May 2021 Volume 3

WASHINGTON UPDATE

be a minimum of 10 Republicans to vote with all 50 Democrats in order to get a bipartisan bill done – admittedly a hard lift. This is where discussions about the corporate tax rate will come into play and again, we believe it will either be raised only slightly or not all. Republicans would like to see a pared down infrastructure bill compared to what the White House is proposing – legislation that looks more to fund transit-based infrastructure upgrades only (and potentially broadband) with a price tag of $600 to $800 billion paid for by user fees, which at the time of this writing, were not specifically outlined. Hard to see Democrats agreeing to this. So, the question stands: is there compromise somewhere in the middle of these two proposals? If the answer is “no,” there is still a way this can get done. Let us call it the “go-it-alone, in-case-of-emergency-break-glass” strategy, which is where Democrats could use an arcane budget process known as reconciliation to pass the bill in the Senate with only 51 votes. It limits what legislation can look like and requires a multi- step process that takes a great deal of time and political capital, but it is nevertheless an arrow in the Congress’ quiver. This was the method used earlier this year to pass the American Rescue Plan that was discussed at the beginning of this article. It was also the legislative method used to pass the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. There is one other way to do this without bipartisan cooperation, and that is by eliminating the filibuster in the Senate. Many have read about the filibuster potentially going away. We do not believe that is a viable option to get infrastructure done, nor do we believe the filibuster will be eliminated any time soon. If Democrats were to look to change the rules to do this, current dynamics make it hard to see this happening any time before the fourth quarter of 2021 or early 2022. There are just too many Democrats who are on the record saying they are not in favor of such a change. Get all that? It is understandably frustrating, borderline confusing and is arguably a difficult, near impossible manner by which to run a government. But as convoluted as this is, hope for getting it done truly exists and we have never been more encouraged than we are right now. Of course, politics and policy being what it is, nothing is ever a done deal, so caveats abound, and we reserve the right to be wrong. But we all know that there exists a need for extensive infrastructure upgrades across the county and that the economic benefits of taking on these upgrades to put America back on track are clear. In March, the Forging Industry Association completed another successful “LobbyDay”where forgers fromCalifornia toConnecticut, with many other states (and Canada) in between, virtually converged on Washington to conduct two dozen meetings with members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. In addition to reading in offices about the size of our industry – 36,000 employees across North America with the average salary for each worker being $93,000 a year – we went into detail about how current economic conditions, coupled with nefarious activities by some Hope springs eternal. FIA Lobby Day

foreign actors such as China, have left many segments of the industry struggling. We made sure that offices understood the importance of steel forgings being afforded the same protections as aluminum forgings under 232 tariff protections, as well as lobbying for “Buy American” provisions being extended beyond federal procurement. Our message was received well as our participating forgers were smart, articulate, relatable and had good stories to tell. We matched forgers up with their congressional representatives so that the offices knew they were meeting with their constituents and could thus better understand how our companies are contributing to the economy of that member’s district or the senator’s state. With any luck, things will be back to normal and we will once again be able to do Lobby Day in person in 2022. Stay tuned for more details. ■ Steve Haro is Principal at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen &Thomas and can be reached at sharo@mc-dc.com

Bruce Mehlman @bpmehlman April 22, 2021

Q2 2021

“Woke Capitalism” & Its Discontents

Navigating Hyper-Activism in an Age of Disruption

http://bit.ly/WokeCapitalism-Mehlman Click the image above to download slides providing an examination of rising business activism on cultural and political issues. The document highlights several “myths & facts” about engagement and offers recommendations for navigating a fraught environment. Source: Bruce Mehlman Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen &Thomas

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FIA MAGAZINE | MAY 2021