The Associated Builders and Contractors’ national chairman
was not impressed with President Barack Obama’s Jan. 24 State of the Union
address. Eric Regelin, president of Granix LLC in Ellicott
City, Md., said the speech offered little more than already
failed ideas.
The Associated Builders and Contractors’ national chairman
was not impressed with President Barack Obama’s Jan. 24 State of the Union
address.
Eric Regelin, president of Granix LLC in Ellicott City, Md.,
said in a statement that the speech offered little more than already failed ideas.
“In his speech, the president said ‘We can restore an
economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share,’ ”
Regelin said. “Yet one of his first official acts when he took office was to
sign an executive order on project-labor agreements that discriminates against
the 87 percent of the nation’s construction work force that chooses not to
belong to a labor union.”
The ABC opposes mandatory union membership and generally supports
Republican candidates and policies.
“It is not clear at this point what President Obama meant
when he spoke of removing red tape from construction projects, but any sincere
effort to do so must involve the elimination of government-mandated project-labor agreements and Davis-Bacon wage requirements on taxpayer-funded
construction projects,” Regelin said.
He also criticized Obama’s proposal to increase taxes on the
nation’s highest income individuals.
“The president’s insistence on a so-called ‘millionaire’s
tax’ to fund his various priorities will expose the 80 percent of construction
firms that are taxed at the individual rate to a significant tax increase,” Regelin
said. “This does not represent a ‘fair share’ that will help the economy and
create jobs, but rather the president’s continued use of the nation’s job
creators as his personal piggy bank.
