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As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Monday, January 26, 2026 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Marking one year since President Trump returned to office, last week the White House shared a statement touting 365 policy “wins” and the Department of Energy released fact sheets outlining the Administration’s “energy dominance agenda.” DOE highlighted record domestic oil and natural gas production, steps to accelerate nuclear power deployment, and efforts to strengthen domestic fuel supply chains as central to maintaining U.S. energy security and economic competitiveness. That posture was reinforced on the global stage last week when Energy Secretary Chris Wright, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, argued that the world needs to more than double oil production and warned that restrictive climate policies—particularly EU methane reporting requirements and “California-style” environmental regulations—risk undermining energy affordability, reliability, and U.S. exports. Secretary Wright emphasized that oil and gas will remain essential for decades and positioned U.S. production as a stabilizing force amid rising global energy demand.

• The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued an advisory bulletin in response to the March 2023 natural gas pipeline explosion in West Reading, Pennsylvania that killed seven people and injured ten others. The advisory follows National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) findings that the incident involved plastic Aldyl A service tees with Delrin inserts and reflects NTSB recommendations that PHMSA strengthen guidance under the Distribution Integrity Management Program (DIMP). In the bulletin, PHMSA urges natural gas distribution operators to inventory plastic pipe and components exposed to elevated temperatures, evaluate risks of degradation and failure, and implement mitigation measures—including leak management, remediation, or replacement—where necessary. PHMSA also advises operators to ensure that new or replacement plastic pipelines are installed with adequate clearance or insulation from heat sources to prevent premature degradation and improve overall pipeline safety.

• Last Thursday, the Trump Administration ordered a review of federal funding to 14 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., escalating its campaign to pressure jurisdictions that oppose or fail to assist with federal immigration enforcement efforts. A memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget directs nearly all federal agencies to inventory funding provided to California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Washington, D.C. MCAA’s advocacy team is closely watching what comes out of this review and if it could lead to freezing some states’ allotments under federally funded programs that create work for MCAA members. Pursuant to the OMB directive, departments and agencies are busy inventorying both current and anticipated fiscal year 2026 obligations to the targeted states. We are cautioning against any disruption of federal funds for EPA Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans, EPA Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, Army Corps of Engineers civil works projects, certain DOT formula and discretionary grants, and DOE grid and energy infrastructure funding critical to data centers.

• Last week, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said that this week President Trump will begin regular trips across the country to rally voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. His first stop will be Iowa, where he will deliver a speech focused on the economy and energy, as the White House moves to highlight the President’s work on domestic issues and affordability. New polling out this week shows some public dissatisfaction a year into the President’s second term. The White House says some media outlets are only emphasizing negative polling data about the President and his policies and are questioning the integrity of some of the negative polling. Last Thursday, the President threatened to sue the New York Times over a poll it released with Sienna College indicating that the coalition that got him elected in 2024 is fraying.

• As part of the White House’s increasing focus on housing affordability issues ahead of the November midterms, last week as President Trump floated the idea of allowing ordinary homeowners to take an annual depreciation deduction on their personal residences to recover certain property costs over a set period of time, noting that when a “corporation buys a house, they get depreciation.” This followed President Trump signing an executive order last Tuesday barring “institutional investors” from owning “single family homes.” Under the order, the Treasury Department has 30 days to develop “definitions of ‘large institutional investor’ and ‘single-family home.’” Within 60 days, the Agriculture Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the General Services Administration, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency are required to issue guidance ensuring that they are not “providing for, approving, insuring, guaranteeing, securitizing, or facilitating the acquisition” of single family homes by large institutional investors. This guidance must include “exceptions for build-to-rent properties that are planned, permitted, financed, and constructed as rental communities, and such other appropriate, narrowly tailored exceptions as the applicable agency may determine appropriate to further the policies of [the] Administration.” The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are directed to review acquisitions by large institutional investors for anti-competitive practices and prioritize enforcement against such practices by institutional investors in the single-family home rental market. A fact sheet on the order is available here.

• MCAA continues to closely monitor tariff developments impacting MCAA members, including the pending Supreme Court decision on the scope of the President’s tariff authorities. The U.S. Supreme Court still has not issued a decision in the closely watched case over President Trump’s tariff authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that was used to implement his “Liberation Day” tariffs. With the justices heading into a four-week recess, the next likely decision day is February 20^th. This leaves MCAA and other groups interested in the tariff policy navigating uncertainty over the administration’s tariff powers and plans.

• The MCAA policy team also continues to monitor implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), including the “No Tax on Overtime” provision of the law that we discussed at the Industry Funds Conference last month. Last Friday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a new Fact Sheet with questions and answers about this deduction. Only two of the questions and answers in the fact sheet cover information that is not in the MCAA policy team’s recently-posted explanation of the deduction. First, question #2 addresses how to ascertain if an employee is exempt from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), such that they are ineligible for the deduction. Second, question #7 provides guidance to aid employees who are eligible for the deduction in determining the amount of their deduction for qualified overtime compensation.

