The chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement Nov. 10 in response to the Senate vote (by a margin of 95 to 0 with one Senator voting present) to repeal the 3 percent tax withholding mandate:

“An overwhelming, bipartisan majority of Senators understand that repealing the 3 percent tax withholding mandate is essential to boosting economic growth. With construction activity down by $400 billion and the industry’s unemployment rate at 13.7 percent, the last thing construction employers need is to be forced into giving interest-free loans to the federal government. That is why today’s Senate vote comes as welcome news for construction firms, workers and taxpayers alike. As our members made clear in a recently released survey, many firms will be better able to offer positions to the veterans this legislation also supports without the enormous cost of this measure looming.”