The Associated General Contractors of America’s chief executive officer, Stephen E. Sandherr, issued the following statement in reaction to today’s reintroduction in Congress of the so-called PRO Act:

“Bad ideas in D.C. are a lot like weeds: no matter what you do, they keep coming back. A prime example of that is the pending reintroduction of the PRO Act. This anti-worker, anti-privacy and anti-growth measure will harm our economy at a time when many employers are struggling to cope with inflation, supply chain disruptions and labor shortages.

“By allowing secondary boycotts and other actions against firms that are not directly involved in labor disputes, the measure will force many workers to remain idle because of disagreements where they do not stand to benefit. The measure also makes it extremely difficult for entrepreneurial workers to establish their own businesses by discriminating against independent contractors.

“More broadly, the PRO Act will unleash a new era of labor unrest and strikes that the country has not seen since President Truman had to federalize the steel industry during the Korean War. Worse, the PRO Act undermines the collective bargaining process that has been the central pillar of union construction for the past half-century.

“Despite the many flaws of this bill, some in Congress continue to push a policy that will harm the economy, hurt workers and make a recession far more likely. While we assume Congress will not support this measure, we taken nothing for granted and will aggressively work to again protect the American worker and economy from this harmful measure.”