Backend Category: Advocacy

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, December 22, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• The White House had a difficult week last week, scrambling to contain fallout from a Vanity Fair interview with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles that raised questions about the judgment of key members of the Trump Administration, as well as the execution and consequences of several of President Trump’s signature policies. Wiles pushed back in a social media post, calling the article a “hit piece” that omitted “significant context” and sought to portray the administration as chaotic and dysfunctional. The controversy was compounded by sharp backlash over the President’s social media remarks about the murders of filmmaker and Trump critic Rob Reiner and his wife, which the President suggested were linked to “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump’s comments were widely condemned as inappropriate and inflammatory by Republicans, including Reps. Thomas Massie (KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA). Against that backdrop, President Trump delivered a rare prime-time address on the economy last Tuesday, arguing that his policies are beginning to bring down prices for everyday goods such as groceries, holiday meals, and airfare, while urging Americans to be patient. The President promised that in the new year he would “announce some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history.” New polling showed that Trump’s approval rating slipped to 39%. There also appears to be waning enthusiasm within his base as the share of self-identified MAGA Republicans who strongly approve of his job performance fell to 70% (down 8 points from April) and as fewer Republicans identify with the MAGA wing of the GOP than earlier this year.

• We can expect the President to remain a strong advocate of nuclear power in the New Year. Last Thursday, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, announced an all-stock merger with nuclear fusion firm TAE Technologies in a deal valued at more than $6 billion that aims to develop utility-scale fusion power to meet the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence. The combined company plans to begin construction next year on what it calls the world’s first commercial fusion power plant, positioning fusion as a long-term clean energy solution for data centers and other energy-intensive industries. The deal, which would create one of the first publicly-traded fusion companies and leave Trump as the largest shareholder.

• Finding workers who can pass a drug test will likely remain a challenge in the New Year and may be exacerbated by an executive order (EO) President Trump signed last Thursday to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance. The EO directs the Attorney General to expedite rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a less dangerous and easier to purchase Schedule III drug. It instructs the White House to work with Congress to expand lawful access to cannabidiol (CBD) products while restricting unsafe products, and tasks HHS with developing new research methods to study the safety, efficacy, and long-term health effects of medical marijuana and hemp-derived cannabinoids and to inform federal standards of care for patients and clinicians. A fact sheet on the EO is available here. Some senior GOP Senators are worried that the EO poses serious health and economic threats to the nation and expressed their disagreement with the EO in a “sternly-worded” letter to the President spearheaded by Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC), a staunch Trump ally. It was signed by Senate GOP leaders Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Policy Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).

• As the MCAA continues defending Davis-Bacon federal prevailing wage, MCAA members should be aware that last Wednesday, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division announced new resources to help contractors and subcontractors comply with Davis-Bacon and Related Acts payroll reporting requirements, including an online, fillable version of the WH-347 weekly certified payroll form and a newly annotated version with step-by-step guidance. The updates aim to ease administrative burdens for firms working on federally funded or assisted construction projects, making it easier for them to submit timely and accurate prevailing wage surveys. WHD also highlighted its suite of Compliance Assistance Toolkits designed to help employers understand and comply with federal wage and hour laws. The toolkits provide step-by-step guidance, fact sheets, workplace posters, and access to free expert help. They include resources tailored to specific industries, such as construction, and topically focused toolkits for government contracting, FLSA Compliance, and FMLA Compliance.

• While MCAA successfully lobbied to get the Trump Administration to vacate the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule that would have broadly prohibited noncompete agreements, as noted during the government affairs presentation at the Industry Funds Conference earlier this month, the Trump FTC has committed to a case-by-case enforcement approach to noncompetes deemed to have anticompetitive impacts on labor markets. As part of this effort, the FTC’s Joint Labor Task Force is hosting a public workshop on January 27, 2026, from 1:00pm to 5:00pm ET, titled “Moving Forward: Protecting Workers from Anticompetitive Noncompete Agreements.” The workshop will feature a keynote address from FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and three panels—“Locked Out of Work: Victims of Anticompetitive Noncompetes,” “Unleashing the American Worker: Policy Perspectives on Noncompetes,” and “Counting the Costs: The Economics of Noncompetes.” The event will be held in person at the FTC’s headquarters in Washington, DC, and livestreamed on the FTC website. The Joint Labor Task Force was created by Chairman Ferguson to prioritize enforcement against deceptive, unfair, and anticompetitive labor-market practices.
  
• Last Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas blocked the Labor Department from continuing internal adjudication proceedings tied to a former Kinder Morgan Inc. employee’s whistleblower complaint, siding with the company as it challenges the constitutionality of the agency’s in-house enforcement process. Judge Sim Lake ruled that Kinder Morgan is likely to succeed on its claim that Labor Department administrative law judges are unconstitutionally insulated from presidential removal due to dual layers of “for-cause” protections, echoing constitutional concerns raised by the Supreme Court’s 2024 SEC v. Jarkesy decision. The court found that forcing the company to proceed before agency judges while the constitutional challenge is unresolved would cause irreparable harm and granted an injunction halting the case.

• MCAA plan administrators should be aware that last Monday, the Labor Department, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) released informational copies of the 2025 Form 5500 series and related instructions previewing updates to annual reporting requirements for pension and welfare benefit plans. The agencies added new plan characteristic codes to better track multiemployer defined benefit plans that terminate due to mass withdrawal, plan amendments, or insolvency. Additional updates include a new code identifying defined benefit plans that use variable annuity formulas and clarification that an existing termination code applies only to single-employer plans covered by PBGC. Officials emphasized that the materials are for reference only and that filers must wait for the official electronic versions to be released through the EFAST2 system before submitting 2025 filings.

Congress

• Last Thursday, the MCAA realized a hard-fought win on the permitting reform front after the House voted 221-196 to pass the MCAA-championed Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) to revise permitting processes and reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Eleven Democrats supported final passage and one Republican voted against the bill. To supplement our aggressive advocacy on the SPEED Act, which dates back to this summer, the MCAA sent a letter advocating enactment of the bill to House leadership before the House Rules Committee marked up the legislation earlier this week. The Republican rule for consideration of the bill deemed as passed an amendment from House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) specifying that nothing in the bill would undo any actions taken by President Trump prior to the enactment of the bill. This includes the Trump Administration’s actions to halt, defund, or reconsider offshore wind projects that most Democrats support. Following the adoption of the Harris amendment, the American Clean Power Association withdrew its support for the bill, calling the amendment a “poison pill” that “allows the Trump Administration to continue to discriminate against clean energy technologies.” While this last minute opposition set off a scramble to keep the bill on track for passage, the MCAA worked with our allies to maintain bipartisan support for the bill despite this late stage hiccup.
  
• The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has a quorum after the Senate last Thursday voted 53-43 to confirm 97 Trump Administration nominees—including both James Murphy and Scott Mayer—to be members of the NLRB and Crystal Carey to be the NLRB General Counsel. This was the third bloc of nominees confirmed since Republicans changed Senate rules to permit approval of dozens of nominees with a single vote. The newly confirmed appointees also include: (1) Henry Mack to be the Labor Department’s (DOL) Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training (which oversees registered apprenticeship and DOL’s guestworker programs); (2) Rosario Palmieri to be DOL Assistant Secretary for Policy; (3) former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) to be DOL Inspector General; (4) Jeffrey Hall to be EPA Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance; (5) Douglas Troutman to be EPA Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances; (6) Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, Randall Jones, and Arthur Graham to be TVA Board Members; (7) James Percival to be General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security; and (8) Edward Forst to be Administrator of the General Services Administration.

• Last Wednesday, following Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) announcement that the House would not consider legislation to extend expiring enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies, GOP Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA), Mike Lawler (NY), Rob Bresnahan (PA), and Ryan Mackenzie (PA) joined Democrats on a discharge petition to force a vote on a straight three-year extension of the subsidies. This development frustrated GOP senators who previously defeated an identical proposal in the Senate. Republican Senators fear a House-passed straight reauthorization will revive pressure on the upper chamber and create additional challenges for Speaker Johnson and his razor-thin House Republican majority. The discharged bill is expected to be considered by the House next month and could spur broader health care negotiations. The prospects for another government shutdown were also increased last Thursday when Colorado’s Democratic Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper objected to advancing a five-bill appropriations “minibus” that would fund 85% of the federal budget for the remainder of the fiscal year. The package includes the funding bills for Labor-HHS, Defense, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD. The Colorado lawmakers scuttled a last-minute deal to advance the appropriations package because of the Trump Administration’s move to dismantle a Colorado-based climate research center.
  
