are starving for modern
infrastructure, broadband, and the private sector is ready to
deliver, in partnership with all of our government leaders. But
getting this legislation passed was a critical part of making
that happen.
Again, you know, you talked, Mr. Chairman, about broadband.
The private sector is prepared to work with the government to
hit those underserved communities and to make sure that there
is no one solution but that the private sector can work with
our public partners to deliver. We have a broadband system that
is the envy of the world. We need to make sure every citizen
has that ability. And we think the $65 billion in this
legislation can make that happen.
Another critical part of this legislation is going to be
the modernization of project delivery. For too long it has
taken too long to get a permit than it is to actually deliver a
project. Under this bipartisan bill, we codified an executive
order under the Trump administration, one federal decision that
is going to streamline the permitting process without changing
environmental law, without changing public input, but putting
reasonable timelines and a transparent process so business
owners, both large and small, are able to deliver more
investment on projects and not just sitting in the permitting
process.
Again, these investments for small business are going to be
where they locate, how they are going to succeed in the future
getting customers and providing the opportunity for their
employees to get in front of this.
This is also an opportunity for small business to be part
of this modernization, not just benefit from the investments
but to make sure that they are part of the design, the
construction, the maintenance. So we are going to reach out to
underserved communities who may not have had these
opportunities in the past and make sure that we can get the men
and women to do these jobs.
So again, this is a once in a generational opportunity. The
Chamber is glad to be a part of this effort and we look forward
to working with the Subcommittee in implementation of this
critical legislation. So thank you for this opportunity and
look forward to your questions later in the session.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you, Mr. Mortimer. We look forward
to that opportunity as well.
Next, we will hear from Mr. Ouellette. The floor is yours,
sir.
STATEMENT OF MARK OUELLETTE
Mr. OUELLETTE. Thank you, Representative Golden. Good
morning, and a shout out to the great state of Maine, my
Representative Golden, Representative Williams, and the
esteemed Members of the Committee. Thank you for the invitation
to speak to you today as a rural small business located in
``Downeast'' Maine. Washington County, where my business is
located, is called the Sunrise County, because we are the
eastern-most county in the United States and the first to see
the sunrise. At least we claim to be the first to see the sun
rise. Our county is three times the size of Rhode Island with a
population of 33,000 people. Our county sits within the largest
congressional district east of the Mississippi that
Representative Golden represents. It is big and very rural.
Axiom is an Internet service provider based in Machias,
Maine, the county seat and a small business. We are a small
business with seven employees. We have been providing Internet
service to some of the most difficult to reach homes in all of
the United States for the past 18 years. During that time, it
has sometimes been a struggle to keep the doors open, but we
have persevered knowing that for much of our early years we
were the only company willing to deliver an Internet connection
to some of the most difficult to reach homes in rural Maine.
Many of our original customers are still with us today.
Over time, we have invested in variety of technologies and
now are deploying, almost exclusively, fiber optic Internet,
commonly called broadband. Our company has taken advantage of
several programs that were passed by Congress during the early
days of the pandemic, and I come before you today as a proud
small business owner with seven full-time employees and two
part-time employees. Not only has pandemic relief kept all my
employees working, but the funds from the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act earmarked for broadband infrastructure
investments, an amount estimated in Maine to be in the range of
$250 million, will help me grow my business exponentially over
the next 2 years, while also adding employees. We expect to
grow from a $1 million company gross revenue to about a $5
million company as the broadband funding is deployed. And
importantly, expect to offer healthcare to our employees for
the first time, a struggle that has been with me for several
years trying to get them the coverage that they so desperately
need.
I do not think it can be overstated how big the economic
impact of this bill will have on the Maine economy. Not only is
my company adding jobs and growing, but the work we do will
bring broadband to thousands of rural Mainers. It is simply a
gamechanger. In Washington County and across rural Maine, we
experience the digital divide every day. Those that do not have
access to reliable, speedy internet are at a disadvantage,
plain and simple. And the pandemic has exposed how important it
is to make sure that children can access the Internet, Zoom
with their teachers and complete homework assignments, while at
the same time allowing parents to work remotely from home.
But the impact of broadband access goes even beyond that.
They help elderly Mainers age in place by accessing
telemedicine opportunities. One example, a previously unhooked
up customer recently hooked up, is able to download his medical
device information from home. Previously, he was having to
travel 45 minutes each way to the nearest healthcare facility
to download that information. A big gamechanger in his life.
Recently connected customers on Cranberry Isles, year-round
islanders living off the coast of Maine connected by ferry to
the mainland, now have the ability to work remotely for
companies anywhere. A professor of physics from the University
of Arizona will be able to work from his home in Roque Bluffs,
Maine, when we hook him up with a fiber connection later this
year. That is a community with a population of 303.
The bill also addresses affordability, a roadblock for
rural families struggling to pay their bills. The benefit will
provide qualified individuals with a $30 reduction on their
monthly bill, really a gamechanger for disadvantaged families.
We look forward to administering that with folks in Maine.
Internet access is critical to keeping rural places vibrant
and ensuring that all Mainers can create their own economy. The
impact of the infrastructure bill, in short, will increase
revenues at Axiom five times, add employees and healthcare
while providing world-class Internet service to thousands of
homes that lack broadband.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.
I have heard some people call it the GSOM, the Great State
of Maine. So, with that, one more witness from Maine, Mr.
Shedlock.
STATEMENT OF JASON J. SHEDLOCK
Mr. SHEDLOCK. Thank you, Chairman Golden, Ranking Member
Williams, and Members of this Subcommittee for this
opportunity. My name is Jason J. Shedlock, and I represent the
Laborers' International Union of North America, 500,000 plus
strong united men and women, most of whom who dedicate their
lives to building our nation's infrastructure. Specifically, I
am one of over 300 Members of Laborers' Local 327 based in
Augusta, Maine, as well as the president of the Maine State
Building and Construction Trades Council, an organization
comprised of 20 affiliated labor unions representing over 6,000
workers across the state.
I am pleased to be with you today to share some thought son
behalf of the individuals who will be operationalizing the
generational legislation that is the topic of this public
hearing.
The bipartisan action taken in Washington will have far-
reaching impacts on current and future working families across
Maine and the nation. Certainly, a direct and immediate benefit
of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act should and must
be seen by the Members of our union and those of the entirety
of the building trades unions. These highly-skilled sisters and
brothers will build and rebuild the very communities where they
live, while at the same time building and sustaining a middle-
class career for themselves and their families.
