[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26811]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



      ANNOUNCING FORMATION OF THE BUILDING A BETTER AMERICA CAUCUS

  (Mr. GARY MILLER of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GARY MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, just by looking around at 
our homes, our offices, our roads and our local infrastructure, we can 
see that construction has an important impact on our lives. The U.S. 
construction market totaled $652 billion in 1998 which was 8.13 percent 
of our gross domestic product, which is GDP. Construction employed 
5,970,000 workers with a payroll of $160 billion in 1998 which is about 
6 percent of the Nation's nonfarm, private sector employment. The 
construction industry is comprised of nearly 2 million small and large 
firms. Construction is larger than the automotive and steel industries 
combined.
  Because construction is such an important part of our everyday lives, 
I have started the Building a Better America Caucus. The purpose of the 
caucus is to educate Members of the Congress on building-related issues 
that impact our districts and our constituents, from affordable housing 
to airport construction.
  I urge all my colleagues to support our Nation's builders by joining 
the Building a Better America Caucus and supporting commonsense 
legislation to build a better America.

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