• Last Wednesday, the Senate voted 77-20 to pass the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, sending the more than 3,100-page bill to President Trump. Of interest for the MCAA, the final bill authorizes $26 billion for shipbuilding, including for Virginia-class attack submarines, and authorizes funding to build additional Coast Guard cutters. Also of interest to MCAA, the final bill excluded Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) “Right-to-Repair” language supported by the Trump Pentagon to ensure the U.S. military retains access to data and parts necessary to repair its weapons systems.
  
• Scrutiny of large-scale data center expansion intensified on Capitol Hill last week as lawmakers raised concerns about electricity costs, grid impacts, and community oversight associated with the rapid buildout of AI infrastructure. Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Richard Blumenthal (CT) pressed major technology companies for detailed information on data center build-outs and utility agreements, warning that the billions of dollars needed for grid upgrades, transmission expansion, and new power generation are increasingly being funded by increased rates for residential customers. The lawmakers cited estimates showing data centers already account for more than 4% of U.S. electricity use and cautioned that consumers could be left bearing infrastructure costs even if projected data center demand fails to materialize. Separately, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called for a moratorium on new data center construction to allow policymakers to better assess the technology’s impacts. Data centers are becoming an increasingly partisan issue in Washington, DC. President Trump continues to champion a rapid buildout of data centers to ensure the U.S. is a leader in AI. Democrats are increasingly opposed to the proliferation of data centers over concerns about their impact on homeowners’ electricity bills—a key component of their “affordability” messaging heading into the November midterms.

• Last Monday, Senate Commerce Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) sent letters to Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) Deputy Administrator Ben Kochman and Chief Counsel Keith Coyle, as well as Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) President & CEO Amy Andryszak over conflict of interest allegations raised by a recent ProPublica story. Kochman and Coyle are former employees of INGAA, and Cantwell stated that “PHMSA leadership is not heeding Congress’s directive and is instead pursuing a reckless safety rollback agenda—and that they are doing so at the behest of” INGAA. Cantwell notes that since being appointed to the agency, Kochman has signed at least 23 notices proposing or implementing amendments to pipeline safety rules.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. In Washington state, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) announced he will not seek reelection in the 4^th Congressional District. Rep. Newhouse is one of two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump following the January 6^th attack on the U.S. Capitol. In Mississippi’s 2^nd Congressional District, Evan Turnage, a 33-year-old antitrust lawyer and former aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), launched a Democratic primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In Massachusetts, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) drew a primary challenge from progressive former Waltham City Councilor Jonathan Paz in the 5^th Congressional District. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) endorsed firefighter union leader Bob Brooks in his Democratic bid to defeat incumbent GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the 7^th Congressional District. In Iowa, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) is facing criticism after changing her voter registration to the 3rd Congressional District while continuing to represent—and run for reelection in—the 1st District, raising questions about where she primarily resides. And in Maryland, a new poll finds limited public support for Gov. Wes Moore’s (D-MD) push to redraw congressional maps, with just 27% of residents calling it a high priority as voters focus instead on health care costs, education, and crime.

Around the Country

• In addition to the growing opposition to data centers on Capitol Hill, last week there were several illustrations of growing concern about data centers among regulators at the federal and state level, as well as the general public. At the federal level, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week directed PJM Interconnection—which operates the nation’s largest electric grid across all or parts of 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states and the District of Columbia—to develop clearer, more transparent rules for serving rapidly growing AI data centers and co-located generation, as the region faces mounting grid-reliability and capacity constraints. FERC Chair Laura Swett said PJM’s recent 6.6-gigawatt supply shortfall in its capacity auction was “concerning,” and the order makes clear that existing power plants cannot shift service to new data center loads unless upgrades are in place to protect reliability. The action builds on a February FERC proceeding questioning whether PJM’s rules governing co-located generation and large customers are just and reasonable, citing unclear rates, terms, and conditions. At the state level, officials in West Virginia are facing backlash over a new law signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) that limits local authority over data center siting and redirects much of the associated tax revenue to the state, while Massachusetts regulators have launched an investigation into electricity and gas bill volatility and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has moved to assert state authority over AI regulation. Industry headwinds are also becoming more visible, as Oracle is reportedly delaying completion timelines for certain OpenAI-related data centers due to labor and material shortages, and protests and investor hesitation surrounding a proposed OpenAI-Oracle project in Michigan have underscored how energy supply, community opposition, and financing risk are increasingly shaping the data center construction landscape.

• Last Thursday, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is barred from including a project labor agreement (PLA) requirement in a procurement for the construction of a pump station to mitigate hurricane damage in Louisiana, worth between $250 million and $500 million.

• MCAA members operating in Texas, Oregon, and Washington should be aware of recent EPA actions advancing major water and wastewater infrastructure projects through the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program. Last week, the EPA approved more than $590 million in WIFIA-backed financing, including a $347 million low-interest loan for Fort Worth, Texas to upgrade wastewater collection and treatment systems and construct a new Mary’s Creek Water Reclamation Facility to support population growth and large-scale water reuse for industrial and irrigation purposes. The EPA also approved $240 million in WIFIA loans for projects in Oregon and Washington, including $147 million for Medford, Oregon to improve water infrastructure and protect water quality in the Rogue River, a $65 million loan for King County, Washington to replace and construct new wastewater system components and pipeline infrastructure, and $28 million for Rockwood, Oregon’s Cascade Groundwater Development Project.
  
• MCAA members in Michigan should be aware that last Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Michigan lacks authority to interfere with Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline, barring the state from enforcing its 2020 notice revoking a decades-old easement and ordering operations to cease. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker said regulation of Line 5 falls under federal authority and that Michigan’s attempt to shut down the pipeline conflicts with U.S. foreign policy and trade relations with Canada.
  
• MCAA members in Washington State should be aware that last Wednesday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order directing TransAlta to keep Unit 2 of the Centralia Generating Station coal plant in Centralia, Washington, available to operate through the winter, delaying its scheduled shutdown at the end of 2025. The order, which runs from December 16 through March 16, 2026, cites elevated grid reliability risks in the WECC Northwest region and aims to minimize the likelihood and cost of blackouts during periods of extreme cold.

• With the Energy Department advancing plans to co-locate nuclear reactors and artificial intelligence (AI) data centers on federal land through public-private partnerships, the Trump Administration is leaning on advanced and modular nuclear reactors as a way to meet rapidly growing power demand from AI while supporting domestic nuclear deployment. DOE has identified several federal sites—including Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Paducah, and Savannah River—and aims to begin construction as early as late 2025, with operations targeted for 2027, arguing that federal land can help streamline permitting and deployment. Major technology firms such as Anthropic, Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta have increasingly turned to nuclear energy as a potential answer to their emissions-reduction goals while still securing reliable, around-the-clock power for AI-driven data centers.

The MCAA Government Affairs Update will be taking a break while the House and Senate are on holiday recess. Watch for our next report on January 12, 2026.

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, December 15, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• As inflation and affordability remain a top concern for voters heading into the 2026 midterms, last week President Trump was in Pennsylvania speaking about those issues. He surprised many when he declined to use the opportunity to reconsider his messaging and once again dismissed concerns about “affordability” as a Democratic “hoax,” even as he insisted he has “no higher priority than making America affordable again.” President Trump displayed a chart comparing the Biden-era and Trump-era prices on select products,  insisted that his tariffs are strengthening key U.S. industries, and urged Americans to buy fewer imported consumer goods. Reprising talking points from the 2024 election, President Trump said, “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter.” The President’s comments come as a new poll from Politico shows that 55% of respondents hold him responsible for higher prices, while only 27% blame the Biden Administration. And a new AP-NORC poll finds voters’ approval of President Trump’s handling of the economy falling to a new low of 31%.

• MCAA plan trustees need to be aware and monitor implementation of an executive order President Trump signed last Thursday night to revise ERISA regulations governing ERISA plan fiduciary status and the obligations of such fiduciaries. Specifically, the order directs the Secretary of Labor to “revise all regulations and guidance regarding the fiduciary status of individuals who manage, or, like proxy advisors, advise those who manage, the rights appurtenant to shares held by plans covered under [ERISA],” including “proxy votes and corporate engagement, consistent with the policy of this order.” Among other things, the Secretary of Labor “shall consider whether these proposed revisions should include amendments to specify that any individual who has a relationship of trust and confidence with their client, including any proxy advisor, and who provides advice for a fee or other compensation, direct or indirect, with respect to the exercise of the rights appurtenant to shares held by ERISA plans, is an investment advice fiduciary under ERISA.” Generally, DOL is directed to strengthen ERISA fiduciary rules to increase fiduciaries’ transparency regarding their use of proxy advisors and ensure proxy advisors and plan managers act solely in the financial interest of American workers and retirees. The order also directs the Chairman of the SEC to rescind or revise all rules and regulations related to proxy-advisors that implicate DEI and ESG priorities, as well as rules related to shareholder proxy proposals that are inconsistent with the policies in the order. The order further directs the SEC to enforce anti-fraud provisions in securities laws against proxy advisors with respect to their voting recommendations, and to consider requiring proxy advisors to register as investment advisers and provide increased transparency on conflicts of interest. The SEC is also directed to assess whether proxy advisors serve as a vehicle for investment advisers to coordinate their voting decisions, and whether registered investment advisers breach their fiduciary duties by hiring proxy advisors to advise on non-pecuniary factors—such as DEI and ESG—in making investment decisions and subsequently following their recommendations. Finally, the order directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether proxy advisors are engaged in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices and to review ongoing state antitrust investigations into proxy advisors for violations of federal antitrust law.

