The following information was released by Associated Builders and Contractors:

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today presented U.S. Congressman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R- Calif.) with its Free Enterprise Legislator of the Year award. Each year, during its Legislative Conference, ABC honors a member of Congress whose public service parallels the ideals upon which ABC was founded: the principles of full and open competition and the advancement of the free-market system.

"Congressman McKeon is a great friend of ABC, the merit shop construction industry and a strong ally in Congress," said Jerry Gorski, 2009 ABC national chairman and president of Gorski Engineering, Collegeville, Pa. "He has been on the frontline on issues that help advance free enterprise, and for that we are grateful."

In 2008, McKeon was ranking member on the House Committee on Education and Labor, the panel that oversees many issues important to ABC members. He also voted for ABC's issues 100 percent of the time in the 110th Congress. In addition, he cosponsored both the Secret Ballot Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 1176), which would ensure workers the right to a secret-ballot election when deciding whether to unionize, and the Green Jobs Improvement Act of 2009 (H.R. 2026), which would make nonunion training programs eligible for federal funding under the Green Jobs program.

ABC members from across the nation are in Washington, D.C., June 23-25, to attend ABC's 2009 Legislative Conference, which will feature remarks by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Republican Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Brit Hume, senior political analyst for FOX News Channel.