Congress

• As Congress races to avoid a partial government shutdown this Friday, January 30th, the House last Thursday voted 341–88 to pass a minibus appropriations package that includes the fiscal year (FY) 2026 Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD spending bills. The Labor-HHS-Education bill cuts $5 million from the National Labor Relations Board, marking the agency’s first funding reduction in more than a decade. The bill provides $13.7 billion for the Department of Labor, an increase of $65 million over FY 2025 and roughly $4 billion above the President’s request. It includes: (1) level funding for the Wage and Hour Division for enforcement activities; (2) a $3 million funding cut for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (3) level funding for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, which oversees ERISA-governed retirement and health plans; (4) $285 million for Registered Apprenticeships; (5) $2.9 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act formula grants; and (6) $1.45 billion for Career and Technical Education grants. Notably, the bill continues funding for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs ($100 million) and the Women’s Bureau ($23 million), both of which the Trump Administration proposed eliminating. The measure also includes bipartisan health provisions targeting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) by expanding transparency requirements and mandating the pass-through of drug savings to health plans. Separately, the Transportation-HUD bill provides funding for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), including $214.8 million for pipeline safety programs. This includes dedicated funding for state one-call grants, LNG safety oversight, underground natural gas storage safety, emergency preparedness grants, and pipeline safety information grants for communities. The bill also: (1) prohibits the Department of Transportation from withdrawing, terminating, or rescinding previously approved funding without notifying House and Senate appropriators within three days; (2) provides $35 million for small shipyards; and (3) appropriates $103.3 million for port infrastructure accounts at the Maritime Administration. The Senate is expected to consider the package when it returns to session this week.

• As Congress acknowledges the growing backlash to the rapid expansion of data centers that the MCAA advocacy team is confronting as its advocates for permitting reform, an investigation launched by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) into how much data centers are driving up Americans’ electric bills has data center developers playing defense. Last Thursday, the Senators announced that the nation’s largest data center developers—including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Equinix, CoreWeave, and Digital Realty—have made new commitments to “pay their fair share” of electricity and grid infrastructure costs. In written responses, Google said it is “paying for 100 percent of the electricity” it uses and ensuring that “Google, not local residents, pays for any new grid infrastructure required for our growth.” Equinix emphasized that large energy users “pay a premium for what they’re utilizing so that we don’t impact small ratepayers,” often through long-term, take-or-pay utility agreements designed to insulate other customers from financial risk. At the same time, the companies stressed that many power supply agreements remain confidential, with Google noting that pricing terms are “for the most part confidential” despite being subject to regulatory review. The Democratic Senators feel this limits public transparency. Sen. Van Hollen said he is not satisfied with the companies’ responses and plans to press forward with legislation that would require data centers to fully cover the cost of the electricity they consume, signaling that further scrutiny could shape the pace and structure of future data center development.

• The importance of the MCAA’s advocacy on permitting reform to the construction of AI data centers, related power generation, and other infrastructure was highlighted last week in new construction and financing data showing that spending on data center construction is projected to rise by roughly 23% in 2026. Data centers are expected to account for more than 6% of all nonresidential construction spending in 2026, up from about 2% in 2023. Much of this growth is concentrated in the states served by grid operator PJM Interconnection, where large load demand from data centers is outpacing the ability to bring new generation and transmission online using current permitting processes. PJM has warned that existing infrastructure cannot support projected load growth and has proposed the “immediate initiation” of backstop reliability measures, including faster—but more restrictive—data center interconnections, enhanced demand forecasting requirements, and new rules requiring large power users to either bring their own generation online or accept early curtailment during periods of system stress. PJM acknowledges these steps are not a long-term solution, but rather a stopgap driven by delays in permitting and building new generation and transmission capacity. The Trump Energy Department is trying to provide loans and other funding for this generation and transmission capacity. For example, last Thursday, the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) said that its federal loan authority is being refocused to support AI-driven load growth and grid reliability. EDF plans to deploy its $289 billion loan authority to back energy and manufacturing projects that “meaningfully contribute to U.S. energy security, grid reliability, and lowering costs,” explicitly tying federal financing decisions to maintaining U.S. leadership in emerging AI technologies. To align with that goal, EDF announced it is restructuring, revising, or eliminating more than $83 billion in Biden-era loans and conditional commitments, de-obligating nearly $30 billion, and redirecting the funding toward dispatchable generation, grid and transmission capacity, and domestic manufacturing. EDF said it will prioritize financing for nuclear, natural gas, geothermal, grid and transmission, and manufacturing projects, while eliminating roughly $9.5 billion in prior wind and solar commitments and redirecting that funding toward other power sources. Taken together, the Administration’s effort to redirect federal loan authority toward AI-supporting energy infrastructure and PJM’s move toward curtailment and self-supply requirements underscore why the MCAA’s advocacy on permitting reform has become increasingly important.