• Last Thursday night, President Trump also signed an executive order to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence (AI), including AI in the workplace, to ensure consistent, nationwide, federal regulation of this emerging technology instead of a patchwork of varying state laws the President fears could impede the deployment of AI technologies. The order directs the Attorney General to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge unconstitutional, preempted, or otherwise unlawful state AI laws that harm innovation. The order directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish an evaluation of state AI laws that conflict with national AI policy priorities and withhold non-deployment Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding from any state with such AI laws. Other agencies are directed to consider whether to make an absence of similar laws, or a policy of enforcement discretion with respect to any existing such laws, a condition of applicable discretionary grant programs. The order also instructs the FTC and Federal Communications Commission to take actions to limit the ability of states to force companies to embed DEI into their AI models. The order further calls for the development of a national AI legislative framework that would preempt state AI laws that stifle innovation.

• As the MCAA continues engaging on the implementation of the ADVANCE Act we helped get signed into law last year to speed licensing of nuclear facilities, we are pleased to report that on Monday, while speaking at the Idaho National Lab, Energy Secretary Wright announced the Department of Energy’s goal to expand America’s nuclear energy capacity four-fold over the next 25 years—from the current 100 gigawatts to 400 gigawatts by 2050. To make this happen, the Energy Department is providing $11 million in funding—split between five corporations—to create new, updated packages to transport high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to bolster America’s nuclear supply chain and ensure U.S. nuclear reactors can access HALEU fuel. Secretary Wright’s announcement comes as private sector interest in nuclear power continues to grow. For example, this week NextEra and Google announced plans to reopen the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa by 2029 to support Google’s expanding data center footprint, while Brookfield Asset Management has offered $2.7 billion to revive South Carolina’s long-stalled V.C. Summer nuclear project, though the proposal faces significant regulatory, technical, and negotiating hurdles.

• As MCAA continues working with the Administration and allies in Congress on permitting reform, last Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) launched the “Clean Air Act Resource for Data Centers” webpage to provide state and private sector entities developing data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) facilities with regulatory information, guidance, and technical tools for modeling, air quality permitting, and regulatory interpretations under the Clean Air Act. The webpage has three sections: (1) “Regulatory Resources,” providing information on rules that apply to stationary combustion turbines and stationary engines; (2) “Air Permitting Resources,” with EPA guidance documents, letters responding to permitting requests, and interpretations of permitting regulations; and (3) “Modeling Guidance Documents,” listing the agency’s preferred air quality models for use in the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) programs and providing modeling resources to assist with permit applications and showing compliance.

• Last Wednesday, the Trump Administration continued to attack what it deems unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion as the Justice Department finalized a rule eliminating “disparate impact” liability from its Title VI civil rights enforcement framework, shifting DOJ policy to require proof of intentional discrimination rather than allowing discriminatory intent to be inferred based on statistically uneven outcomes. Attorney General Bondi said the change ends decades of regulations that “required recipients of federal funding to make decisions based on race,” echoing President Trump’s April 23, 2025, Executive Order “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” that instructed federal agencies to abandon disparate impact analysis in the enforcement of civil rights laws.

• Last Wednesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued seven new letters of interpretation providing clarification on key workplace safety rules. Among the updates, OSHA clarified that under the “confined spaces” regulations at 29 CFR 1910.146(d)(3)(iii), employers are only required to isolate utilities in permit-required confined spaces if there’s a potential risk of leaks and ruptures. For example, if the piping does not terminate within the confined space and poses no risk of material release, isolation is not necessary. In another update, OSHA confirmed that bellow valves, leak-proof, and double-seal valves are acceptable engineering controls under the Benzene and 1,3-Butadiene standards at 29 CFR 1910.1028 and 29 CFR 1910.1051 to limit worker exposure to hazardous substances, noting that conventional valves are also considered acceptable as long as they help maintain exposure levels below permissible limits.

• MCAA members who work on water treatment plants and oil well systems should be aware that last Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and several other federal agencies and international partners issued a new advisory urging immediate action by critical infrastructure organizations to mitigate the risk of being targeted by pro-Russia hacktivist groups. The agencies warn that these groups are “actively engaging in opportunistic, low-sophistication malicious cyber activity across multiple sectors,” and specifically note that targets include water treatment plants and oil well systems.

• During oral arguments last Monday, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority sounded inclined to uphold President Trump’s firing of Democratic Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter and potentially overturn Humphrey’s Executor, the 1935 precedent that shields leaders of independent federal agencies from being terminated by the President without cause. Conservative justices suggested that modern federal agencies wield far more power than when the precedent was created, while the court’s liberals warned that reversing Humphrey’s Executor would give the president “massive, unchecked” control over regulatory bodies across finance, labor, and public safety. The case will also impact President Trump’s firing of other independent agency heads, including the termination without cause of Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board.

Congress

• Last Thursday, the Senate voted 52-47 to adopt a block of 97 Trump Administration nominees using the new process to confirm nominees in blocks instead of individually. A final vote to confirm the nominees is expected early this week. The new package includes nominations of great interest to MCAA, including both James Murphy and Scott Mayer to be members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Crystal Carey to be NLRB General Counsel. Once Murphy and Mayer are sworn in, the NLRB will regain its quorum and be able to start issuing opinions immediately. The package also includes: (1) Henry Mack to be DOL Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training (which oversees registered apprenticeship, workforce training, and DOL’s foreign guestworker programs); (2) Rosario Palmieri to be DOL Assistant Secretary for Policy; (3) former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) to be DOL Inspector General; (4) Jeffrey Hall to be EPA Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance; (5) Douglas Troutman to be EPA Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances; (6) Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, Randall Jones, and Arthur Graham to be TVA Board Members; (7) James Percival to be General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security; and (8) Edward Forst to be GSA Administrator.

• Last week, the MCAA made considerable progress on its priority issue of permitting reform after successfully lobbying the House Rules Committee to schedule a markup of the MCAA-advocated Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) for today, December 15, 2025. The SPEED Act represents sweeping permitting reform that will improve federal permitting of data centers and other large infrastructure projects and reduce litigation that impedes such projects. Ahead of expected floor action, the bill is facing opposition from both ends of the political spectrum. A handful of Republicans, including Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Andy Harris (R-MD), are urging President Trump to oppose the SPEED Act because they are afraid that permit protection language in the bill could inadvertently preserve offshore wind projects the Trump Administration is trying to kill. Democrats say their support hinges on limiting the Trump Administration’s ability to cancel wind, solar, and other renewable energy projects and Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV) offered an amendment to the SPEED Act requiring the Interior Department to treat all energy sources equally and prohibiting additional layers of review or the withholding, delaying, or reversing of state or local decisions for reasons not applied to oil, gas, or coal. A new National Petroleum Council report likewise warns the Trump Administration cannot advance fossil-fuel permitting reform while halting previously permitted renewable energy projects. Meanwhile, the House passed two modest permitting reform bills last week: (1) the Improving Interagency Coordination for Pipeline Reviews Act (H.R. 3668) by a vote of 213-184, which specifies timelines and procedures for FERC and other federal agencies to follow when conducting environmental reviews of natural gas pipelines and exempts interstate natural gas pipeline projects from the requirement to obtain water quality certifications from states under section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA); and (2) the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act (H.R. 3898) by a vote of 221-205, which streamlines CWA permitting by redefining “navigable waters of the United States” to exclude waste treatment systems, prior converted cropland, groundwater, and other features determined to be excluded by the Army Corps of Engineers.

