WASHINGTON, D.C. — Beginning at noon today, delegations representing 40 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands will head to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers from both parties to deliver unified messages on taxes, labor issues and innovation investment in American manufacturing.

The National Roofing Contractors Association, which coordinates the industry’s annual Roofing Day event, kicked off Tuesday afternoon with an address by the organization’s CEO, McKay Daniels, before attendees began their crash course in advocacy led by Deb Mazol, the NCRA’s director of foreign affairs and Duane Musser, vice president of government relations.

Today’s agenda is centered around three pressing issues: the urgent need to address the continuing labor shortage impacting not just roofing but other construction-related industries; solidifying the status of the 199A deduction of the tax code, introduced in 2017 and scheduled to sunset at the end of this year; and third, the vital push for the passage of the American Innovation and R&D Competitiveness Act. 

The last of those issues, which has bipartisan support, is currently being stalled in the Senate by several members concerned about an amendment attached to the bill, Mazol mentioned during Wednesday’s kickoff event.

During breakfast, Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) addressed attendees, offering support and acknowledging their attendance's value in advocating for the aforementioned issues. The morning’s second speaker, David Wasserman, senior director of election analysis at the Cook Political Report, offered an objective view of politics at the national and state levels. As Roofing Day events are "off the record," the specifics of Wasserman’s analysis were for the benefit of attendees only.

The delegations head to Capitol Hill this afternoon to begin their advocacy. A fly in the ointment may be the start of impeachment hearings in the Senate against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, which requires the body to attend in person and may affect some of today’s meetings.