The major construction industry casualty in the mammoth economic stimulus package that passed the Senate yesterday was school-construction aid. Lawmakers deleted all $19.5 billion originally recommended for K-12 and college projects.

The final Senate bill passed with about $133 billion for construction programs, compared with about $160 billion in the bill when it cleared committee.

Now the focus turns to negotiations to work out the differences between the House and Senate bills. The House has about $160 billion in total construction-related spending and the Senate $133 billion.

The American Institute of Architects, Associated General Contractors and other groups are urging conferees to include the House’s $6 billion for “greening” federal buildings and $14 billion for public schools in the final bill. They expect President Obama to push for the school funding, one of the priority issues he cited in a recent press conference.

Good news for the construction industry in the Senate bill include military construction spending, highways, transit and airports. The EPA’s $6 billion for clean water and drinking water were also untouched, as were the $4.6 billion Corps of Engineers and $5.5 billion Department of Energy projects.

A complete list of construction funding in the House (passed) and Senate (original and revised) bills is available at Engineering News Record.

Source: Engineering News Record