• As the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies looms at the end of this year, lawmakers remain far apart on how to address an issue that is top of mind for voters heading into the 2026 midterms. Last Thursday, the Senate held votes on two partisan health care bills that both required 60 votes to overcome procedural objections. First, the chamber voted 51-48 to reject a Republican proposal to let the enhanced ACA subsidies expire and replace them with new, time-limited health savings account payments for enrollees who switch to lower-cost, high-deductible bronze or catastrophic plans. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote with Democrats against the bill. Senators also voted 51-48 to reject a Democratic proposal to extend the enhanced ACA subsidies for three years. GOP Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Josh Hawley (MO), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Dan Sullivan (AK) joined Democrats in supporting this bill. The votes come as House Republican leadership said they will allow a vote next week on a GOP package of health care bills that does not include an extension of expiring enhanced ACA premium subsidies, but instead offers a package of policies ranging from expanded Health Savings Accounts and stricter oversight of pharmacy benefit managers to enhance “Price Transparency.” House GOP moderates are pushing a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill extending the enhanced ACA subsidies for two years, while some more conservative Republicans are focused on including new abortion-coverage restrictions—leaving the conference with no clear consensus on a path forward. The looming expiration of the subsidies comes as a new poll from Gallup shows that 57% of Americans approve of the ACA, while only 35% disapprove. Support varies depending on respondents’ political affiliation, with approval of the ACA ranging from 91% of Democrats to 63% of independents and only 15% of Republicans. Separately, a New York Federal Reserve survey this week found that U.S. households grew more pessimistic about their current and near-term financial situations last month, with many concerned about increased medical expenses, which jumped 10.1%—the highest in more than a decade.

• Last Wednesday, the House voted 312-112 to pass the 3,100-page compromise text of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Of interest for the MCAA, the final bill authorizes $26 billion for shipbuilding, including for Virginia class attack submarines and authorizes funding to build additional Coast Guard cutters. Also of interest to MCAA, the final bill excluded Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) “Right-to-Repair” language supported by the Trump Pentagon to ensure the U.S. military retains access to data and parts necessary to repair its weapons systems. The final bill text also excluded the bipartisan Road to Housing Act that was in the Senate version of the NDAA to speed construction of multifamily housing and to address housing affordability.

• There were a couple of developments last week in races for the U.S. Senate. In Ohio, a new poll shows incumbent Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) and former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in a statistical dead heat, with Husted receiving 49% support, compared to 46% support for Brown. In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) launched a Democratic primary bid to take on incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

• There were several developments last week in races for the House. In Indiana, the state Senate rejected President Trump’s demand for mid-decade redistricting, voting 31–19 against a map Republicans in the Indiana House developed that would flip the state’s two Democratic congressional seats. In Texas, former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) left the Texas Senate race to run in the newly redrawn 33^rd Congressional District, while Rep. Marc Veasey (D) opted not to seek re-election in that district and instead run for Tarrant County judge. The Cook Political Report shifted Rep. Henry Cuellar’s (D) race from “Toss Up” to “Leans Democrat,” saying President Trump’s pardon of Cuellar “compromised his party’s ability to flip one competitive seat.” In New York, progressive New York City Comptroller Brad Lander (D) announced a primary challenge against Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in the 10^th Congressional District. In Virginia, former Rep. Tom Perriello (D) launched a challenge to Rep. John McGuire (R) in the 5^th Congressional District. In Maryland, former Rep. David Trone (D) is mounting a primary challenge in Maryland’s 6^th Congressional District against first-term Rep. April McClain Delaney (D). And in North Carolina, Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam (D) launched a progressive primary challenge against Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in North Carolina’s 4^th Congressional District. These developments come as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added five seats to its battleground target list: (1) Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R) seat in California’s 48^th Congressional District; (2) Rep. Laurel Lee’s (R) seat in Florida’s 15^th Congressional District; (3) Rep. Greg Murphy’s (R) seat in North Carolina’s 3^rd Congressional District; (4) Rep. Chuck Edwards’ (R) seat in North Carolina’s 11^th Congressional District; and (5) Rep. Greg Casar’s (D) seat in Texas’ 35^th Congressional District, which became more GOP leaning in redistricting.

Around the Country

• MCAA members working in the Washington, D.C. metro area may be interested to know that last Friday, the National Historic Trust, which is charged by Congress with historic preservation, filed a lawsuit to halt President Trump’s construction of a 95,000 square foot ballroom at the site of the recently-demolished White House East Wing annex. The Trust is represented by Greg Craig, who served in the Obama and Clinton Administrations. In the lawsuit, the Trust claims the President cannot proceed with the project without its review and approval.

• As the MCAA continues to engage the Labor Department on our priority issue of preventing the misclassification of construction workers as independent contractors, we learned last Wednesday that the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $596,000 in back wages and fringe benefits for 31 workers after finding that Maryland subcontractor J. Solano HVAC ran a kickback scheme on two D.C.-funded affordable housing projects. Investigators determined the company paid workers the required Davis-Bacon prevailing wage by check but then forced them to return any amount above $30/hour, while also misclassifying some workers as lower-skilled laborers to avoid paying higher hourly rates for HVAC technicians and plumbers. Because the violations were deemed willful, DOL debarred the company and its owner from federal contracting for three years.

• MCAA members operating in Michigan should be aware that last Tuesday, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-MI) requested the Defense Department (DOD) Inspector General investigate significant delays to DOD’s cleanup efforts of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at military installations nationwide, including six military bases in Michigan. Peters requested a review of the factors DOD considered in delaying cleanup timelines (including staffing and resource constraints), an assessment of whether DOD evaluated the impacts on local communities, and whether DOD took any steps to communicate with affected communities prior to releasing the revised schedules delaying cleanup efforts.

• MCAA members operating in Alabama should be aware that last Tuesday, Eli Lilly announced plans to spend $6 billion to build a manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama to help boost production of its closely watched experimental obesity pill orforglipron and other drugs. The company said it expects construction of the Alabama plant, which is set to start this year and be completed in 2032, to create 3,000 construction jobs.

• MCAA members operating in Minnesota should be aware that last Tuesday, the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a $105 million Design-Build Construction contract to McGough Construction for design and construction of the Land Port of Entry Project in Grand Portage, MN, located on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and serving passenger and commercial traffic between northeastern Minnesota and Ontario, Canada. Construction is expected to begin next summer, and the project will replace 1960s-era facilities across the 10.4-acre port with new, modernized buildings designed to improve security, efficiency, and processing capacity. The project will also add lanes—including a wider commercial truck lane—to reduce congestion and expand trade. GSA said that it expects substantial completion of the project by fall/winter 2029. Additional information about the project is available here.

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, November 24, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Inflation and affordability continue to be the center of attention among the DC political class, especially after a new Fox News poll released last week revealed that 76% of voters surveyed view the U.S. economy negatively. That is worse than the 70% who said the same at the end of former President Biden’s term, and the 67% who felt that way in July of this year. In the poll, a majority of Republicans agreed with majorities of Democrats and Independents that costs have gone up for groceries, utilities, healthcare, and housing this year. Respondents’ approval of President Trump’s handling of the economy also hit a new low. The polling comes as Vice President JD Vance tested a more empathetic message on cost of living issues, telling voters “we hear you” and “there’s a lot more work to do,” while continuing to insist that the Administration has “made incredible progress” in tackling cost-of-living issues created by President Biden and that Americans need to have “a little bit of patience.”  

• Meanwhile, a new analysis last week furthered perceptions of the link between “affordability issues” and the ongoing buildout of AI infrastructure. It shows Americans are falling further behind on their utility bills, with past-due balances up nearly 10% over the past year, as monthly energy costs rose 12%—largely due to the demands of AI data center and related infrastructure. The growing  political fallout from the growing recognition of the link between data centers and rising consumer energy pricing is increasing the willingness of voters across the country to reject or restrict new data center facilities. Polling that emerged last week found that fewer than half of Americans support building data centers in or near their communities, with opposition spanning the partisan divide and especially strong among younger voters aged 18-49. Analyses by both political parties of the recent off-year elections are pointing to the success Democrats had turning opposition to data centers and rising energy costs into a campaign issue that helped them win statewide elections in Virginia (the No. 1 state for data center development) and Georgia. In Georgia, two Democrats won seats on the Public Service Commission by focusing on data centers and rising energy bills. This growing resistance to data centers has quickly percolated to Washington, D.C. Recognizing the threat to federal support for the buildout of AI infrastructure, last week some of the largest players in the sector launched the AI Infrastructure Coalition (AIIC) to advocate for continued permitting and support of AI infrastructure. Founding members of the coalition include Andreessen Horowitz, Cisco, Corning, Digital Realty, Duke Energy, Entergy, ExxonMobil, Google, Lumen, Meta, Microsoft, NextEra, PG&E, Pinnacle West, and QTS. The AIIC is spending big, hiring former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and former Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) to serve as the new coalition’s co-chairs leading its campaign to educate policymakers and the public on the imperative to support AI infrastructure to “ignite American economic prosperity, create high-quality jobs, and fortify our nation’s security in the AI race against China.”