• MCAA health plan trustees may be interested in last Thursday’s contentious hearing at which health insurance executives faced sharp, bipartisan criticism from the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee over soaring premiums, executive compensation, and opaque pricing practices. Subcommittee Chairman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) argued that “Obamacare coverage is not translating to patient or taxpayer affordability,” while Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) highlighted Congressional Budget Office projections of premium increases between 4–8% after the subsidies expired at the end of last year as insurers in many markets sought rate hikes of 30–50% in 2026. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) pressed CVS Health CEO David Joyner on executive compensation, and Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA) warned that stock-based compensation is prompting insurers to prioritize shareholders over patients. Lawmakers also focused on consolidation and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices, with Rep. John Joyce (R-PA) criticizing ACA medical loss ratio rules for creating “perverse incentives,” and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) questioning whether PBM rebates are passed through to patients. Insurers countered that premiums are a “symptom, not a cause” of rising healthcare costs, citing higher hospital, physician, and drug prices, with UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley pledging to return any profits from ACA marketplace plans in 2026. The testimony came amid mounting political pressure from President Trump, who has publicly attacked insurers and called for price cuts, setting the stage for further scrutiny.

• Relatedly, as Congress continues to debate reforms to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), last Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee released an interim staff report stemming from its 2024 investigation into whether major PBMs use their market power to choke off new competition. The report concludes that CVS Health’s PBM—CVS Caremark—may have engaged in exclusionary conduct that raises serious antitrust concerns. The report focuses on CVS’s response to “hub” pharmacy companies—digital platforms (e.g., BlinkRx and others) that partner with independent pharmacies to provide services like real-time price checks, benefit verification, and streamlined prescription fulfillment—arguing that CVS viewed these hubs as a disruptive threat and responded by pressuring independent pharmacies to sever ties rather than competing on the merits. According to internal documents reviewed by the Committee, CVS allegedly: (1) monitored independent pharmacies for hub-related activity; (2) rewrote its provider manual to restrict or deter hub relationships; (3) used the rule changes as a pretext to launch audits; and (4) issued cease-and-desist letters threatening network termination—a powerful tool given CVS Caremark’s broad pharmacy network reach and large PBM market share. The Committee report says that CVS publicly justified its actions as anti-fraud measures driven by plan sponsor concerns, but did not produce evidence tying legitimate hub relationships to fraud and later quietly backtracked, sending letters to some pharmacies allowing them to work with at least one hub (BlinkRx) and stating that such relationships would not be treated as a basis for audit findings or noncompliance. The report argues CVS’s conduct may fit established theories of unlawful monopoly maintenance under the Sherman Act and warrants the Committee pursuing legislative reforms aimed at curbing emerging PBM practices that suppress innovation and limit pharmacy and patient choice. MCAA will continue engaging to ensure any such proposals do not undermine ERISA preemption.

• As the long-running controversy over the Trump Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files continues to consume attention on Capitol Hill and distract from other priorities, last Wednesday the House Oversight Committee advanced contempt resolutions against former President Bill Clinton by a strong bipartisan vote of 34-8 and against former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton by a much narrower vote of 28-15. On a party-line vote, the Committee rejected a Democratic-sponsored amendment to hold Attorney General Bondi in contempt for failing to release the Epstein files in DOJ’s possession. If the contempt resolutions against the Clintons pass the House, the Trump Justice Department will decide whether to pursue criminal charges. The contempt resolutions came as a federal judge declined a request from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the Justice Department’s release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, while acknowledging “legitimate concerns” about whether the department is complying with a recently enacted disclosure law. The judge said his role in the criminal case involving Ghislaine Maxwell does not give him authority to supervise the Justice Department’s disclosures but noted his ruling does not prevent lawmakers from suing.

• In a preview of the oversight agenda Democrats might pursue if they capture a majority in the House or Senate in the coming midterm elections, House Oversight Committee Democrats released an interim staff analysis accusing President Trump and the Trump family of turning cryptocurrency ventures into a “digital kickback” system—using opaque token sales, stablecoins, and a $TRUMP memecoin to let foreign interests and other actors funnel money to the family with limited public visibility—while potentially seeking favorable treatment, access, or pardons. Alongside the report, House Oversight Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA) launched a “Trump Family Digital Grift Wealth Tracker” that currently lists $2.255 billion in “digital grift profits,” $8.862 billion in total “digital grift wealth,” and $436 million in profits attributed to foreign interests.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. In Minnesota, former Sunday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya entered the U.S. Senate Republican primary, immediately earning the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In Florida, State Rep. Angie Nixon (D) announced a Democratic U.S. Senate bid to challenge incumbent GOP Senator Ashley Moody. In Maine, the Senate Leadership Fund announced plans to spend $42 million on TV, radio, and digital ads, along with data and get-out-the-vote activities to support Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-ME) re-election bid. In Louisiana, Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA) launched a Republican primary bid against incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) after she received a public endorsement from President Trump, setting up a potentially bruising Republican primary in Louisiana. In Kentucky, billionaire Elon Musk donated $10 million to support Nate Morris, a pro-Trump outsider candidate running in the Republican Senate primary to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

