International Brotherhood of Boilermakers 45 th Annual LEAP Conference Tentative Agenda 2/20/2013 2:57 PM

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4 International Brotherhood of Boilermakers 45 th Annual LEAP Conference Tentative Agenda 2/20/2013 2:57 PM Hyatt Regency Washington Sunday, May 05, :00 pm 4:00 pm 2:00 pm 4:00 pm Registration Hill Basics Class (For new attendees and anyone that would like a refresher) Monday, May 06, :00 am 8:00 am Continental Breakfast 8:00 am 9:00 am Opening Ceremonies International President s Remarks 9:00 am 11:00 am Legislative Presentation & Break 11:00 am Noon Keynote Address Remainder of Day Congressional Meetings* Tuesday, May 07, :00 am 8:00 am Continental Breakfast Political Presentation 8:00 am Noon Guest Speakers Group Photo at the U.S. Capitol Remainder of Day Congressional Meetings* 6:00 pm 8:00 pm Congressional Reception (Business attire required) 7:00 am 8:00 am Continental Breakfast Wednesday, May 08, :00 am Noon Remainder of Day Guest Speakers CAF and LEF Awards General Session Adjourns Congressional Meetings* Thursday, May 09, 2013 Open Congressional Meetings* *Delegates are encouraged to schedule congressional meetings in March/April. Family members are invited to participate in the conference, reception and congressional meetings.

5 Register for 2013 LEAP Conference All attendees, both delegates and their guests, must register for the conference. Register online at: (click on the Upcoming Events tab) or complete and fax this form to the DGA at DELEGATE INFORMATION Please print your name clearly, this name will appear on your conference badge. Please make a copy of this form for each delegate that is registering. Delegate Name: Local: Title: Address: Cell Phone: I will attend the following: Hill Basics: Sun 5/5 Cont Brkfst: Mon 5/6 Tues 5/7 Wed 5/8 Congressional Reception: Tues 5/7 GUEST INFORMATION Please print your name clearly, this name will appear on your conference badge. Guest Name: Guest will attend the following: Hill Basics: Sun 5/5 Cont Brkfst: Mon 5/6 Tues 5/7 Wed 5/8 Congressional Reception: Tues 5/7 Guest Name: Guest will attend the following: Hill Basics: Sun 5/5 Cont Brkfst: Mon 5/6 Tues 5/7 Wed 5/8 Congressional Reception: Tues 5/7 Guest Name: Guest will attend the following: Hill Basics: Sun 5/5 Cont Brkfst: Mon 5/6 Tues 5/7 Wed 5/8 Congressional Reception: Tues 5/7 VOLUNTARY POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE CAMPAIGN ASSISTANCE FUND* Yes No Amount: $ *We request each boilermaker attendee make a voluntary personal CAF contribution of $ This amount is only a suggestion. You can contribute a different amount, or no amount, without suffering any reprisal or adverse consequences. CAF contributions are not tax deductible and must be made from personal funds. Contributions from union treasuries cannot be accepted. Make personal check or money order payable to Campaign Assistance Fund and mail to the address below. Credit card donations can be made if you register online via International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Dept. of Government Affairs 1750 New York Avenue, NW Suite 335 Washington, DC Tel: Fax:

6 PLEASE SCHEDULE MEETINGS YOUR CONGRESSIONAL MEETINGS IN MARCH/APRIL: Please call your representatives and senators at the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: Ask to speak to the scheduler to arrange an appointment with the Member and their labor liaison. Ask the scheduler to save the date for the Boilermakers Congressional Reception on Tuesday, May 7, Due to the lengthy screening of congressional mail, we recommend faxing or ing the scheduler a follow-up letter. For your convenience, below is a sample letter for your use -- make sure to fill in the information in the parentheses. (Date) Representative OR Senator (First and Last Name) U.S. House of Representatives OR U.S. Senate Attention: Scheduler & Labor Liaison Via Fax OR (Fax/ ) Dear Representative OR Senator (Last Name): On behalf of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers and Local Lodge (number) located in (city, state) you are cordially invited to attend the Boilermakers Congressional Reception on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Washington located at 400 New Jersey Avenue, NW. Your name will be announced as you enter and Boilermakers from your state will greet you in the photo line. In addition, we would like to meet with you to discuss important legislative issues that are of concern within our union and respective industries. We are available after 1:30 p.m. on May 6-8 or anytime on May 9. We will focus on legislative issues that will promote good paying jobs and job security for Boilermaker families. In addition, we believe it is important to hear about some of the important issues being advanced in the 113 th Congress from your perspective. Should you have questions, please contact me at (telephone number or address). Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from your office. Respectfully, Name Title