• Last Wednesday, President Trump signed legislation directing the Justice Department to release the unclassified files in its possession related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump signed the bill after it passed the Senate unanimously and the House approved it by a vote of 427-1 last Tuesday. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) was the only member of either chamber to oppose the bill. Attorney General Pam Bondi committed to releasing DOJ Epstein files within 30 days, but noted some materials may be withheld to avoid compromising victims’ identities and because of the ongoing Trump-directed inquiries involving Democratic figures linked to Epstein. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll out last week revealed that concerns about the cost of living coupled with the Administration’s handling of the Epstein matter caused the President’s approval rating to fall to 38%, the lowest rating of his second term.

• As foreshadowed in previous reports, last week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published a proposed rule revising the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) to clarify EPA Clean Water Act regulations and align them with the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision. This proposal is a regulatory permitting reform effort insofar as the Sackett decision curtailed the reach of the federal Clean Water Act so that fewer bodies of water and projects impacting bodies of water will be subject to Clean Water Act regulations and permitting.  Consistent with Sackett, the proposed rule seeks to limit the application of the Clean Water Act to relatively permanent waters and wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to navigable waters. It removes “interstate waters” as an automatic jurisdictional category, defines “relatively permanent” waters as those that flow or hold standing water year-round or during a predictable wet season, and adopts a two-part test for “continuous surface connection” requiring that a wetland or pond both abut a jurisdictional water and hold surface water at least during the wet season. The rule also proposes a detailed definition of “tributary” that limits Clean Water Act coverage to bodies of water with relatively permanent flow connected to downstream navigable waters, while excluding features that contribute flow only through non-jurisdictional channels, subterranean conduits, or debris fields.
  
  In addition, the proposed rule revises several longstanding exclusions to clarify what falls outside federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction. It adds definitions and limits for waste treatment systems, clarifies the “prior converted cropland,” and adds an explicit exclusion for groundwater that includes water moved through most subsurface drainage systems. Public comments are due by January 5, 2026 and can be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal here using Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– OW–2025–0322.
  
  
• There were additional signs of regulatory progress on permitting reform of interest to MCAA last Thursday, as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) initiated a process to consider expedited permitting for certain liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydropower construction and maintenance activities. To this end, FERC issued two Notices of Inquiry seeking comment on ways to streamline permitting and reduce the need for case-specific approvals for many LNG and hydropower projects. One inquiry asks whether the Commission should revise its regulations to allow some LNG plant activities to proceed without individual orders under the Natural Gas Act, while the other examines potential changes to simplify review of post-licensing maintenance, repairs, and upgrades at hydropower facilities under the Federal Power Act. Comments on both proposals will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

• Last Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made an important contribution in the battle to turn back some of the excesses of the decarbonization movement by announcing that for the current proxy season that runs from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026 the agency will allow companies to exclude a shareholder proposal on climate change, the environment, or any other issue from their proxy ballot by simply notifying the SEC of its decision 80 days before filing a definitive proxy statement. This revised policy follows an October 9^th speech in which SEC Chairman Paul Atkins decried the politicization of the shareholder proxy process, noting that over the last four proxy seasons shareholder proposals urging public companies to adopt positions on environmental and social issues have represented between 50 and 60% of proposals considered—despite the fact that they “involve issues not material to the company’s business.” The new SEC policy will make it easier for public companies to avoid drawn out deliberations over these types of proposals.

Congress

• Last Thursday, the MCAA made meaningful progress on its priority issue of permitting reform with the House Natural Resources Committee marking up and voting 25-18 to advance to the full House the bipartisan, MCAA-advocated “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act” (H.R. 4776) to revise project permitting processes under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Adam Gray (D-CA) joined all Committee Republicans in approving the bill. Over the course of the more than five-hour markup, the Committee adopted only two of nearly 30 amendments considered. The first was a substitute amendment from Chairman and bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) that was approved by voice vote. Among other things, this amendment requires federal agencies to determine permit application completeness within 60 days and allows agencies to rely on previously completed environmental documents for actions that are substantially the same and have similar effects. Also adopted by voice vote was a bipartisan amendment from bill cosponsors Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Pete Stauber (R-MN) prohibiting a future administration from scrapping projects that have already received a permit. All other amendments were either withdrawn or rejected largely along party lines. The Committee also adopted by unanimous consent and with substitute amendments: (1) H.R. 573, the “Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act,” requiring annual reports on project permitting and related litigation delays and costs associated with NEPA permitting; and (2) H.R. 4503, the “Permit Act” to develop a standardized electronic system to serve as a single portal for all federal permitting matters and related materials.

• Trustees of MCAA health plans should know that during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last Wednesday on “The Rising Cost of Health Care: Considering Meaningful Solutions for All Americans,” Chair Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) said they plan to reintroduce bipartisan legislation targeting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for anti-competitive practices that they say raise drug prices and insurance costs. During the hearing, Ranking Member Wyden also released a new minority staff report criticizing Republican plans to expand access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) in lieu of renewing Affordable Care Act health insurance premium subsidies and how this plan will “funnel” money “to big banks and big insurance companies, while failing to protect” Americans from “high health costs.” The report highlighted the role large insurance companies play in HSAs, noting that “one out of every five HSAs in the nation is operated by Optum Bank, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group.” The hearing and report came the day after White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair said last Tuesday that the Administration intends to put forward a package of healthcare bills and left open the possibility of using the budget reconciliation process to move the package on a party-line vote that cannot be filibustered in the Senate. GOP House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) later confirmed that such a package is being developed in hopes of bringing it to the floor by the end of the year and that it could include bills to expand HSAs and address association health plans, as well as some proposals that were knocked out of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), such as cost-sharing reductions. As part of this broader push by the GOP, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced his More Affordable Care Act, which would create HSA-style “Trump Health Freedom Accounts,” allow insurance sales across state lines, codify Trump-era price transparency regulations, maintain ACA exchanges, and preserve pre-existing condition protections. In contrast, House Education and Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), and Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) introduced the Lowering Drug Costs for American Families Act to expand Medicare’s drug price negotiation authority and extend negotiated prices to the commercial market. Their bill would increase the number of drugs subject to negotiation, cap out-of-pocket and insulin costs for privately insured patients, and apply inflation-based rebate penalties to private plans. The healthcare debate in Congress is unfolding as premiums for employer-sponsored coverage—affecting 165 million Americans—are projected to rise 6–7 percent in 2026, the largest increase in 15 years.

• The MCAA also attended last Wednesday’s House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing on “E-Verify: Ensuring Lawful Employment in America” that may interest MCAA members who are federal contractors required to use E-Verify or are compelled by state mandates to participate in E-Verify. Witnesses included Jaime Andress for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Chris Gamvroulas for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Jessie Hahn from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and Rosemary Jenks from the Immigration Accountability Project. NILC’s Hahn highlighted studies finding that state E-Verify mandates have resulted in undocumented workers becoming independent contractors and operating through other informal employment arrangements that relieve employers of the obligation to confirm their work authorization, while also reducing tax reporting. She also focused on inaccuracies in the E-Verify system and the impact they have on workers, citing federal evaluations showing higher tentative non-confirmation rates for naturalized citizens and other work authorized non-citizens. Hahn complained about the absence of an appeals process for erroneous final non-confirmations, and described cases where employers misused E-Verify by pre-screening applicants or re-verifying workers during labor disputes. The witness from the Immigration Accountability Project, Ms. Jenks, supported mandating nationwide E-Verify and codifying for all employers requirements that currently exist for federal contractors. She also highlighted USCIS data on E-Verify usage and confirmation rates and advocated for requiring states to share driver’s license data and requiring the Social Security Administration to notify individuals of suspected identity theft.
  
  AGC and NAHB witnesses described how their companies use E-Verify and stated that the system usually provides fast confirmations. They also raised concerns about E-Verify related to subcontractor oversight, identity fraud, and the need for clearer federal standards. They recommended restoring automatic work authorization alerts, expanding access to state driver’s license data for identity matching, allowing verification earlier in the hiring process, improving support for small businesses, and maintaining safe-harbor protections for employers who use E-Verify in good faith. AGC and NAHB also discussed ongoing construction labor shortages and the need for increased investment in career and technical education, apprenticeship pathways, and consideration of immigration reforms or visa programs to address workforce shortages.