• There were several developments in the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives last week. In California, Gov. Newsom (D-CA) set an August 4 special election to fill the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s (R-CA) seat in California’s 1^st Congressional District, choosing the latest date allowed under state law and further complicating House Republicans’ narrow majority. Also in California, Republicans asked the Supreme Court to freeze and reconsider a lower court decision upholding California’s revised congressional map that would create additional Democratic House seats ahead of the November midterm elections. In Texas, the brother of recently pardoned Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who is the sheriff of Webb County Texas, was arrested for misusing public resources and corruption involving COVID-era cleaning contracts. In Maryland, a redistricting commission convened by Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) voted to recommend a new congressional map that would give Democrats all of Maryland’s 8 congressional seats, eliminating the state’s lone Republican seat held by House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD). In New York, a judge ruled that Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ (R-NY) 11^th Congressional District was unconstitutionally configured and ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to create a new map ahead of the November midterms. In Virginia, Democrats scheduled a special election on April 21^st to vote on a redistricting ballot measure that would give lawmakers the ability to redraw the state’s congressional districts as the party looks to pick up seats ahead of the November midterms.

Around the Country

• MCAA members working on data centers, industrial facilities, and energy-intensive manufacturing projects should be aware that the Energy Department’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation last Thursday announced the award of $155 million for 16 projects to enhance DOE National Laboratories’ capabilities to develop cross-sector technologies for improving the efficiency and competitiveness of energy-intensive industries. Projects funded under this announcement include: (1) $20 million for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to accelerate the development and adoption of next-generation cement and concrete materials; (2) $15 million for the Sandia National Laboratories to advance a thermal energy storage testbed; (3) $10 million to National Energy Technology Laboratory to make testbed facilities for the commercial adoption of fuel-flexible combustion technologies; and (4) $6 million for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to form a data center cooling testbed network to bring cooling technologies to market. The full list of projects funded under this announcement are available here.

• MCAA members engaged in pipeline construction, repair, and integrity management work in Minnesota should be aware that last Thursday, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a Corrective Action Order to Northern Natural Gas Company following a rupture impacting approximately 1,000 feet of the 20-inch M440B pipeline near Willow River, Minnesota. The order requires Northern Natural Gas to: (1) maintain a mandatory 20% operating pressure reduction on the affected segment; (2) submit and obtain approval of a restart and repair plan before resuming service, including daylight restart procedures and coordination with local emergency responders; (3) complete mechanical, metallurgical, and soil testing of the failed pipe within 45 days; (4) conduct an independent, third-party root cause failure analysis within 90 days; (5) develop and implement a comprehensive remedial work plan addressing integrity risks along the full affected segment through additional inspections, testing, and repairs; and (6) submit quarterly progress reports and cost documentation to PHMSA until the order is formally closed.
  
• MCAA members in the Midwest should take note that, last Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reached a project agreement with Atlantic Richfield, BP Products North America Inc., and the East Chicago Waterway Management District committing more than $200 million to clean up approximately 240,000 cubic yards of contaminated canal and river-bottom sediment in the Grand Calumet River Area of Concern in northwest Indiana. The Junction Reaches project includes sediment remediation and ecosystem restoration within the Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal in East Chicago, while the Lake George Canal project will remediate sediment along a one-mile stretch of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal in East Chicago and Hammond, Indiana. Both projects are expected to begin in late 2026.
  
• As the MCAA members continue advocating for federal and state policies supporting nuclear energy deployment and the expansion of the nuclear supply chain, members in New Jersey should be aware that last Wednesday, newly sworn-in Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) signed an executive order establishing a “Nuclear Power Task Force.” The order is intended to position the state to lead in the development of new nuclear power generation. The task force will evaluate pathways for deploying new nuclear capacity as a long-term, zero-carbon baseload resource, alongside accelerated solar and battery storage development, as the state looks to bring on large amounts of new generation to stabilize consumer electricity prices and improve grid reliability.