Tradespeople like the laborers I represent stand ready to
heed the call of lawmakers to fundamentally transform our
nation's infrastructure. From groundbreaking to final delivery,
my fellow Members build every sector of the construction
industry. From skyscrapers and subways, to highways and
bridges, from sidewalks to solar fields, we literally build
America.
Now, if you have ever been to Maine, and I know the
Chairman knows this will, you will undoubtedly notice that we
do not have any skyscrapers per se or any subways in our state.
That said, we are proud to be currently building the state's
tallest building, located in the city of Portland, an 18-story
hi-rise built by union laborers, operating engineers, iron
workers, carpenters, electricians, elevator constructors, and
more.
This legislation will finally address what the American
Society of Civil Engineers calls Maine's C- infrastructure
system. Three hundred fifteen bridges, 1,438 miles of highway
are in poor condition, earning C- and D grades, respectively.
This law will mean at least $1.3 billion for Maine's highways,
$225 million for those bridges.
This represents a seismic change in our ability to invest
in our state. What it also represents is the opportunity to
make a seismic change in our workforce and our local economies.
Through our top-notch training programs, Members hone their
skills in emerging and cutting-edge technologies, making them
the best and most nimble in the business. Through our
registered apprenticeship programs, we ensure that the next
generation of builders are equipped to secure their future with
good pay, safe job sites, comprehensive benefits, and an even
shot at retiring with dignity after an honest career.
I am proud to add that as the most diverse building trades
union, the laborers' also continuously focus on outreach to
traditionally underrepresented populations such as women,
people of color, and veterans, to ensure that our workforce
adequately reflects the community where our Members live, work,
play, and pray.
To further amplify this law's effects on working families,
the president's recent executive order mandating that all
federally-funded projects of $35 million or more be performed
under the gold standard of a Project Labor Agreement means that
this investment will not only benefit every American but it
will also translate to the surety of safety and respect for
construction workers and our signatory contractors across
America.
We are also currently in a challenging environment.
Intertwined with our collective success is the worsening job
crunch in Maine and in the country. No one feels this crunch
harder than small businesses, including small and medium-sized
construction contractors. By partnering with the laborers'
union and our fellow trades, we in essence provide these
businesses with an ``easy button'' as they can gain access to
our highly-skilled construction workforce while at the same
time enjoy the job opportunities related to this historic
infrastructure investment.
I would be remiss if I did not also acknowledge and
appreciate the laborers' close working relationship with the
U.S., as well as the regional and local Chambers of Commerce
across America with respect to our nation's infrastructure. It
is only by joining together with our partners in the business
community that we will most effectively deliver on the
tremendous promise of this legislation, and I thank Mr.
Mortimer for his words as well.
Through this partnership, we can also help address the
unacceptable reality of America's gender pay gap. According to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while overall women earn
81.1 percent of what men in, in the construction industry that
number increases to 99.1 percent. Further, according to the
National Women's Law Center, unionized women earn 24 percent
more than women who are not represented by a union.
Mr. Chairman, the overarching takeaway is very simple and
was summed up very well by my general president, Terry
O'Sullivan, upon the bill's signing. ``The investment will put
laborers to work in every community, revitalize our nation's
economy, and open doors to the middle class for hundreds of
thousands of working men and women.''
Thank you for the opportunity to present to you today. As
any good union laborer, I and my sisters and brothers, stand
ready to assist you in any way necessary as we work together to
put this legislation into action, from groundbreaking to final
delivery. Thank you.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I look forward to seeing those
projects move forward, too, and those people working. And as we
discussed, working closer to home. More on that later in regard
to Maine.
But let's finish things up and hear from Mr. Baker for 5
minutes. Thank you, sir
Mr. BAKER. Okay. Am I unmuted here, sir? Oh, good.
Chairman GOLDEN. Loud and clear.
STATEMENT OF TERRANCE LEE BAKER
Mr. BAKER. Okay. Thank you to Representative Williams for
that eloquent introduction. And I also want to express
gratitude to my congressman, Representative Jim Hagedorn. And I
add my thoughts and prayers for your speedy recovery, sir.
As already mentioned about my present employment, I am a
pilot car owner and operator. And just to add to what
Representative Williams already mentioned, when you happen upon
an oversized load, it is always a spectacle on the highway. You
will see flags, oversize load signs, police light bars with
amber flashing lights. And typically, we have to block one or
more lanes of traffic because of the dimensions of the load,
and so our priority is to alert the driving public and to
encourage them to maintain distance until we can get the load
down the highway and keep everyone safe.
Through the years of doing this, I have operated through
all of the 48 states of the Continental U.S. and a lot in
Canada, specifically in Ontario, and especially in Quebec. And
so, a lot of infrastructure to see there. But I want to mention
that it has always been a challenge because of fuel prices from
2010 to 2016. Climate initiatives have always kept diesel up
somewhere near $4 a gallon. I was very thankful to get a
reprieve 2017 through 2020 when for once we became energy
independent and I was paying as little as $2 a gallon for
diesel which immensely helped a small operator like me.
2020 promised to be a great year and then, bam, the Flu
COVID crisis hit. Mask mandates, vaccine mandates, social
distancing, the general flu hysteria. Restaurants, motels,
hotels, truck stops--they were shut down. Job sites were shut
down. Manufacturers of the oversized things that we hauled were
shut down. Work stopped and my income stopped. Further
complicating COVID, the governor of my state has now imposed
California air standards on Minnesota. What is the impact of
that? Well, sometime in the future I will not be able to renew
the Minnesota registration on my pickup because I no longer
meet California air standards.
Additionally, the state of Minnesota is now requiring that
pilot cars based here take a Minnesota pilot car certification
test, and it will no longer honor my Utah DOT certification.
Coincidently and just in time, the new SBA director in January
of 2021 offered loans and available money and small business
support. I was grateful to see loans being offered at 3.75
percent with a payback period of 30 years up to a half million
dollars. Well, I do not need a half million dollars. I am just
one guy with one vehicle but, yeah, please, send SOME of that
money my way. I did apply for a loan and I am very happy to say
SBA called me just this morning informing me, after I applied
over a year ago, that finally the loan will be approved and we
are waiting for funding on that.
So, I am looking at now refitting my pickup with California
emissions equipment, buying a new California compliant vehicle,
or moving out of state because of the new and onerous DOT and
EPA standards. In the news, CPI is up to 7.5 percent, 40-year
high. Well, every time I go to the diesel filling station, or
go to the grocery store, or pay my heating bill, I do not see
increases of only 7.5 percent. Diesel is up 80 percent. This
last month, I paid $100 more to heat my house than I did a year
ago. So what does this mean as a small business owner? I have
to increase prices to my customers, my few remaining customers
if I am going to stay profitable. And I am discovering they are
not going to pay it. They will not pay it. It is too much.