• Last Wednesday, the MCAA attended the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s hearing to “Examine the Future of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) Cleanup and Disposal Policy.” The witnesses were: (1) Eric Gerstenberg, the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Clean Harbors (which operates hazardous waste disposal facilities); (2) Leah Pilconis, the General Counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC); and (3) Kate R. Bowers, a Supervisory Attorney at the Congressional Research Service. There was no discussion of state regulation, state PFAS reporting mandates, or the need for federal preemption of state PFAS laws. Mr. Gerstenberg used his testimony to tout his company’s EPA, RCRA-approved incinerators that can safely dispose of PFAS and PFAS-contaminated materials, as well as solutions to remove PFAS from groundwater, soil and drinking water. He believes EPA needs to issue more guidance on PFAS, including detailed standards on safe disposal of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials so the regulated community, including contractors working with construction materials and chemicals that contain PFAS, know what constitutes a hazard and the nature of the facility where they must dispose of it. Leah Pilconis of AGC said EPA has failed to provide standards that contractors need to manage PFAS and urged Congress to consider exemptions for contractors, farmers, water districts, and other entities that are “passive receivers” of PFAS caught up in CERCLA’s strict liability regime for the substance since the Biden Administration designated PFAS and PFOA as Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) hazards triggering response and clean up liability. She explained that contractors encounter PFAS everywhere and are responsible under law for PFAS encountered during construction activities. Pilconas and several Senators talked about how the threat of PFAS liability and the uncertainties around how to deal with PFAS are driving up project costs. She said landfills are increasingly refusing PFAS contaminated dirt and materials and preventing recycling, while insurers are excluding PFAS liability. Pilconas rejected the Biden Administration’s view that contractors and other receiving parties can rely on EPA enforcement discretion to alleviate unfair PFAS liability. She made four recommendations: (1) Congress must amend CERCLA to recognize contractors as passive receivers of PFAS and not polluters subject to CERCLA clean up liability for PFAS; (2) the EPA must set clear numeric thresholds related to when responsibility to remediate PFAS is triggered; (3) the federal government should require PFAS testing early in federal construction project planning before bids are put out so PFAS-related costs are known and allocated; and (4) Congress should clarify the chain of liability for PFAS pollution.

• Last Wednesday MCAA also monitored the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing entitled, “From Classroom to Career: Strengthening Skills Pathways Through Career and Technical Education.” The witnesses for the hearing were: (1) SME Vice President Dr. Debra Volzer; (2) Kristi Rice a cybersecurity instructor at Spotsylvania High School; (3) Braden Goetz, Policy Advisor at New America; and (4) Nicole Gasper, the CEO of the West Michigan Aviation Academy. During the hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) emphasized the importance of expanding skills-based pathways as millions of students pursue hands-on learning through Career and Technical Education (CTE). Subcommittee Ranking Member Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) raised serious concerns about the Administration’s transfer of the Perkins Act and related programs from the Department of Education (ED) to the Department of Labor through interagency agreements, arguing the move violates the law, destabilizes CTE delivery systems, and risks reverting to outdated vocational tracking models.
  
  There was strong bipartisan support for modernizing CTE, and witnesses stressed the need for stable federal leadership, increased Perkins funding, alignment between CTE and academic standards, and expanded access to high-quality work-based learning. New America’s Braden Goetz—who spent 26 years in the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education—testified that outsourcing Perkins to DOL undermines statutory requirements, separates CTE from core federal education programs, creates operational confusion for states, disrupts civil rights compliance under the “Methods of Administration” guidelines, and forces ED to pay DOL to administer programs for which it is legally responsible. He argued that moving Perkins outside ED would reverse decades of bipartisan policy alignment, jeopardize collaboration with other ED offices, and risk rigorous CTE research funded through the Institute of Education Sciences that has helped establish CTE as an evidence-based field.
  
  The hearing followed the Trump Administration’s announcement last Tuesday of agreements to move the Education Department’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and Office of Post-Secondary Education to the Labor Department as part of a larger effort to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Under the new interagency agreements, the Labor Department will assume a significantly expanded role in administering federal K-12 and most Higher Education Act grant programs—including running grant competitions, providing technical assistance, and integrating these programs into the Labor Department’s broader workforce and training portfolio.

• The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is no closer to attaining a quorum after the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee last Wednesday abruptly postponed its planned vote on NLRB nominee Scott Mayer, who is currently serving as Boeing’s chief labor counsel. The committee repeatedly delayed the vote throughout the day last Wednesday before canceling it entirely. Mayer’s nomination has been stalled since early October, when the HELP Committee advanced the nominations of NLRB member James Murphy and NLRB General Counsel Crystal Carey but dropped Mayer from the markup. The HELP Committee also postponed a hearing MCAA had planned to engage on last Thursday about “The Future of Retirement.” As of this morning, no new dates had been proposed for committee consideration of Mr. Mayer’s nomination or the retirement hearing.

• As the MCAA continues monitoring the federal “Right to Repair” debate, we wanted to highlight that bicameral negotiations on the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act stalled last week over a Senate provision that would require defense contractors to provide the Pentagon with the technical data needed to operate and repair military equipment. The Senate language—authored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT) and supported in principle by the White House and senior Defense Department leadership—would condition contracts on providing the government access to maintenance tools, software, and technical data to avoid costly “vendor lock” and ensure servicemembers can sustain weapons systems in the field. Defense industry groups, however, are mounting an aggressive lobbying push against the measure, arguing that mandatory disclosure of proprietary data and diagnostic tools threatens intellectual property protections and could deter innovation, especially among small and mid-sized firms. Federal contractors favor the House-passed alternative that would provide access to repair data “as a service” through licensing agreements rather than outright transfer. Negotiators now must reconcile the two approaches as NDAA talks continue into December. The debate is creating an unusual alliance between Progressive Senator Warren (D-MA) and the Trump Department of War that is sending a signal to federal regulators.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. In Texas, a federal judge temporarily blocked the state’s new congressional map, finding “substantial evidence” that it is “racially gerrymandered” and ordered a return to the 2021 map. If the ruling stands, it would cost Republicans five anticipated seats and undermine President Trump’s mid-decade redistricting effort. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has appealed the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. In New York,Parkland shooting survivor Cameron Kasky entered the Democratic primary for Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) seat in the 12th District, Democratic Socialist New York City Councilmember Chi Ossé launched a Democratic primary challenge to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in the 8th District, and Justice Democrat Darializa Avila Chevalier announced a Democratic primary challenge against Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) in the 3^rd District. In Florida, the Justice Department announced a federal grand jury indictment of Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA disaster funds and filing a false federal tax return. And a new poll released this week shows that Democrats hold a 14-point lead over Republicans in voters’ generic party preference for the coming midterm elections—the largest advantage for congressional Democrats since 2017. The new data indicates that Republicans could be facing a blue wave potentially larger than the one in 2018.

Around the Country

• Last Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $6.5 billion in new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) financing and released an additional $550 million to state infrastructure financing authorities through the State WIFIA program. EPA also approved five WIFIA loans: (1) $347 million to Fort Worth, Texas, to upgrade wastewater collection and treatment and expand beneficial water reuse; (2) $176 million for Pflugerville, Texas, to modernize drinking water and wastewater infrastructure; (3) $87 million to Joliet, Illinois, to shift the city’s drinking water supply away from an overdrawn aquifer; (4) $73 million to Ashland, Oregon, to construct a new drinking water treatment plant; and (5) $28 million to Wilton Manors, Florida, to reduce pipeline failure risk, curb water loss, and improve system reliability during storms and other emergencies.

• MCAA members operating in and around the Gulf of America (formerly the Gulf of Mexico) should be aware that last Thursday, the Trump Administration unveiled a sweeping five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan that would reopen federal waters off California and the eastern Gulf of America to drilling, while also proposing sales in previously undeveloped Arctic waters. The move revives long-standing political battles, particularly with Florida Republicans who have opposed drilling along their coast and with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who condemned the proposal and said it was “dead on arrival.” The leasing plan came after the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) last Wednesday announced a proposed Notice of Sale for offshore oil and gas leases in the Gulf of America called “Big Beautiful Gulf 2.” This lease sale is the second of 30 Gulf of America oil and gas lease sales mandated by the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act. The proposed lease sale would offer approximately 15,000 unleased blocks covering about 80 million acres on the Outer Continental Shelf, extending from 3 to 231 miles offshore, and is scheduled for March 11, 2026. The map for the proposed lease sale is available here.

• MCAA members operating in Pennsylvania should be aware that the Energy Department awarded a $1 billion federal loan to Constellation Energy to restart the 835-megawatt nuclear reactor at Pennsylvania’s former Three Mile Island site, now renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. Constellation plans to bring the shuttered 2019 unit back online by 2027 under a power supply agreement with Microsoft, citing rising electricity demand driven by AI data centers. DOE officials said the project will bolster the PJM regional transmission grid and aligns with the Trump Administration’s push to expand large-scale nuclear generation. The restart still requires Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval and water-related permits. Constellation is already progressing with inspections, equipment orders, and hiring.