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Monday, January 19, 2026 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Last week, President Trump acknowledged growing backlash to the rapid expansion of data centers that the MCAA advocacy team has been reporting on for weeks. Trump announced a plan aimed at ensuring Americans do not “pick up the tab” for higher electricity bills tied to AI-driven power demand. Under the initiative, the Administration is urging PJM Interconnection—the nation’s largest power grid operator covering 13 states, including data center hubs in Virginia and Pennsylvania—to accelerate construction of new baseload power plants by offering 15-year revenue certainty, capping capacity market costs to protect residential ratepayers, and requiring data centers to fully pay the full cost of new generation built on their behalf. The announcement follows warnings from PJM that it is nearing capacity as data centers come online faster than new generation can be built, driving up rates and increasing the risk of outages during extreme weather. Against this backdrop, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) garnered attention last week when she unveiled the “Energize NY Development” initiative, which would require large power users that fail to deliver significant job growth or other public benefits to either generate their own electricity or pay higher grid costs. The growing debate over the impact of data centers is also forcing major tech companies to revamp their messaging. For example, Microsoft announced a new “Community-First AI Infrastructure” initiative. It commits Microsoft to: (1) preventing data center electricity costs from being shifted onto residential ratepayers; (2) prioritizing job creation and workforce development through labor partnerships, including a newly announced agreement with North America’s Building Trades Unions to expand apprenticeship pipelines; (3) reducing and replenishing water use; (4) paying full local property taxes; and (5) expanding AI education and non-profit support in host communities. These developments come as the Trump Administration announced it completed a trade deal with Taiwan praised by the tech industry because it obligates Taiwanese companies to build at least $250 billion in chip factories in the United States.

• As the MCAA continues its outreach to the Department of Labor on issues like registered apprenticeship, employee misclassification, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and more, recent leadership turmoil is diverting attention and capacity within the department at a critical time. Last week, Labor Department Chief of Staff Jihun Han and Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright were placed on administrative leave following a report detailing a whistleblower complaint alleging that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer had an affair with a subordinate, drank at work, and engineered her official travel to visit family and friends at taxpayer expense. The Department’s inspector general has launched an investigation. Han and Wright are being investigated for their role in facilitating the Secretary’s personal travel with taxpayer funds. The Secretary has not directly commented on the investigation but denied any wrongdoing through her press secretary. And last night, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Trump is “aware of the investigation, and he stands by the secretary, and he thinks that she’s doing a tremendous job at the Department of Labor on behalf of American workers.”

• As Congress continues to debate the path forward on legislation to revive expired enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, last Thursday, President Trump made his first foray into the discussions when he outlined a healthcare affordability framework he wants Congress to consider. It is focused on sending federal funds directly to American consumers through health savings accounts (HSAs) to purchase insurance and cover medical costs. The plan also calls for lowering drug prices by tying U.S. prices to those paid in other countries, expanding direct-to-consumer drug sales through TrumpRx, and allowing certain medications to be sold over the counter if deemed safe, while requiring insurers to disclose more information on pricing, denied claims, and wait times. The framework was released as bipartisan Senate talks to revive the enhanced ACA subsidies remain stalled, with negotiators acknowledging legislative text will not be ready until late January due to continued disputes over abortion-related funding restrictions. In a related development, Johnson & Johnson announced that it reached an agreement with the administration to lower prices on certain prescription drugs and match prices charged in other developed countries in exchange for tariff relief. Under the agreement, J&J will sell select medicines directly to consumers at discounted prices through TrumpRx and offer comparable pricing to Medicaid. Of particular interest to MCAA members, the company also recommitted to its previously announced $55 billion investment in new facilities in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

• The White House was forced to do damage control last week after President Trump sparked backlash during a visit to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant in Michigan where he was caught on video giving the middle finger to an auto worker who called the president a “pedophile protector” in reference to Jeffrey Epstein. The United Auto Workers union defended the worker, with UAW Vice President Laura Dickerson saying he was exercising free speech and vowing the union would protect his contractual rights after he was suspended by Ford following the incident. While in Michigan, President Trump spoke at the Detroit Economic Club and touted what he called a “Trump economic boom,” declaring that “inflation is defeated,” while blaming President Biden for what he called an “economic nightmare” of “stagflation.” He also said his administration is freezing or cutting federal payments to states and cities tolerating fraud or operating as “sanctuary” jurisdictions, and attacked Democratic elected officials for enabling fraud, crime, and illegal immigration. We are following up to ascertain if the asserted freeze will extend to federal funding for water infrastructure and other programs that create work opportunities for MCAA members.