So my observation iss, and I have limited time here, this
administration could instantly, overnight, fix inflation and
cost of living by just reopening domestic oil production. Open
up Keystone. Finish the construction of the Keystone Pipeline.
Get off the back of Pipeline 5 and Dakota Access operators. Let
the oil flow. We are reminded that the cost basis of
everything--goods, services, housing, food, transport is
energy. It is ENERGY!!! Until we get that back down, we are
going to keep spiraling downward.
In summary, I see in my co-drivers and people that I work
with: fear, resentment, and hatred toward the present
administration, and its policies are really mounting. People
are getting frustrated out here because it is getting harder
and harder to run a business, to survive. We cannot allow
ourselves to be driven into poverty and destitution by
SENSELESS policy. We need to look at Canada and really take
that truckers' strike, pardon me, seriously. I think that will
come here.
Thank you, Ranking Members and distinguished witnesses for
listening and I have to yield up my time now.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you, Mr. Baker.
Next, we will move on to the question-and-answer phase of
the hearing.
I will begin by recognizing myself. We will have several
rounds of these time allowing, so please, it is certainly my
intent to try and give each of you a little bit more time to
talk about the issues that you want to address here today. I
know time is pretty crunched with a 5-minute start on your
opening statements, so I will start by recognizing myself.
This infrastructure bill is Chamber of Commerce endorsed;
National Association of Manufacturers endorsed. Of course, part
of it is built upon the foundation of our Surface
Transportation Reauthorization, which really is all about
infrastructure, $550 billion in addition plus to invest in our
nation's infrastructure. Of that, $110 billion for roads and
bridges, $39 billion for transit, $66 billion for rail. And I
must point out a big portion of that is likely to go to
freight, which is an economic driver for our businesses around
the country. $25 billion for airports, $17 billion for ports.
These are some big numbers and I think it is going to do some
great things for the American economy, not just in the near
term but in the long run here for our infrastructure.
It is just critical as you pointed out, Mr. Mortimer. Can
you talk a little bit more about why the Chamber of Commerce
got behind this legislation? And I thank you for pointing out
some of the regulatory reform that it did possess. You did say
not a perfect bill, very few are, but the one federal decision
permitting I think is going to go a long way towards speeding
delivery and providing regulatory certainty to businesses,
would you not say?
Mr. MORTIMER. Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. And again, you
know, the Chamber of Commerce has got behind this because,
look, we need federal investment to have a national network.
Right? The Constitution called for the federal government to do
two things. They may have wandered a bit beyond that and we
could have a whole hearing on that. But the two things it
called for is national defense and interstate commerce. So for
businesses to succeed, we need the vision of Eisenhauer when he
developed that interstate highway system. Teddy Roosevelt with
the Inland Waterways. That network was the envy of the world
but it has reached its useful conclusion.
My colleague, Mr. Shedlock, talked about the American
Society of Civil Engineers' C-. So we needed to modernize. We
needed the federal investment and vision to do that. State
governments and local governments have been doing this over the
last several years but they by themselves cannot make the type
of investments to handle all the physical infrastructure we
talked about in this hearing. You know, our road system and our
transportation network is the backbone, but broadband, energy,
all those things require, and it is not all on the federal
government. It is a shared responsibility. But this legislation
is going to provide the building block. And again, our view is
these are going to be shovel worthy projects. These are going
to be projects that are going to make our country succeed for
the next 50 to 75 years. This is not a quick jolt.
To Congressman Williams's concern about inflation, the U.S.
Chamber is very concerned about inflation, but we view these
investments, again, as a long-term vision for our country that
actually are going to be deflationary because they are long
term. This is very different than 2009 when it was shovel ready
and just hurry up. Let's get a bunch of people out there and
fix some things. This is being strategic, long-term investments
that are going to benefit small business owners for many years
to come.
Chairman GOLDEN. You talked a little bit about partnering
with the Committee to make sure that the implementation is done
correctly or to see that some of these reforms in here are
adhered to. How can we best work together, Mr. Mortimer, to
make sure that small business firms represented by the Chamber
of Commerce are going to capture the benefit of this work?
Mr. MORTIMER. Great question. So two things we really would
like the Subcommittee to help us with. First of all, we need to
get a full year, 2022 appropriations bill. Because we are on a
continuing resolution, the full benefits of this legislation
are not able to take place. So we are supporting Congressman
Moulton, Congressman Katko. They have over 50 Members and
growing, signing a letter to leadership, urging them to finish
a full year appropriations bill by the March 11th deadline. So
again, let's get a bipartisan solution for a full year bill so
we can fully implement the legislation.
Number two is this Subcommittee and your Full Committee has
an opportunity to oversee the departments that are enacting
this bill to make sure that small business has a voice. There
are provisions in this bill, like in Federal Highways, 10
percent of funds can go to small business owners. We need to
provide that oversight and make sure that they deliver on the
promises made. And so, Congress and this Committee have a key
role to make sure that as they roll out these guidances, and
many are going to be rolling out in the next month, that you
ensure that the congressional intent is being met.
And for those who did not vote for the bill, this is an
opportunity to say let's--it is the law of the land--let's make
it the most beneficial to our communities. So, let's take
another look at this and let's see how we can make our
communities fully benefit from the investments that this law
can bring.
Chairman GOLDEN. I certainly agree with you about the
importance of the oversight role of the Committee. And of
course, also hoping that we will get a good omnibus.
My time is expired.
Next, we will recognize Congressman Williams.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I would also like to enter into the record an op-ed from
Job Creators Network titled ``Nine ways Biden's feckless
cabinet Members are contributing to our country's problems.''
This article highlights the failures of Transportation
Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Small Business Administration
Administrator Isabel Guzman, and Treasury Secretary Janet
Yellen, who continues, by the way, to defy the law by refusing
to testify before this Committee. She is breaking the law. So,
I want to get that in the record, Chairman.
Chairman GOLDEN. So ordered.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you. Thank you, again, and witnesses,
for being here today. We appreciate you.
Skyrocketing inflation continues to create uncertainty for
small business owners across the country. I am one of those
small business owners. And while the Biden administration
claimed that inflation had reached its peak months ago, working
families and business owners are seeing the highest inflation
in 40 years. I am in the automobile business and so I can tell
you about that. A recent survey by the Jobs Creation Network
and the National Federation of Small Businesses confirmed that
inflation is the biggest concern among small business owners.
