Biden taps Florida construction exec for trade committee

Dive Brief:

President Joe Biden has tapped construction industry leader and former Congressman Patrick Murphy to sit on a White House advisory committee overseeing international trade, according to a White House press release.
The President’s Export Council, a 25-member board with leaders from labor, real estate, national security and Fortune 200 companies, advises Biden on how U.S. trade policies affect business sectors.
Murphy is chief investment officer of Miami-based Coastal Construction Group, one of the largest general contractors in the Southeast. He is also founder and CEO of Togal.ai, an artificial intelligence company that helps to automate the estimating process in construction.

Dive Insight:

Murphy will serve alongside the heads of other companies such as Citigroup, United Airlines, CVS, FedEx and 3M, according to the Feb. 28 release.

Patrick Murphy

Permission granted by Patrick Murphy

Murphy, a Democrat, served in the House of Representatives for the 18th congressional district of Florida from 2013 to 2017, where he was on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and the Financial Services Committee, according to the release. Born in 1983, he was one of the first millennials to serve in the House, according to the release.

His appointment to the council follows the Biden administration’s push to reinvigorate American exports and promote trade policies to support economic growth, according to the release.

“Trade is one of the biggest factors affecting the price and quality of construction across the nation,” said Murphy in a statement shared with Construction Dive. “It’s critical that we work together to come up with policies that make sense to position the construction industry for success.”

Many building groups have pushed back on the Biden administration’s onshoring initiative, claiming some materials simply aren’t available domestically at any price and will cause even more construction delays.

Meanwhile, high material prices were recently identified as “the biggest challenge right now for the construction industry,” according to Felice Farber, executive director of the Subcontractors Trade Association, a New York-based association of union subcontractors.