• There were several developments last week that highlighted limits on the Administration’s authority to withhold federal funds and halt federal projects that create opportunities for MCAA members. Despite the President’s threats discussed above to strip federal funding from sanctuary cities and states, last Wednesday the Administration retreated from a legal fight over its earlier effort to condition transportation dollars on states aiding with immigration enforcement. The Department of Transportation (DOT) dropped its appeal of a November court ruling that barred it from withholding highway and transit funding from states that refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, ending a case brought by California and 21 other states. The decision leaves in place a ruling that DOT overstepped its statutory authority by conditioning infrastructure funding on immigration policy, providing greater near-term certainty for states relying on federal transportation dollars—even as the administration continues to pursue separate, state-specific funding claw backs and enforcement actions. Moreover, a federal court ruled last week that the Trump Administration violated the U.S. Constitution by canceling billions of dollars in clean energy grants based largely on the political leanings of the states receiving them. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta found that the Department of Energy unlawfully terminated $7.6 billion in grants supporting hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and concluded that this violated the Fifth Amendment’s Equal Protection guarantee. While the Trump Administration argued the cancellations were based on economic and energy policy concerns, as well as political considerations, the court said the record showed that the decisions were driven primarily by electoral considerations and lacked a rational government interest. The judge ordered the Department of Energy to immediately reinstate seven grants totaling $27.6 million involving the specific plaintiffs before the court while sharply criticizing the broader, politically motivated rollback of congressionally approved funding.

• Last Tuesday, the White House transmitted a slate of nominations to the Senate for consideration. Many of them are being re-nominated because they were not confirmed by the Senate prior to the end of the last session in December. MCAA is closely watching some of these nominations because they are for positions that will impact MCAA policy priorities, including: (1) Daniel Bonham to be the Labor Department’s Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs; (2) former Rep. Stevan Pearce (R-NM) to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management; (3) Carter Crow to be General Counsel of the EEOC; (4) Lee Beaman to be a member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority; and (5) David MacNeil to be a member of the Federal Trade Commission.

• MCAA continued making progress on permitting reform through the regulatory process. Last Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to revise Section 401 of the Clean Water Act to streamline water quality certification for federally permitted projects. The proposed rule aims to accelerate approvals for data centers, pipelines, fossil fuel infrastructure, and other large-scale energy and development projects by rolling back elements of a 2023 Biden-era rule that the EPA says expanded Section 401 beyond its statutory purpose, allowing states and tribes to delay or block projects for reasons unrelated to water quality. Under the proposal, state and tribal reviews would be limited to assessing whether point-source discharges into waters of the United States comply with applicable water quality standards, consistent with statutory text and Supreme Court precedent. The rule would establish a single, standardized set of application requirements to trigger review, prohibit repeated withdrawal and resubmission of certification requests, reinforce the one year statutory deadline for decisions, and require clearer explanations for certification conditions or denials. The proposal also seeks to increase transparency and predictability by clarifying timelines for public hearings, defining procedures for resolving neighboring state objections, and reducing duplicative regulatory requirements, while preserving the role of states and authorized tribes as co-regulators under a framework of “cooperative federalism.” Additional details on the proposed rule can be found on the EPA’s website here.

Congress

• As the current January 30^th deadline for government funding approaches, the Senate last Thursday took a step toward avoiding a partial shutdown by voting 82-15 to pass and send to the president a three bill minibus spending package sent over from the House that includes the Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bills. The Energy-Water spending bill includes: (1) $1.785 billion for nuclear energy at the Department of Energy; (2) $1.47 billion for the Bureau of Water Reclamation’s Water and Related Resources Account; (3) $1.95 billion for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy (a $1.5 billion decrease from FY2025); (4) $3.473 billion for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund; and (5) $396.8 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction projects on the inland waterways system. Additionally, the Interior-Environment spending bill includes: (1) a $7.4 million increase at the Bureau of Land Management for onshore oil and gas development; (2) a $11.2 million increase for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to develop offshore energy; and (3) a $21.2 million reduction in funding for renewable energy projects. Enactment of this package means that six of the 12 annual appropriations bills have now been signed into law. And last week ended with the House sending two additional funding bills to the Senate, the Financial Services and National Security–State appropriations bills, and there is some hope that the Senate can pass these two bills when it returns to session on January 26th. As a result, if funding lapses on January 30, it will constitute only a partial government shutdown limited to the agencies covered by the handful of unfinished appropriations bills, rather than a full shutdown of the federal government like we experienced last year. Despite this progress, lawmakers remain divided over the remaining measures. While there is some confidence that additional bills could be enacted before current funding expires on January 30^th, lawmakers increasingly expect the Labor-HHS and Homeland Security bills to be punted into a continuing resolution through the end of fiscal year 2026. The Labor-HHS bill remains stalled over disputes related to enhanced ACA subsidies, while DHS funding is tied up by Democratic concerns over financing the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement operations.