So, Mr. Baker, it is good to have you here today. And in
your testimony, you mentioned that the rising cost of gas has
caused you to pass along the price to your customers.
Unfortunately, that happens when you are a business owner.
Can you expand on how the rising cost of goods has impacted
your business and your customer base? And is there not a point
where the cost is just too great to your customers to absorb?
Mr. BAKER. Yes, sir. I have fuel receipts from a year ago
where I was paying $2.08 (per gallon) for diesel. Right now, I
look out the window and I see the diesel price $3.89. that is
over 80 percent, sir. That is not 7.5 CPI. That is 80 percent.
Everything for maintenance, vehicle maintenance and everything
else is up accordingly. And I already mentioned hotels and
truck stops. They have to increase their prices or they go out
of business. So naturally, I have to raise my per mile rate
when I am out escorting someone. And I used to be able to
afford to deadhead out to New York or Quebec to find work. That
is running out alone with my vehicle to pick up work out of
Montreal or Trois-Rivie1res. They have a lot of wind, had a lot
of wind going on in 2020 before they closed the Canadian
border. I cannot afford that anymore because when I go through
Pennsylvania and New York, they are over 4 bucks a gallon for
diesel. So, there is an example, sir.
And also, I wanted to mention, I know a lot of truckers who
are over-the-road semi drivers. The California air emission
standards forced a lot of them away from California ports. In
fact, a majority of the truckers who service those ports are
from out of state. When California doubled down on that
ludicrous emissions requirement for the ports, the truckers
shrugged and said, ``...okay, we will go work Gulf Coast ports.
We will go work out of Florida ports. You are not hurting us at
all. Let us know how that works out, California!'' That is why
there is a supply chain problem there.
But, sir, I am happy to report at the beginning of 2020, I
knew we were going to be down for COVID for a while so I took
my pickup in, did a top engine overhaul and had to order a lot
of parts from Germany. Bosch parts made in Germany. I
experienced no supply chain problems at all because they were
flown in or shipped in through Jacksonville, Florida. So there
is the contrast and that is how onerous regulations in some
states just kill us, adding to the cost of operations.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Let's continue.
As a small business owner myself, I have been in the
automobile business for over 52 years, I know firsthand that
the best thing for business is if government simply gets out of
the way and lets business owners work in the free market. Let
competition work. Let the consumer decide who is good and who
is bad. Unfortunately, the American Action Forum reported that
the Biden administration capped off its first full year in
office with more than $201 billion--think of that, $201 billion
in regulatory costs and 131 million hours in new annual
paperwork to generate actually nothing. These kinds of
burdensome regulations and requirements for you and myself
create unnecessary barriers for all small businesses which
prevents them from growing and contributing to the U.S. economy
in a more substantial way, and frankly, giving service to the
customer.
So, Mr. Baker, how do regulatory burdens impact your
ability to maintain revenue, retain clients, and still grow
your business? And you do not need Big Brother looking at it
every single day.
Mr. BAKER. Yes, sir. I mean, it all revolves around cost.
And as I mentioned before in my oral intro, the cost basis of
everything is ENERGY. And as diesel keeps rising, it will be
more and more difficult to come out with a net profit. And like
I said, I have reached the limits where some customers tell me
I cannot run with them anymore because I am charging too much.
Well, I have to charge that much at a certain level just to
remain profitable. Otherwise, it does not pay to go out the
door anymore. I may as well sell my pickup and go be a Walmart
greeter because that is what inflation and these new
regulations will force, as in the case of my state, California
air emissions in Minnesota. Are you kidding? They are going to
drive me out of business eventually if these costs keep rising,
sir. I hope that answers your question.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, it did. And thank you for being a small
business owner and taking risk in this great country.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I am going to go ahead and
recognize Congressman Stauber.
Mr. STAUBER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, Ranking Member
Williams. I really appreciate the witnesses and hearing your
testimony.
You know, Mr. Williams just said something very striking,
and do not diminish his comment. The Biden administration in 1
year, by their own admittance, has added $200 billion of new
regulatory cost on top of prior. That is $200 billion of
regulatory cost, additional regulatory cost on small businesses
in 1 year. We cannot have this. The small businesses
represented here, Mr. Baker, I do not know how you can do that,
add 7.5 percent inflation. We have always said that small
business is the engine of our economy. And what we are doing is
we are suffocating small business with these overburdensome
regulations that some unelected bureaucratic thinks is a good
idea to put on the American small business owner. They do not
deserve that and we can do better.
So, Mr. Baker, for you. As the top Republican on the
Natural Resources Subcommittee overseeing oil and gas
development, I could not agree more with your comment in your
testimony about the need to reopen federal lands to oil and gas
development. Even in Minnesota where we have no oil and gas,
how has Joe Biden's decision to ban federal oil and gas leases
impacted your ability to run your pilot car business and the
cost of fuel?
Mr. BAKER. Well, it has just escalated to the ridiculous. I
mean, every day I look out the window or I drive by the diesel
stop and it is up 5, 10 cents a gallon. Pretty soon we are
going to be at $5 a gallon, over some nefarious environmental
initiative which at its core philosophy demonizes carbon
dioxide of all things. I would like to speak on that if I had
the time but I do not want to overcomplicate my answer here.
Just simply ENERGY, the cost of ENERGY is the basis of all my
costs anymore and it drives everything else up--food,
restaurants, truck stops, supplies, repair parts.
Mr. STAUBER. Well, Mr. Baker, give me an idea, give the
panel an idea what the percentage of your overall commitment is
for oil and gas. What has the increase in the gas cost you? Can
you give us a number or a percentage of this past year's bill?
Mr. BAKER. Okay. I have got a 35-gallon fuel tank in my
pickup and I used to be able to fill that, especially running
down through Texas, $70 would top it off right to the top of
the filler brim. If I fill now in my hometown, it is in excess
of $130 to fill that tank. If I do a day escort run, and hoping
to make $200 from the trucking company and then come back home,
I will burn out nearly a tank of fuel just maneuvering around
the load, keeping the traffic off of it, steering the trailer.
I have to idle my pickup when it is cold just to stay alive. By
the time I am done, I have spent almost as much fuel as the
trucking company pays me for that day. That is not good
business. I cannot live that way. I cannot make a living that
way.
Mr. STAUBER. So Mr. Baker, you are almost paying a half
more than you were a year and a half ago. And so, in addition
to paying almost double for the fuel and then the added $200 of
additional burdensome regulations, small businesses are really
hit hard and it is not right.
