It’s become a familiar site in the halls of Congress every year: members of the Forging Industry Association attending FIA’s Lobby Day and meeting with members of Congress to discuss issues of concern to the forging industry.

Comprehensive tax reform has returned to the headlines, the EPA is attempting to regulate greenhouse gases (GHG) using the Clean Air Act (for which it was never intended) and the reconstituted National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed new proposals allowing for “ambush elections” by unions seeking to organize workers. 

August has been unusually rainy and cool by Washington, D.C. standards, but that didn’t stop Congress from blowing hot air around town before departing for their month-long “District Work Period,” otherwise known as the August recess.

Early January, and it’s a balmy 7°F in Washington, D.C., or -10°F with the wind chill. The polar vortex gripping the nation is a good analogy for the continued icy relations on Capitol Hill. 

After simmering for months, an increasingly bitter clash that pitted President Obama and Congressional Democrats against Congressional Republicans led to the first partial Government shutdown since 1995 on Oct. 1. When the dust had settled, it appeared nobody won and everybody went home smelling bad.