• The fragility of House Republicans’ razor-thin majority that we have repeatedly commented on in our reports was on full display last Tuesday as the House failed to pass the Flexibility for Workers Education Act (H.R. 2262) by a vote of 209–215. The defeat resulted from not only GOP defections but also mounting attendance problems inside the Republican conference. Six Republicans—Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Rob Bresnahan (PA), Nick LaLota (NY), Riley Moore (WV), Chris Smith (NJ), and Jeff Van Drew (NJ)—joined all Democrats in opposing the bill, which would have amended the Fair Labor Standards Act to clarify that “voluntary” training performed outside regular working hours does not count as compensable time for overtime purposes. The loss came amid a historically narrow GOP margin that has been strained by unexpected vacancies following the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) and the retirement of Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), as well as prolonged member absences. Several Republicans have missed weeks of votes, including Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), who is recovering from surgery; Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), who has been away caring for his sick wife; and Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN), who recently returned to D.C. after a car accident. Meanwhile, Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) has missed dozens of votes already this year because he is prioritizing his primary campaign against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), further complicating the math for House Republican leadership, which now effectively needs near-perfect attendance to move legislation that lacks Democratic support. In the wake of the failed vote, Republican leaders pulled the Save Local Business Act (H.R. 4366)—a union-opposed bill to narrow the federal joint-employer standard—and postponed consideration of the Empowering Employer Child Care and Elder Care Solutions Act (H.R. 2270) and the Tipped Employee Protection Act (H.R. 2312), underscoring how absences and defections are increasingly paralyzing the House GOP’s legislative agenda heading into an election year.

• As the MCAA continues to engage on apprenticeship issues, including plans for implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order on “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future” to create one million new active apprentices nationally, we wanted to make MCAA members aware of Republicans’ plans to include apprenticeship provisions in a potential second reconciliation bill that is being discussed. Last Tuesday, the conservative House Republican Study Committee (RSC) unveiled a framework for a second Republican reconciliation bill, as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) signaled he wants to press ahead with another party-line legislative package. Among other things, the RSC reconciliation framework would establish tax-advantaged “Jumpstart Accounts” to help individuals finance apprenticeship training and startup business costs, create a new employer tax credit to incentivize companies to onboard apprentices, and advance housing reforms aimed at expanding homeownership, restructure Affordable Care Act subsidies into health savings accounts rather than payments to insurers, and slash regulations viewed as a barrier to boosting energy production. Last Thursday, Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) introduced standalone legislation modeled on the RSC framework’s Jumpstart Account proposal in recognition of the fact that any effort at a second reconciliation bill faces challenges within the House Republican caucus. This is because several key committee chairs, including House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO), have publicly questioned whether another reconciliation bill is feasible given ideological divisions within the caucus, the GOP’s narrow majority, and the dynamics created by the upcoming midterm elections.

• As the MCAA continues to engage with Congress and the Trump Administration to roll back or clarify Biden-era regulations that created uncertainty for mechanical contractors, last Wednesday, the House passed the “SHOWER Act” (H.R. 4593) by a vote of 226-197, with 11 Democrats joining all Republicans in voting for the bill. It revises the definition of showerhead such that each head of a multi-head showerhead fixture is to be considered a separate showerhead allowed to spray up to 2.5 gallons of water per minute. Proponents of the measure argued that the bill will provide clarity and certainty for manufacturers and consumers by removing all ambiguity regarding the regulatory definition of a showerhead, adding that the bill aligns the statutory definition with the definition used by mechanical engineering associations.

• There were several interesting developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. In Wyoming, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) endorsed Rep. Harriet Hagemann (R-WY) in her bid for retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ (R-WY) U.S. Senate seat. In North Carolina, Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley reported raising $5.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing his fundraising total to $11 million. In Alaska, former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) announced she will challenge Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race and quickly demonstrated fundraising strength, raising $1.5 million in the first 24 hours of her campaign. In Texas, state Rep. James Talarico (D-TX) leads Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) in the state’s Democratic Senate primary by nine points. Meanwhile, in Maine, Texas, and Louisiana, President Trump has no plans to endorse in the remaining three Republican Senate races, leaving incumbent GOP Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to face primary election voters without the official backing of the President.

• There were also many developments in races for the U.S. House last week that may interest MCAA members in different parts of the country. In Ohio, ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan resigned and launched a Republican bid to challenge Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) in Ohio’s 9^th Congressional District. In Ohio’s 3^rd congressional district, Air Force veteran Kristina Knickerbocker announced a run as a Democrat against incumbent Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH). In Virginia, Democrats passed their redistricting constitutional amendment for a second time, teeing it up for a vote in the state Senate as the party looks to redraw the state’s congressional map to favor Democrats ahead of the midterms. In California, a federal court upheld the state’s new, voter-approved congressional maps, rejecting Republicans’ claims that it amounted to an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. In Florida, Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) announced he is retiring from his seat in Florida’s 2^nd Congressional District, leading GOP businessman and attorney Keith Gross to launch a campaign to succeed Dunn. In Maine, state Sen. Joe Baldacci (D) announced he is running for the open seat in Maine’s 2^nd Congressional District to succeed retiring Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). And in New York, the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in his Democratic primary, backing him over his democratic socialist challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier (D) for New York’s 13^th Congressional District. And the Cook Political Report shifted 18 House races toward Democrats, highlighting the party’s recent momentum heading into the midterm elections.