So, bureaucrats in Washington that come up with the onerous
climate initiatives and regulations often do not consider
impact on small business owners like yourself, Mr. Baker. We
must eliminate hurdles for our small businesses so they can
contribute to our economy and our infrastructure projects, not
put in place more burdensome regulations or take steps to
weaken our energy and supply chain independence. Mistakes like
these only benefit large corporations who can afford such
costly policies. Small business resiliency is how we guarantee
America's resiliency. And I hope this administration starts
taking that into account moving forward.
Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Chairman GOLDEN. The gentleman yields back.
We will now recognize Congressman Carter from Louisiana.
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the
opportunity.
Mr. Mortimer, can you explain the benefits of historically
underserved businesses like those owned by women, minorities,
and veterans gaining access to state and federal contracts,
particularly for surface transportation projects?
Mr. MORTIMER. Absolutely, Congressman. Thank you for the
question.
So, you know, we have been very engaged in the business
community to, you know, obviously, workforce development and
workforce challenges are a big focus of the Chamber. And we
created an Equality of Opportunity Initiative where one of the
things we have heard when we talk to minority and women-owned
businesses was they did not know where these opportunities
existed; right? We did not have a lot of them at the federal
level. But with passage of this legislation, one of our goals
is to partner to make sure we go to those underserved and
underutilized communities who did not even know these benefits
happened. And if they do not have the workers there that have
the job skills, let's get the job skills with the men and women
so they can do these jobs. So, they do not just benefit from
the infrastructure development but they actually are a part of
it. And again, we know the communities around the country are
starving for think of something anew. How would you love to be
part of an effort to modernize infrastructure? And these jobs
are not a 4-year college degree. These are training jobs.
My colleague on this panel, Mr. Shedlock, you know, we work
with organized labor. They have great apprenticeship programs.
The business community wants to copy those but we need to go to
those communities themselves. We cannot have them come to us.
We need to go to them. And so, the Chamber, through its
Equality of Opportunity Initiative, we are reaching out around
the country to those communities, making them aware of these
opportunities. We created a website that shows all the
government procurements and contracts that are coming out and
we are going to work with our state and local Chambers so they
can work with those local communities to find men and women
who, these are good jobs.
Mr. CARTER. And listen, I would love to work with you on
that, Mr. Mortimer, because I will tell you, we just recently
had the Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, in my district in
Louisiana. And we went to some of our community colleges. We
met with some of the stakeholders. And one of the repeating
refrains, particularly people that are re-entering the
workforce, people that had been recently incarcerated, who paid
their debt to society, nonviolent criminals who are now back
out and have skills and we should put them back in the
workforce in addition to creating more opportunities for small
and emerging businesses. So I am happy to hear you say that and
I extend my hand to work with you and local chambers to make
sure that we get into those communities that historically have
been underserved and do not know these resources exist. So, I
am happy to hear that you recognize, as I do, that we can have
the best programs in the world. If people do not know they
exist, they are doing us no good whatsoever. So thank you very,
very much for that.
And I will ask you one final question. If you sat where we
sit, if you were Members of this Committee, Members of
Congress, and you had the opportunity to do something in
addition to what has been done, what would you direct us to do
that we can do better to help you serve our community?
Mr. MORTIMER. First of all, I look forward to the
partnership with you on this effort because we are very serious
about that commitment and the Chambers looks forward to working
with you on that.
So, from your seat, and no offense, I am glad I am not a
Member of Congress, but from your seats, I think, again, making
sure that your communities put together priorities; okay?
Because we cannot just trust state and local governments to
deliver the projects that are truly going to be
transformational. So businesses working with organized labor
with the other stakeholder communities and make priorities. And
then have community consensus around those priority projects.
Those communities that are able to do that are going to be the
ones most successful. If everyone is----
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Mortimer, thank you. I'm sorry to cut you
off. I have just about a minute left and I want to really ask
one quick question for Mr. Baker but I definitely want to
follow up with you.
Mr. MORTIMER. Sure.
Mr. CARTER. Mr. Baker, you know, we hear from small firms
all the time about having trouble recruiting and retaining
workers. Do you think government investment in workforce
development would help expand the pool of skilled workers for
businesses? And if not, what can we be doing better?
Mr. BAKER. Oh, I think that is obvious. I mean, if you
provide training and opportunities for people seeking work, of
course that would be helpful, sir.
Mr. CARTER. Do you think there are other ways that we might
be able to weigh in to do that from your perspective? I will
ask you as I asked Mr. Mortimer, are there other things that
you think we can be doing better? And if so, could you share
with us very briefly in about 20 seconds on what you think we
can do? Because our job here is to listen, to legislate, to
govern, but we should not do that in a vacuum. We have to do
that with the involvement of people like you and others that
are on the panel today.
Mr. BAKER. Well, in my industry, there will always be a
demand for truckers. I think fostering and encouraging a
vocational training program for semi-truck drivers or pilot car
operators would give that industry a boost and certainly employ
or self-employ a great many more people. So a simple answer to
your question, sir.
Mr. CARTER. Thank you very much.
I yield back, sir.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I appreciate that.
I have a few remaining questions. Certainly, Representative
Carter, you are welcome to stay if you have others. It sounds
like you might. And Congressman Williams, just let me know if
you have additional questions at any point.
I was just going to work down the line starting with Mr.
Ouellette. Just thinking about Washington County alone, what do
you think the digital divide looks like maybe in just an
estimated percentage of residents currently without access to
broadband? And how important do you think that is to the
prospects for economic development in Washington County?
Mr. OUELLETTE. Thank you, Representative Golden. I
appreciate the opportunity.
There are at least 10 percent of the population that has no
broadband whatsoever and is working off a cell phone, at least
that. Probably closer to 15 percent, something of that range.
Those who do not have access to broadband that meets the new
state definition of 100 over 100 megabits per second are almost
nonexistent. Only fiber connected customers can achieve that
level of service and there are far and few in Washington County
that have that service. We, through the CARES Act, we are now
serving East Machias and Whiting, two small communities
adjacent to where we operate out of Machias. Those communities
now have access to world-class broadband. Basically, you can
get better broadband in those communities today than you can
get in New York City. No offense to New York City. So the kind
of infrastructure from a broadband perspective that are going
to be put into Washington County is really literally going to
give a significant economic boost to all families who are
currently underserved or unserved by their current broadband
connection. Because as I am sure you are keenly aware, and
those on the Committee that come from rural places, typically,
a family has two, three, maybe even four jobs to keep
themselves working. And giving them more tools to allow them to
build their own economy in the way that they so choose while
still living in a place that they love and not being forced to
move or go to a different location to be able to do what they
need to do to keep their family healthy, safe, and obviously
active in the kinds of beautiful places that Washington County
is and very many of your other representatives' locations in
rural places across America is critical. So I see this as
being, as I said in my testimony, a game changer, not just for
Washington County but all of rural Maine, all of rural America
from a broadband perspective. There is no reason, frankly, that
we should be lagging behind places like South Korea and other
nations that many years ago invested in broadband
infrastructure and put that in to help their citizens grow, and
certainly, the pandemic has made this an acute problem that
needs to be addressed in the Congress bipartisanly--is that a
word, bipartisanly? Yeah, there you go. Really had the
opportunity to address and pass this piece of legislation. And
we are grateful because we know every day from our folks in
Washington County how important and how large the digital
divide is for those families that do not have service right
now.
