February 2021 Volume 3

WASHINGTON UPDATE

Finally, a Note on Lobby Day As we close out, I do want to make a plug for FIA’s annual Lobby Day, which will take place this year on March 17th and 18th. Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year will be all virtual. This presents a tremendous opportunity to increase participation and thus, cover more ground with more congressional offices and read them in on our industry, our priorities, and how we are a potent economic driving force in these members’ states and districts. Members of Congress do truly appreciate seeing their constituents share data and stories about how constituents are faring. And we have some great stories to tell. We also have some challenges – they need to hear that too. So let’s tell them! To register, please go to www.forging.org, or reach out to Kathy Edwards at kathy@forging.org or 216-781-6260. ■

• Provide emergency funding toupgrade federal information technology infrastructure to address the recent breaches of federal government data systems, among other items. For all the political reasons articulated above, it is hard to judge right now what the fate of these efforts will be. Undoubtedly, we will have a better understanding and provide you more details in the next edition of the magazine. The Policies That Won’t Be Dealt With Out of the Gate Trade. To the best of our understanding, trade will be taking a back seat. Discussions are ongoing as to what to do with the current tariff regime put in place by the Trump administration, but there has been little intelligence to suggest that major moves will be made in Q1 or Q2 to make changes. Infrastructure. There continues to be bipartisan support on the need to pass a large infrastructure package. However, like we’ve saidmany times in this column, there does not exist bipartisan agreement on how to pay for it. Perhaps an agreement can come together later in the year, but we do not see an infrastructure package reaching the president’s desk in the first half of 2021.

As always, thank you for your indulgence. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Steve Haro is Principal at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas and can be reached at sharo@mc-dc.com

Modern Foundations for Forging Hammers and Presses

Additional content from FIA’s Lobby Firm: Crossroads – Challenges & Choices in a Low-Trust World Click the image below to download.

Bruce Mehlman @bpmehlman Feb. 2, 2021

CROSSROADS

Challenges & Choices in a Low-Trust World

gerbusa@gerb.com www.gerb.com/forging Call: 630-724-1660

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2021 7