Around the Country

• Given the work MCAA’s lobbying team did to preserve the hydrogen tax credits in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last year, we wanted to be sure MCAA members in Michigan were aware of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) plans to make the Wolverine State a leader in geologic hydrogen to power cars, planes and factories without emitting greenhouse gases. To this end, Gov. Whitmer signed an Executive Directive last Thursday entitled, “Establishing the Michigan Geologic Hydrogen Exploration and Preparedness Initiative.” The directive states that Michigan is uniquely positioned to benefit from geologic hydrogen stored in the Midcontinent Rift beneath Michigan, and it directs state agencies to “coordinate infrastructure and workforce strategies to develop the resource in Michigan.”

• MCAA members who work at the Energy Department’s Portsmouth site in Piketon, OH should be aware that last Wednesday, the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) issued a final request for proposal (RFP) for a contractor to provide infrastructure support services (ISS) for a five-year period at DOE’s Portsmouth Site in Piketon, Ohio. The new contract will replace the current Portsmouth ISS contract held by North Wind Dynamics LLC, which will end in the first half of calendar year 2027. More information on the Portsmouth infrastructure support services program, including access to the final RFP and related documents, is available here.

• Fueling concerns that the buildout of AI infrastructure may be unsustainable, Oracle was sued by bondholders led by the Ohio Carpenters’ Pension Plan over the company’s failure to disclose that it needed to obtain an additional $38 billion in loans to fund two data centers in Texas and Wisconsin to support its deal to supply OpenAI with computing power. The lawsuit claims statements in offering documents for bonds the plaintiffs purchased only said that Oracle “may” need more money were false and misleading because the company was already securing the additional loans.

• Last Tuesday, Atlantic Alumina Company (ATALCO) announced a $450 million strategic partnership with the U.S. government and private investors to secure and expand the nation’s only domestic alumina refinery in Gramercy, Louisiana, including a $150 million preferred-equity investment from the U.S. Department of Defense and more than $300 million in private capital. The investment will return the facility to full production of more than one million metric tons of alumina annually, strengthening the upstream supply of the primary feedstock used to produce aluminum metal for U.S. manufacturing. Because alumina is the essential input for aluminum used extensively in HVAC systems, heat exchangers, ductwork, and other mechanical components, the expansion is expected to support greater domestic supply stability and reduce exposure to foreign-dominated markets, with direct implications for material availability and pricing.

• As the Environmental Protection Agency moves to mandate drinking water systems share their lead pipe inventory and removal plans by November 1, 2027, a new online interactive map from the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund shows how data can be used to drive planning for lead pipe removal operations. The New York map shows that there are 285,755 lead service lines and potentially another 966,085 pipes that could possibly be lead pipes in the state.

• Last week, a new poll showed that a record 45% of U.S. adults identified as political independents in 2025, surpassing prior highs and leaving equal shares—27% each—identifying as Democrats or Republicans. The rise in independence is driven largely by younger generations, with majorities of Gen Z and millennials identifying as independents. While fewer Americans now affiliate with either party, the poll finds that independents increasingly lean Democratic, giving Democrats a 47% to 42% edge in overall party affiliation—their first advantage since 2021—reflecting erosion in support for President Trump rather than increased favorability toward either party.

• As the MCAA continues to advocate for policies supporting nuclear energy deployment and the expansion of the nuclear supply chain, both the private sector and the Trump Administration took notable steps to advance those efforts. On January 9^th, Meta announced agreements with Oklo, TerraPower, and Vistra to help power its expanding AI infrastructure, a buildout expected to drive more than $14 billion in new advanced nuclear investment. The TerraPower agreement supports development of two Natrium reactors capable of producing up to 690 megawatts, with Meta also securing access to an additional 2.1 gigawatts from six future units, while the Oklo deal advances plans for an advanced nuclear campus expected to add up to 1.2 gigawatts to the grid. Meta’s agreement with Vistra provides 2.1 gigawatts from existing nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. In connection with its broader AI and energy strategy, Meta also appointed Dina Powell McCormick—the wife of Sen. David McCormick (R-PA)—as president and vice chair to oversee its AI infrastructure portfolio, including its $27 billion data center project in Louisiana and large-scale nuclear development, a move publicly praised by President Trump. Separately, the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced the establishment of a Center for Used Fuel Research at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), formally designating INL as DOE’s lead institution for research, development, and demonstration related to the storage, transportation, and disposition of used nuclear fuel.