Yeah, go ahead.
Chairman GOLDEN. You know, Ed had mentioned that for those
communities' consensus for projects, they are going to be best
in place to take the full advantage of this law.
You mentioned in this bill a provision I think a lot of
people do not know about where for those who need the help, who
qualify because of their financial situation, they can get a
$30 monthly bill reduction so they can afford this broadband.
What other ways do you think we can work together, businesses
like yours and this Subcommittee, to get the word out to
communities about how best to take advantage of this law?
Mr. OUELLETTE. Yeah, thank you for the question. I
appreciate that.
I think certainly that a great amount of education still
needs to occur about what is contained within this bill and how
Congress should communicate that information through the state
or through the Members of Congress to different areas to try to
effectively drill down into places where folks may not be aware
of these kinds of programs or the kids of effects that the
infrastructure bill is going to bring to places like rural
Maine.
I think one of the big, I think, something very important
from my perspective would be for representatives to really
effectively come to the places where these funds could be
effective and speak on them because I think Members of Congress
maybe can have a great out-larged effect when they speak and I
think, you know, people do not see enough of their
representatives frankly in this environment because of the
pandemic, because of the way you have had to hold your business
over the last couple of years. So, we would love to see more
Members of Congress out in the field talking about what this
bill can bring. And I think that could be very effective for
the Committee also.
Chairman GOLDEN. It sounds like an invitation to Washington
County. We should set that up.
Mr. Williams, do you have any questions?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Baker, or any of you can answer this, but I am a small
business owner, employ hundreds of people. I am in the
automobile business. I have for over 50 years. I am a big tax
cutter. I ran on tax cuts in 2012 and won and I have won ever
since. In 2016, we had the largest tax cuts in the history of
our country, and created more cashflow than we have ever seen,
and allowed business to invest and take risks and get rewarded.
And that is what America is about.
Now, Mr. Baker, the Democrats talk about raising taxes,
really frankly on everybody. And just raising taxes alone when
we ought to be cutting taxes, frankly, what would that do to
your business along with inflation and everything else you
talked about today?
Mr. BAKER. Well, in combination with all of the above,
Representative Williams, I pay taxes in two places, Minnesota
and federal. Any raise in taxes would be even more devastating
on top of already what I am dealing with. I am really
considering moving to Texas, which is a no state income tax
state, sir. I wish you would have me.
Mr. WILLIAMS. We will take you.
Mr. BAKER. Thank you.
Mr. WILLIAMS. But raising taxes does not do your business
any good?
Mr. BAKER. No, definitely not. How does it benefit me? More
dollars out of my pocket. Less operating funds. You know, the
checkbook won't balance anymore.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Shedlock, you represent a lot of great
businesses, a lot of great people. We are a right to work state
in Texas but tax increases certainly could not help your
businesses or your people, could they?
Mr. SHEDLOCK. Well, I appreciate the question, Congressman.
You know, I think we are obviously all in this together and,
you know, it is incumbent upon us to make sure that the promise
1:11:00xxx of this legislation is implemented. You know, the
important thing when you invest in human beings who actually
are holding those shovels of these projects that are shovel
ready is that you are investing in a person and in a working
family and paying them a wage where they can be reintroduced
into their communities where they live.
Mr. WILLIAMS. I hate to interrupt you but let me say, but
tax cuts certainly would help your workers and your companies a
lot better than raising taxes and putting, again, the burden on
taxpayers, would you not agree?
Mr. SHEDLOCK. My Members are following their collective
bargaining agreements jointly with our signatory contractors.
Mr. WILLIAMS. But I am sure they would like more money in
their pocket. I think they would. And thank you for answering
that question.
Let me just come to you, Mr. Mortimer, being with the
Chamber and so forth. And I am a Member of the Chamber and
small business owner.
All the stuff we were talking about is great, but if we put
the burden on small business owners and Chamber Members by
raising taxes, instead of cutting taxes, frankly, and putting
more money in their pocket that gets put out in the system,
raising taxes right now with inflation like it is is not at a
benefit, would you not agree?
Mr. MORTIMER. Yes, sir, Mr. Congressman. We appreciate, you
know, you are a small business owner and you understand the
Chamber has been supportive of the Tax Reform of 2017. We also
have strongly opposed Build Back Better just for that reason.
And so, you know, there are some that felt that a vote for this
infrastructure bill was actually going to help Build Back
Better. Well, it has shown that supporting long-term investment
is good for our country. Supporting short-term things such as
Build Back Better are bad. And so, we are very happy that
Congress has not moved forward with that part of the agenda.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much.
And Mr. Chairman, I will return my time to you.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I appreciate that.
I want to make sure I am not leaving people out.
Mr. Shedlock, you talked a little bit about the importance
of putting money in people's pockets. Certainly, you see a lot
in this bill that is going to increase work opportunities for
laborers in Maine and New England. Important things that are
going to see us with more Buy American, Made in America type of
contract opportunities. In general, you think this law is going
to generate more work and better pay opportunities for your
workers. And when I say that, I also, of course, mean
businesses that they work for. Could you talk a little bit more
about the benefits?
Mr. SHEDLOCK. Sure, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the
question.
Chairman GOLDEN. By the way, you touched on the importance
of the laborer aspects, the laborer development aspects. I
mean, in Maine, obviously, we have got to develop a skilled
workforce for the future and maintain it. And really, at the
end of the day that is one of the things that I think perhaps
is going to be most significant about this bill. But I would
love to hear a little bit more from the perspective of laborers
and trades.
Mr. SHEDLOCK. Sure, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the
question. And you hit it right on the head. We have an aging
workforce in Maine and across the country in the construction
industry. And one of the things that this piece of legislation
is going to spur are registered apprenticeship programs. Mr.