• MCAA members that work at the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge, Tennessee facility should note that last Tuesday, the Energy Department announced that X-energy began above-ground construction at Oak Ridge of its first-in-the-nation TX-1 advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility that will manufacture fuel for advanced Small Modular Reactors. X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X anticipates regulatory approval by May 2026, and operations are projected to begin in 2027, with initial fuel production at X-energy’s first commercial reactor focusing on a proposed four-unit plant in partnership with Dow Chemical Company at Dow’s plant in Seadrift, Texas.

• MCAA members involved with the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project should be aware of developments related to the deal Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) made earlier this year with President Trump that allowed this pipeline to proceed in exchange for Trump allowing construction to continue on the Empire Wind 1 Project off the coast of Long Island. The states of New York and New Jersey moved last Wednesday to implement the agreement by approving water quality permits for the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline that both states previously rejected. In response, a coalition of environmental groups filed petitions in the U.S. Second Circuit challenging the approvals for the project, which would run from Pennsylvania through New Jersey and 17.6 miles under New York Harbor. The lawsuit by the environmentalists is raising concerns about the durability of the deal between the President and Gov. Hochul, as well as the future of the two projects.

• MCAA members operating in the Washington, DC area may be interested to know that last Monday, the General Services Administration announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) signed a lease for a new headquarters at the Randolph Building in Alexandria, Virginia, where it will be co-located with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. GSA is working with NSF on the design and build-out of the new space.

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, November 17, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• The federal government reopened last week after President Trump signed legislation last Wednesday providing fiscal year (FY) 2026 funding—through September 30, 2026—for Military Construction and the Veterans Administration, Agriculture and Rural Development, and operations of the Legislative Branch. The bill extends funding for the rest of the government through a continuing resolution (CR) that runs until January 30, 2026. MCAA members working on Navy shipbuilding contracts will be interested to know that the funding measure also provides money for the Navy’s “Shipbuilding and Conversion” account be appropriated at a rate sufficient to sustain current operations for completing prior-year shipbuilding programs—including the Carrier Replacement Program. It also provides $1.5 billion for the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program to modernize public shipyards in Virginia, Hawaii, Washington, and Maine.
  
  The Trump Administration and Congress now face a tight deadline to negotiate the remaining FY 2026 appropriations bills or secure another continuing resolution (CR) to avert a partial government shutdown on January 30^th. Continuing work on the remaining full-year funding bills is likely to be complicated by the debate over Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies expiring at the end of the year on which the Senate will hold a vote in December, as well as the ongoing battle over the release of Justice Department files about convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

• There was a proposed rule we want to highlight for MCAA members and affiliates concerned about PFAS reporting requirements, as well as those in New Mexico and elsewhere contending with state legislation on PFAS. It is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed rule to ease perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting and recordkeeping requirements adopted in a Biden-era final rule published on October 11, 2023. In this proposed rule, the Trump EPA seeks to create reporting exemptions for: (1) PFAS present at concentrations of 0.1% or lower in mixtures or products; (2) PFAS contained in imported articles; (3) non-commercial byproducts; (4) impurities; (5) non-isolated intermediates; and (6) PFAS manufactured or imported solely for research and development. The EPA asserts that without these exemptions, the 2023 Final Rule would impose “crushing regulatory burdens and nearly $1 billion in implementation costs on American businesses.” It views such burdens as inconsistent with the statutory command of TSCA section 8(a)(5)(A) directing the EPA, to the extent feasible, to avoid unnecessary or duplicative reporting, and TSCA section 8(a)(5)(B) specifically directing the EPA to minimize the cost of compliance for small manufacturers. In light of these statutory commands, the Trump EPA is taking a different view of “whether the volume of potential data collected justifies the total burden of implementing that collection and what result Congress intended.” EPA estimates that the proposed rule would provide cost savings of between $786 and $843 million and a burden reduction of approximately 10 million hours for general industry, while also providing small business with cost savings of between $703 and $761 million and a burden reduction of approximately 9 million hours. Comments on the new proposal are due December 29, 2025, and may be filed through the federal eRulemaking portal using Docket ID EPA-HQ-OPPT-2020-0549.

• Trustees and Administrators of MCAA retirement plans should know that last Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2025-67 providing the new 2026 contribution limits for qualified retirement plans, including defined benefit plans. Effective January 1, 2026: (1) the limitation on the annual benefit under a defined benefit plan is increased from $280,000 to $290,000; (2) the limitation on contributions to 401(k), 403(b), and 457 defined contribution plans for employees under age 50 is increased from $23,500 to $24,500; (3) the catch-up contribution limit for those aged 50 and older is increased from $7,500 to $8,000 (for a total contribution of $32,500), and may increase to $11,500 for those ages 60-63 (for at total contribution of $36,000); and (4) the overall contribution limit for IRAs is increased from $7,000 to $7,500, with the catch-up contribution for those aged 50 and older increasing to $1,100. The notice also provides limitations for 2026 for Roth IRAs, the Saver’s Credit, and SIMPLE retirement accounts.
  
  Plan trustees and administrators should also be aware that the Administration is actively discussing executive orders to restrict proxy voting by index fund managers, as well as recommendations by proxy-advisory firms, such as Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis, on proxy voting matters ranging from corporate climate and environmental policies to executive pay packages. The White House is considering targeting proxy advisory firms by, among other things, imposing a broad ban on the firms making shareholder recommendations and prohibiting proxy advisory firms from making recommendations on companies that have engaged a proxy advisor for consulting work. The White House is looking to constrain index fund managers, like Vanguard and BlackRock, with measures requiring them to vote proxies held through index funds proportionately to the proxy votes of clients who choose to vote their proxies directly. The discussions, which have been going on for weeks, are still fluid, and various drafts of the proposed executive order have been circulating.

• MCAA efforts to enact permitting reform to speed the deployment and buildout of data center infrastructure and related power sources is facing new roadblocks from Congressional Democrats and consumer advocates who are attacking the Administration’s support for artificial intelligence (AI) data center expansion because they view it as a major cause of rising electricity prices and broader affordability issues for Americans. Last Monday, Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ron Wyden (D-WA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent a letter to the White House and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick criticizing the Trump Administration for “fast-tracking and pushing for the buildout of power-hungry data centers across the country” that are raising Americans’ electricity bills and using huge amounts of water at a time when the President is “supercharging” a “cost-of-living crisis” by cancelling renewable energy projects. The Senators also demanded the Administration explain its plans to mitigate rising energy costs. As congressional Democrats blame the buildout of data centers for rising electricity costs, a new report reviewing data from the 36 states that offer subsidies and incentives for data center projects is criticizing the justification for state subsidies and incentives for data center projects. The study found that only 11 of the 36 states—Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin—publicly disclose which companies receive such incentives. The report also found that no state provides information on jobs promised versus jobs created, even though such claims are often central to justifying taxpayer-backed subsidies for data center projects. These attacks come as Wall Street appears to be cooling on major AI infrastructure investments, with waning enthusiasm for firms like Oracle and Nvidia contributing to a 2.5% NASDAQ drop and an 800-point broader market decline last Thursday. The Wall Street Journal also published an AI Now Institute editorial warning that the Trump Administration’s efforts to speed permitting and provide federal support for the rapid expansion of AI data centers could leave Americans “holding the bag” if an AI market correction hits, given the enormous infrastructure costs and incentive packages tied to the sector.

• There were positive developments this week on the permitting reform front as the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs finally concluded its review of a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency “Clarifying Definition of ‘Waters of the United States.’”  This proposed rule will amend the definition of the waters of the United States (WOTUS) in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency to narrow the application of the Clean Water Act and its related permitting and other regulatory requirements. The changes are expected to include revisions to concepts such as continuous surface connection, “relatively permanent,” and jurisdictional versus non-jurisdictional ditches. In Sackett, the Supreme Court limited the scope of the Clean Water Act by clarifying that wetlands only qualify as WOTUS if they have a “continuous surface connection” to a traditional navigable waterbody. The decision overturned the prior “significant nexus” test which protected wetlands based on attenuated ecological relationships to navigable waters.

• The nuclear industry got good news last week when Energy Secretary Wright spoke at a conference hosted by the American Nuclear Society last Monday and said that nuclear power will receive most of the money from the Energy Department’s loan office as the Trump Administration pushes to quickly break ground on new reactors. Secretary Wright still expects electricity demand from artificial intelligence to attract billions of dollars in equity capital to build new nuclear capacity from “very creditworthy providers.” He says the Energy Department will match those private dollars by as much as four to one with low-cost debt financing from its loan office.

