Your Congress in Action is a series that highlights the Capitol Hill news that affects CRM firms the most. Be sure to subscribe to the ACRAsphere to ensure you don't miss an update.

The coronavirus may be preventing in-person meetings, but thanks to technology the CRM industry made its presence felt on Capitol Hill last week.

Virtual CRM Week meeting with ACRA member Veronica Parsell and Senator Mike Braun (R-IN)

As part of ACRA’s 2021 Virtual Advocacy Week, CRM professionals from across the country “met” by phone and Zoom with nearly 50 members of Congress and their staffs to educate them on the industry and press for policies that support their firms. Among the issues that ACRA members raised were:

Virtual CRM Week meeting with Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN-5)
and ACRA members Robbie Jones and Shawn Patch

ACRA members also invited their elected representatives to meet with CRM professionals back home in their states and congressional districts once it is safe to do so. Inviting a member of Congress to visit a firm or tour an active project site is a great way to build a stronger relationship with elected representatives and help them see first-hand the enormous value that cultural resource management brings to their community and the nation.

The meetings last week demonstrated that, despite the extreme divisions between the parties on many major issues, there is bipartisan support for historic preservation and helping businesses like those in the CRM field recover from the pandemic. That bipartisan spirit will be sorely needed as Congress begins to tackle a range of issues, from policing reform to guns to immigration, which tend to fall along partisan lines.

The top priority for the moment, however, remains infrastructure. As President Biden continues to push for his American Jobs Plan, Senate Republicans came out with an infrastructure package of their own last week. The Senate GOP plan would spend $568 billion, as opposed to Biden’s $2.25 trillion price tag. And the Republican proposal would limit funding for “traditional” infrastructure (like highways and bridges), along with broadband and water projects. That is a far cry from Biden’s more expansive bill, which also includes funding for affordable housing, schools, renewable energy and elder care. Whether the parties can bridge the divides is still an open question, but as House committees prepare to unveil legislative text in the coming weeks, ACRA remains vigilant to ensure that Section 106 is maintained.

Section 106 also got an important boost last week, thanks in part to ACRA lobbying. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland rescinded a Secretarial Order issued by her predecessor at the tail end of the Trump administration. As ACRA wrote to Haaland in February, Secretarial Order 3389 made “changes to the [Sec. 106] process that will harm the process, delaying projects, increasing costs and threating our ability to preserve and protect cultural assets." Thankfully, Haaland agreed, nullifying the Order on April 16.

As spring turns to summer, Congress and the White House will continue to spar over the infrastructure package and a host of other issues that impact CRM firms. Virtual Advocacy Week may be over, but the work of advocating for the industry continues. To learn how to get involved, click here.