Mortimer spoke about them as well. They are the gold standard
when it comes to training someone in the building trades with a
set pathway and a paved road to the middle class. So as we
partner with our small and midsize businesses to operationalize
this piece of legislation, we have the opportunity to create a
sustaining training module for these individuals but also, you
know, it is not like when these infrastructure projects are
built and we often say in the construction industry we work
ourselves out of a job. It is our job to finish the work. It is
not like the training that these individuals will receive due
to the much needed investment that this piece of legislation
injects into Maine and the state. After those projects are
over, they are not just going to go home and, you know, I think
Mr. Baker talked about being a greeter at Walmart. These are
individuals who are now equipped with the tools that they need
to pivot from those jobs into work in other areas across the
state with the skills that they have learned because of this
piece of legislation. And you know, what happens in Maine, as
we say, you know, as Maine goes, so goes the country, what
happens in Maine is not unique. This happens in jurisdictions
all around the country when we bring folks into the fold. And
as I said, and it should not be underestimated, women, people
of color, veterans, traditionally underserved populations, we
make a concerted effort to make sure that our unions' workforce
looks like the communities in which they work. So these are
opportunities that are going to be immeasurable for working
families in Maine and across the country.
Chairman GOLDEN. Yeah, I really appreciate the effort to
hire veterans. I was coming out of the Marines back in '06. I
was Infantry. That is all I ever wanted to do in the Marines.
And as you know, I went to Afghanistan and Iraq. And coming
home, I would have loved to have known about an opportunity to
walk into an apprenticeship program and pick up some trade
skills. So, I really admire and appreciate the effort of your
organizations on that front, as well as for other important
parts of our community, making sure people have access to get
those skills, be successful is what it is all about. And I know
it is important to the businesses. They would not be able to
meet their workforce needs without groups like yours. So, I
certainly appreciate that very much.
We stood under a bridge linking Maine to New Hampshire and
heard directly from workers about the human aspect of this for
people around the country. Some of the workers there, I think
some of them laborers, some of them operating engineers, talked
about how they had not had a job in Maine in years. And
therefore, were sleeping in motels during the week away from
their family, from their kids. And really what they saw in this
Infrastructure Law, and you will remember, they were asking me
to push back against the Speaker linking the infrastructure
bill to Build Back Better which I fought real hard to get this
infrastructure bill free. But for them it was about not just
the paychecks and the skills development, but it was about work
closer to home and going home to eat dinner and put the kid to
bed; right? There is a real human aspect to this, too.
Mr. SHEDLOCK. There absolutely is. I appreciate you
bringing that up, and it was a pleasure to partner with you on
that event and so many others.
You know, we have talked a lot this morning about the price
of gas; right? And, you know, no one can deny the price of gas
is rising. What our Members do not appreciate, and partially to
Congressman Williams's point, is to have to drive, and using
that gas out of state to make a decent wage for a construction
job. This is going to provide the opportunity for our Members,
the women and men, the laborers and the entirety of the
building trades unions, to work where they live. When that
happens, not only do you not have to shell out more money from
your pocket for a tank of gas or a motel room or, you know,
many Members also sleep in their cars I have to tell you, you
are also going to be spending money in your communities, but
you are also going to be, you can go to church on Sunday in
your community. You are going to coach, you know, I am a youth
basketball coach in Portland and you are going to be able to
coach your son or your daughter in the games. You are going to
be productive Members of the communities visiting those small
businesses that we all care so much about and who are the
backbone of much of Maine.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Congressman Williams, I am going to ask one question to Mr.
Baker, but I want to give you the opportunity if you want to
ask any more questions of anyone.
Mr. WILLIAMS. No, I am good. I guess I would just say to
everybody, you Maniacs got us Texans outnumbered on this call.
But I would invite Mr. Shedlock and Mark, and of course, Ed
knows this, and Terrance already brought it up, you all are
invited to Texas. No personal income tax. All your people make
more money. They are free to work for who they want to work
for. So that invitation is out there, Chairman.
Chairman GOLDEN. Well, I appreciate that. Let me say, I had
Pete Stauber up in Maine and I visited Minnesota with him and
Jim Hagedorn actually back in 2019, and I would certainly--Van
Taylor has been up to my district in Maine--and I intend to go
to Texas and visit down there. And maybe we will have the
opportunity to get together. It is a big state, like Maine,
obviously, but----
Mr. WILLIAMS. My son-in-law, Mr. Chairman, is from Bangor.
Chairman GOLDEN. Oh, no kidding. There you go.
Mr. WILLIAMS. So you have got a great state. We just happen
to be warmer than you are.
Chairman GOLDEN. Well, that is right. Obviously, I want to
go to Texas right now, but you might want to Maine in the
summertime. You know, but I want to learn a little bit about
the economy down there when I visit and, of course, get down to
the border if we can. Although, I have talked to the Border
Patrol people up here in Maine and it is easy sometimes to
forget about the northern border which is important, but they
all rotate down south, too. So, I hear from them. But I look
forward to that visit in the months ahead.
Mr. Baker, I wanted to tell you one thing. I know that you
do not yourself drive trucks but certainly, that industry is at
the heart of the business that you started as you were looking
for the opportunity to start your own business and have a
little bit more control over your life. One thing that we did
in this bill I wanted to let you know about, I imagine you
would be supportive and it gets a little bit at the, I think,
trucker shortages. I do not know if you ever heard of the Drive
Safe Act. So there were these laws where we had qualified truck
drivers of a certain age, under 21 years old, who were only
allowed to drive inside their state but not across state
borders which created some really strange situations where we
had qualified, certified drivers able to drive hundreds of
miles across Maine--east, west, north, south--but could not
deliver a load from one business in western Maine to a business
in eastern New Hampshire just 30 minutes down the road. Did not
make any sense. Also made it hard for them to get hired. And
for some businesses who operate all over New England, made it
hard for them at times to meet their workforce needs. So, the
Drive Safe Act is going to create a new apprenticeship program
for young CDL drivers. Make sure that there are new training
opportunities. But also, it is going to allow those 18-to-21-
year-olds to drive under the apprenticeship program across
those state lines. In general, I do not know if that is
something you have heard about in Minnesota, but I wanted you
to know about it as you are having conversations with different
trucking companies out there. It is a new opportunity.
Mr. BAKER. Yes, sir. I am aware of that. I am a CDL holder
myself, so yes, thank you for that. Thank you for reminding me.
Chairman GOLDEN. Very good. Certainly, some things we can
agree about. Looking back, just thinking about the inflation
right now, about higher gas prices, I certainly believe actions
can be taken to try and address that. I pushed the Biden
administration to release some of the oil reserves to try and
push down those prices, but I, too, have expressed frustration
with political interference with things like the Dakota
Pipeline 5. You may find that there may be laborers in America
who agree about that and things like Keystone. So certainly,
there are things that can be done.
