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As construction groups and leaders look ahead to the Nov. 5 election, they see questions and uncertainty.
At ENR press time in late September, the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is neck and neck.
The prospects for control of the Senate and House are also up in the air, with any final majority likely to be narrow. Steve Hall, executive vice president of the American Council of Engineering Companies, says, “I think the Republicans still have probably the best chance of taking the Senate, although the margins of a majority will be pretty slim, 51-49, 52.” . -48, maybe.”
In the House, Hall says the Republican majority is also slim. With Harris doing well, he adds, “It’s a different race now. That makes Democrats much more optimistic about taking the House.”
“Welcome to 50-50 America,” says Dave Bauer, president and CEO of the American Highway and Transportation Builders Association. “And the only things I’m very sure of is that there will be an election on November 5 and that no party will have a 60-vote majority in the Senate.” This is generally considered to be the threshold for preventing an obstruction in this chamber.
Two more years of divided government seems a real possibility. “This setup can lead to more legislative gridlock and ‘message’ bills,” says Michele Stanley, executive vice president and director of advocacy for the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association. However, Stanley says, “we still expect bipartisan breakthroughs.”
As evidence, Stanley points to the five-year Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill that a GOP-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate passed by wide margins. Passed in May, the bill provides $19.7 billion, a 19 percent increase, for infrastructure grants from the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program.
Infrastructure advocates hope that bipartisanship will continue in the new Congress, as lawmakers begin work on a new surface transportation reauthorization bill. The current reauthorization expires on September 30, 2026.
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If the election ends in a divided government, Bauer says that would mean that “that action of any significance, and certainly the renewal of surface transportation programs is considered exceptionally significant, will require bipartisan action.”
In the following pages, ENR editors examine how a Harris administration or a Trump administration would affect key construction issues, including infrastructure, workforce, energy and climate.
Pam is ENR’s senior editor for government coverage, focusing on federal labor and environmental issues related to the construction industry. She has a degree in journalism and an MA in fiction writing, and has previously worked as an editor at ENR (2007-2016) and as a freelancer for various publications and clients. One of his favorite gigs was writing about stars, black holes and the mysteries of the universe for NASA.
James Leggate is online news editor at ENR. He has reported on a variety of issues for more than 10 years, and his work has contributed to several Associated Press Media regional editors and won Murrow Awards.