7 INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOILERMAKERS 2013 LEAP CONFERENCE TENTATIVE ISSUES The 113 th Congress begins much like the 111 th Congress after President Obama s historic election. While perhaps not as full of optimism and hope for progress on the ambitious agenda outlined by President Obama in his first inaugural speech, his reelection signaled confidence from the American people regarding the direction of the country and a strong rebuke of the Republican candidate and his vision for America. One thing has not changed the partisan bickering and legislative gridlock. As we wait for the House and Senate to fully reorganize themselves and put forth their full legislative agendas, along with the President s State of the Union address, this union needs to consider our own priorities priorities that may not be the ones we would choose but in part, priorities that will be forced on us due to past Congressional action and more importantly, inaction. We convene in Washington a little later than normal this year, in May, for the 45th Annual LEAP Conference. This has posed a small challenge in developing our legislative priorities so early in the year. However, we do know generally where Congress may be heading and how we may want to position ourselves. The issues we will lobby on in May will be finalized in April. BUDGET/SEQUESTRATION/JOBS/SHIP BUILDING If there is one area of government that Congress has continued to kick the proverbial can down the road, it s Congress refusal to deal with its budget impasse. We have heard over and over about how we need to deal with the deficit. There is some truth in that. If our deficit gets so large that servicing payments to those we owe money costs us more of our GDP to prevent real growth, than yes, we have a deficit problem. But our problem right now is not the budget deficit - it s our jobs deficit. Those who are the loudest in advocating that we deal with the budget deficit before addressing any other pressing issue are using it as an excuse to gut many domestic programs including Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance and Social Security. And they don t care that Social Security does not contribute to our budget deficit! Unfortunately, instead of doing their jobs as legislators and negotiating in good faith to resolve our most pressing problems: job creation and real budget proposals Congress instead came up with the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 which imposed caps on discretionary programs that will reduce their funding by more than $1 trillion over the ten years from 2012 through Plus a super-committee was supposed to produce legislation to reduce projected deficits by at least an additional $1.2 trillion through 2021 (beyond the savings generated by the discretionary caps); on November 21, 2011, the Committee s cochairs announced they could not reach agreement, which has triggered what is called sequestration. Sequestration is a fall-back mechanism to ensure that $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction would be achieved if the Supercommittee failed (and to provide an incentive for members of the Supercommittee to reach agreement), providing for: automatic, across-the-board budget cuts in many programs in 2013; and reductions in each year from 2014 through 2021 in the annual caps on discretionary appropriations as well as automatic cuts in selected entitlement programs. Apparently no one thought that the super-committee would fail to reach an agreement, and so here we are, facing the automatic cuts in both Defense and Non-Defense spending. How will this affect the Boilermakers? If Congress does not avoid the automatic cuts that sequestration will impose as of March 2, 2013, the Navy will start to cancel $604 million of major maintenance on 23 warships, hiring freezes, furloughs and other work reductions affecting ALL of the naval ship yards that employ Boilermakers and other skilled crafts. Congress needs to approve a budget and avoid the devastating cuts that will be imposed by March 2 as a result of their inaction. How we lobby on budget priorities and jobs in May will be determined by what Congress does or does not due during February with sequestration and if they can be convinced to not only pass a real budget but also take up a real jobs bill, such as the American Jobs Act, proposed by President Obama in (If you would like more information, please see: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities at

8 COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY We will revisit this issue at some point in Superstorm Sandy and the devastation she wreaked along the East Coast last October has renewed calls for the United States to address its role in the development of clean energy and reducing its emissions linked to climate change. As was noted in 2010 by our former legislative director Abe Breehey: The race for clean energy is on, and the United States is already falling behind our competitors because our political system is paralyzed. That paralysis is costing us jobs as investors and utilities wait for a road map to a clean energy future. The time is now for Congress to pass comprehensive energy and climate legislation that invests in new technology, utilizes our vast energy resources, and puts a price on carbon that will spur innovation and jobs. These statements are as true in 2013 as they were in Comprehensive energy legislation has fallen victim to the partisanship that has affected every other major policy discussion in Washington over the past four years. The President has recently discussed his intent to address climate change, however, we won t know until his State of the Union address what he will propose, whether through additional action through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and/or through legislation. Regardless, the Boilermakers will consider our members interests as we always have in the past and will continue to be active participants in any discussions or proposals related to climate change/emissions reductions and overall energy policy. We will continue to advocate for a rational path to energy independence in conjunction with legitimate and sensible environmental concerns. Boilermakers understand, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology at fossil-fired power plants and industrial facilities is not only a necessary solution to environmental challenges, it is also holds perhaps the best potential for significant employment opportunities for Boilermakers, both in the construction and manufacturing sectors. STOP THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP (TPP) During the 2008 campaign President Obama promised the American people a strong, smart, and fair trade policy. Unfortunately, the Korea Free Trade Agreement negotiated under President George W. Bush was passed along with trade Colombia and Peru agreements in October Now, the Administration is negotiating a super agreement with Pacific-rim countries that includes: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. This agreement will be the largest Free Trade Agreement in the world. While leaks of the agreement have shown the same problems labor has generally had with ALL of our so-called free trade agreements, our concern over TPP includes the fact that negotiations have taken place behind closed doors. Since negotiations began in 2008, none of the negotiating documents have been officially released for public review other than those leaked by labor-friendly participants of other negotiating countries. In addition to this gross lack of transparency, other problems include: Preventing effective regulation of Wall Street by possibly limiting governments abilities to regulate banks, hedge funds and insurance companies; Trading goodpaying careers for sweatshop labor (such as that found in Vietnam); and Accelerating global warming in the name of profits by granting transnational corporations the power to challenge any environmental or consumer safety protections that negatively affect their profits as regulatory takings (aka raid the US Treasury for restitution ). The Boilermakers will join with our other labor brothers and sisters and once again demand a Fair Trade agreement and not another NAFTA-style job drain. IMMIGRATION REFORM Congress needs to pursue a solution to our broken immigration system that is comprehensive and that puts workers first. Without reform, workers will continue to suffer at the hands of exploitive and unscrupulous employers. The Boilermakers support immigration reform that will create an independent process that is informed and not arbitrary in its assignment of visa numbers for legal entry, both temporary and permanent; consists of a plan for the operational control of our borders; implements a fair and efficient worker authorization and verification system; creates a practical and humane system to adjust the status of unauthorized immigrants; and reforms, but not expands, existing temporary worker programs, like H-2B. CECILE CONROY DIRECTOR OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Department of Government Affairs 1750 New York Avenue, NW Suite 335 Washington, DC cconroy@boilermakers.org