Just looking back in 2009, I know that when Obama came
into--the White House, we were pumping about 5.1 million
barrels in January of 2009. By April, that was up to 8.9
million barrels a day. And in 2015, the U.S. pumped the most
oil it had in 43 years. They were ranking like number three in
crude oil globally and number one when you looked at both oil
and gas. And prices dropped by half from 2014 to 2016 and '17.
So certainly, there is something to be said for an opportunity
to take some policy action here to address higher gas prices.
And you pointed out some of the regulatory stuff which I agree
with you about.
But some people in Congress have started talking about the
need to address these high gas prices immediately. This would
be a short-term fix, not a long-term one. But what do you think
of conversations that have just started in the last couple days
about a gas tax holiday for the remainder of 2022? Would that
be beneficial to you as a business owner or just as a regular
guy?
Mr. BAKER. Are you asking me, sir?
Chairman GOLDEN. Yes.
Mr. BAKER. Temporarily, sure. Any reduction in whatever
kind of tax would temporarily help. But gee, just build the
Keystone. Get the people back out on the site. Finish the
Pipeline. Do it right. Do it PERMANENTLY.
Chairman GOLDEN. Certainly, if Pete Stauber were still
here, he would agree with you about that.
Mr. Mortimer, go ahead.
Mr. MORTIMER. Yeah, Mr. Chairman, if I could jump in on
that real quick because we do have a concern. There are some
that are talking about temporarily appealing the gasoline tax.
It is 18.4 cents. It has not been adjusted since 1993. It has
lost almost 50 percent of its purchasing power. And in our
view, we are talking about modernizing our infrastructure. Now
is not the time to do that. There are a lot of other issues and
I think Mr. Baker and others talked about some of the reasons
that fuel prices are as high as they are. But from the
Chamber's perspective, now is not the time to temporarily
repeal the gas tax. We actually thought we should raise the
user fee because these investments should be paid for. This
bill did not get to that issue but it is something we still are
urging the Congress to look at, that there is a reason that we
have user-based systems for our roads and bridges.
Chairman GOLDEN. That is an interesting perspective.
Some people that have been talking about doing this gas tax
holiday in 2022 for business owners or for individuals like Mr.
Baker or Mr. Shedlock have talked about the importance of
backfilling that money into the Highway Trust Fund out of
recognition of what you are talking about. But one thing that
we looked at in the Problem Solvers Caucus in the House, and of
course, this did not get into the bill as you said, it is not a
perfect bill, is the overall long-term problem with our gas
tax. We have electric vehicles now hitting the road. They are
not paying enough of their fair share of our highway, road,
bridge maintenance. So, I think we have got to also look at,
you know, revisit how are we going to make sure that everyone
is paying their fair share of maintaining our infrastructure
and meeting our future infrastructure needs. And I am sure
truck drivers and others would agree about that need. We cannot
just make it all about the gas taxes. There is a diminishing
return on that as we see more fuel-efficient vehicles which is
what consumers are demanding.
I saw your hand go up, Mr. Williams.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yeah, I think from a business standpoint,
when you cut taxes that is a good thing. I think we would not
have to talk about tax holidays and so forth from a gas tax if
we just cut taxes. Let businesses have more of their money to
invest and research and develop and hire people. It works. And
of course, we are still in the Trump tax cuts right now but we
need to cut taxes and do not nibble around the edges because
everything is temporary unless you cut taxes and let businesses
make money and invest money.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
Speaking of the 2017 Tax Cuts and then Build Back Better,
of course, one thing I did not end up supporting which you know
and some people agree with me, others not, I have raised
concerns about inflation through 2021. But I also pointed out
my concerns about proposals to do away with the SALT part of
the 2017 Tax Law in part because I am looking in the years
ahead with those individual tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Law are
set to expire, SALT being one potential way to extend those tax
cuts for working middle-class Americans. I think it expires at
the end of 2025. Is that not right, Mr. Mortimer? But we are
way off topic now.
I think there was one more point I wanted to make for Mr.
Baker but now it has gone and slipped my mind. It was another
thing you had mentioned that I thought would be helpful to you
but perhaps it will come. Oh, on the EIDL loan, I am glad that
the Committee staff was able to help you in getting that
approved. And it is unacceptable it took as long as it did.
That is part of the oversight role of the Committee, so I am
glad you brought that forward as a concern to your
representative and I hope you will continue to give us feedback
on your relationship with the SBA as a business owner in the
future. It is one of the things we love doing as Members is
trying to make sure that our small business owners are getting
well served by SBA. So glad you are getting that loan, which as
you pointed out does have great rates, but what good is it if
you cannot get it approved in a timely manner when you need it.
Mr. BAKER. Yes, sir. Thank you for that thought. I
appreciate it. And I think I know every staffer and every loan
officer at SBA now after a year of calling them weekly to try
to inspire this to finally happen.
Chairman GOLDEN. I am very glad that that is moving
forward. If it continues to take too long, reach back out. I am
sure you will to Mr. Hagedorn.
Mr. BAKER. Thank you. Yes, sir.
Chairman GOLDEN. I want to thank all of our witnesses for
being here today. Your testimony has really been helpful and
shed light on many ways that small businesses will benefit from
the law, the Infrastructure Law that is. And I can tell the
excitement that the Chamber has, the Laborers have, small
business owners like Mr. Ouellette has, and certainly, business
owners like Mr. Baker are excited to benefit from those
infrastructure investments on the ways it will help their
business in the future. We also appreciate concerns raised by
Mr. Baker and others about other issues, perhaps not focused on
the Infrastructure Law today but welcome, nonetheless. We
appreciate the time you have all taken to be here with us
today.
Looking ahead, I think that this infrastructure investment,
we have been wanting to do it for a number of years. When I
first ran for Congress, I was watching Congress talk about it.
I was pleased to see that it was bipartisan. I think it was
more bipartisan than it even looked on paper in many ways. Time
to process, not the best. I was one of the most vocal about
that. But the product itself is going to have a big impact, a
positive impact on the country. And I appreciate the Chamber,
the laborers, the trades, and everyone out there that worked
together to make it happen.
I want to ask unanimous consent that Members have 5
legislative days to submit statements and supporting materials
for the record.
If there is no objection, we will consider that done.
And if there is no further business to come before the
Committee, we will go ahead and call it adjourned. Thank you
all very much. Take care.
[Whereupon, at 12:28 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
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