WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In reaction to President Obama's Jan. 25 State of the Union address, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today issued the following statement on his proposal to review and repair government regulations that place an unnecessary burden on businesses:

"Mr. President, the nation's construction industry is prepared to hold you to your word," said 2011 ABC National Chairman Michael J. Uremovich, president of Great Lakes Energy Consultants, LLC, Manhattan, Ill.

"The construction industry has been hard hit by the economic downturn with an unemployment rate of 20.7 percent – more than twice the national average," said Uremovich. "Unnecessary and burdensome regulations have stifled the industry's recovery and its ability to grow. The president must now make the necessary changes to federal regulations and the rulemaking process to get construction workers back to work.

"ABC will continue to push for comprehensive regulatory reform," Uremovich said. "We strongly support across-the-board requirements for the executive branch leadership and the agencies they direct to evaluate the risks, weigh the costs and assess the benefits of regulations before making them enforceable."

In a letter sent to the President on Jan. 25, ABC directed attention to some of the most serious concerns regarding federal rulemaking, including project labor agreements; wage rates and lack of transparency under the Davis-Bacon Act; "high road" government contracting policy; recent National Labor Relations Board rulemakings and decisions; and the 3 percent withholding tax.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 75 chapters representing more than 23,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with nearly two million employees. Visit us at www.abc.org.

SOURCE Associated Builders and Contractors

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