Congress

• As noted above, Congress completed work on legislation to reopen the government last week—passing it in the Senate on Monday by a vote of 60–40. All Republicans except for Sen. Rand Paul (KY) supported the reopening bill and were joined by Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (IL), Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), Jacky Rosen (NV), Maggie Hassan (NH), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Tim Kaine (VA), John Fetterman (PA), and Angus King (I-ME) in supporting the bill. All of the Democrats who supported the reopening deal are either retiring or not up for reelection in 2026. The House followed last Wednesday, approving the reopening measure in a 222–209 vote, with Republicans joined by Democratic Reps. Jared Golden (ME), Adam Gray (CA), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA), Don Davis (NC), Henry Cuellar (TX), and Tom Suozzi (NY). Only two Republicans—Reps. Thomas Massie (KY) and Greg Stuebe (FL)—opposed the bill. This week, the Senate will try to advance a five-bill minibus covering Labor-HHS-Education, Interior, Defense, Transportation-HUD, and Commerce-Justice-Science, even as work on the remaining bills is complicated by year-end negotiations over expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies and the ongoing dispute over the release of Justice Department files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

• There are several congressional hearings scheduled for this week that will keep MCAA busy. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing on November 20^th at 10 a.m. on “The Future of Retirement.” The Senate Finance Committee will meet on November 19^th at 9:45 a.m. for a markup on several nominations, including Jeffrey Goettman for Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Arjun Mody for Deputy Social Security Commissioner; immediately afterward, the Committee will hold a hearing on “The Rising Cost of Health Care: Considering Meaningful Solutions for All Americans.” The House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education also scheduled a hearing this Thursday, November 19, 2025 at 2 p.m. entitled, “From Classroom to Career: Strengthening Skills Pathways Through Career and Technical Education.”

• As lawmakers continue negotiations over expiring subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance premiums, Senate Republicans are  proposing health savings accounts (HSAs) as an alternative to the enhanced ACA premium tax credits. Under the GOP plan, healthcare funds would go directly to households instead of to insurance companies. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) envisions federally pre-funded flexible spending accounts (FSAs) or HSAs that Americans could use to pay deductibles and other medical costs. Some Democrats counter that the proposal would make health insurance less affordable for low-income Americans by reducing direct subsidies, though a few have signaled openness if Republicans commit to affordability protections. In a sign of how far apart both parties remain from a deal over the expiring ACA subsidies, last Wednesday House Democrats introduced a discharge petition to force consideration of a bill extending the expiring ACA subsidies for another three years. They will need to get a handful of moderate Republicans to endorse the petition to reach the required 218 signatures to force a floor vote over the objections of Republican leaders. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) carved out his own lane on the issue, leading a letter from the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus urging Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to work on a bipartisan basis to secure an extension for ACA health insurance premium subsidies set to expire at the end of this year.

• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last Wednesday swore in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) to represent Arizona’s 7th District, providing the 218^th signature needed to advance a discharge petition forcing a vote on a bill to compel the Justice Department (DOJ) to release its full cache of Jeffrey Epstein-related files. Speaker Johnson responded by announcing that the House will vote this week on the discharged bill called the Epstein Files Transparency Act. As many as 50 Republicans could defect on a vote over the bill after House Oversight Committee Democrats released new Epstein-related emails asserting that President Trump “knew of” illicit activities. The White House dismissed the emails released by Democrats as a “partisan smear,”  and Trump called the disclosures a “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” on Truth Social and warned House Republicans to vote against the discharged disclosure bill. As last week ended, the President heightened the stakes of the ongoing Epstein records debate last Friday morning by ordering the Justice Department to investigate former President Clinton’s and other senior Democrats ties to Epstein, threatening to derail Congress’ focus on advancing the remaining Fiscal Year 2026 funding bills.

• MCAA is optimistic that we will make more progress this week on decarbonization as we expect the House of Representatives to consider H.R. 1949, a bill from Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) to eliminate certain regulatory barriers that curtail the export and import of natural gas.

• The Senate moved one step closer to restoring a functional majority at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee last Wednesday announced it will hold a vote on November 19 to advance the nomination of Scott Mayer to be a member of the NLRB. Mayer is Boeing’s Chief Labor Counsel. An October 9^th Committee vote on his nomination was postponed due to bipartisan concerns over Boeing’s handling of a recently concluded strike. During the government shutdown, the HELP Committee approved and sent to the full Senate the nominations of Crystal Carey for NLRB General Counsel and James Murphy to be a member of the NLRB. Assuming Mayer’s nomination is advanced to the full Senate, the three NLRB nominees are expected to be part of the next package of Trump appointees to be voted on under the revised confirmation procedures the Senate GOP established in September by exercising the “nuclear option” to change Senate rules on a party-line vote to allow multiple nominees to be approved with a single Senate vote. The confirmation of these nominees will give President Trump a functioning majority at the NLRB.

• Following two hearings on labor law reform over the last two months that we previously reported on, last Monday Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and other Republicans on the Committee introduced several bills to overhaul U.S. labor law. Chairman Cassidy introduced four bills: (1) S. 3115, the NLRB Stability Act, requiring the NLRB to be bound by federal court precedent; (2) S. 3114, the Union Members Right to Know Act, requiring unions to inform members of political spending and requiring workers to opt in to non-representational political spending; (3) S. 3117, the Workers Reforming Elections for Speedy and Unimpeded Labor Talks (RESULTS) Act, requiring secret ballot elections, eliminating card-check elections, and raising from 30% to 67% the workplace support a union must establish to hold a representation election; and (4) S. 3116, the Fairness in Filing Act, requiring parties bringing unfair labor practice charges to present evidence of wrongdoing at the outset of the complaint. In addition to the bills introduced by Chairman Cassidy, three other Senate HELP Committee Republicans introduced bills to change federal labor laws. Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced the Put American Workers First Act making it an unfair labor practice for a union to organize undocumented immigrants and for an employer to hire them. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced S. 3128, the Worker Privacy Act, curtailing the information unions can obtain about workers for organizing efforts and prohibiting the use of this data for efforts not related to labor organizing. And Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced S. 3124, the Protection on the Picket Line Act, preventing harassment of workers who cross picket lines. MCAA does not expect these bills to get much traction in the Senate, as none of them are bipartisan.

• Last Thursday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was hospitalized in Pittsburgh after a heart issue caused him to fall and sustain minor facial injuries. The episode was attributed to a flare-up of “ventricular fibrillation.” Fetterman has a history of heart problems and suffered a stroke during his 2022 Senate campaign. His staff said he is doing well but will remain in the hospital so doctors can “fine-tune his medication regimen.”

• There were several developments last week related to the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. In California, Christine Pelosi, daughter of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), announced she will run for the California Senate in 2026 rather than seek her mother’s longtime San Francisco-area House seat. Also in California, the Justice Department formally intervened in litigation filed last week by the California Republican Party after voters approved a new Congressional district map that adds as many as five Democratic pickup opportunities in 2026. DOJ alleges the plan mandates racially gerrymandered districts in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, with Attorney General Pam Bondi calling it a “brazen power grab” by Governor Gavin Newsom (D). In New Jersey, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) said she will not seek reelection to the state’s 12th Congressional District in 2026. In New York, New York City Councilman Chi Osse, a 26-year-old progressive and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, is preparing a primary challenge against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in the 8th Congressional District, while President John F. Kennedy’s only grandson, Jack Schlossberg, announced he will run for Congress to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) in the 12th District. In Maine, Democrat Jordan Wood ended his Senate campaign to run for the state’s open 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME). In Virginia, former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) announced she will run again for her old 2nd Congressional District seat, setting up a likely rematch with incumbent Rep. Jennifer Kiggans (R-VA). In Texas, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said he will not seek re-election to Texas’ 19th Congressional District. In Utah, a federal judge rejected a proposal from Republican legislators to redraw the state’s congressional district map and instead selected a map that could give Democrats an opportunity to gain a seat in next year’s midterms by creating a new Salt Lake City-based district that Vice President Kamala Harris would have carried by 24 points in the last election. Following the court’s ruling, former Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) and State Sen. Kathleen Riebe (D-UT) both announced campaigns for the newly redrawn 1st Congressional District, now a Democratic-leaning, Salt Lake City-centered seat. Meanwhile in Tennessee, Democrats are unexpectedly investing in the December 2^nd special election in the deep-red 7^th Congressional District after internal polling showed Democrat Aftyn Behn within 8–10 points of Republican Matt Van Epps in a seat Trump won by more than 20 points in 2024. Separately, the Supreme Court agreed last Monday to hear a case next year on whether mail-in ballots must be received by Election Day to count—a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee to Mississippi’s rule allowing ballots to arrive up to five days later if postmarked on time—which election officials warn could cause “electoral chaos” nationwide. And a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found Democrats with an intensity advantage heading into the 2026 midterm elections, with 44% of registered voters identifying as Democrats saying they are “very enthusiastic” about voting in the next election cycle, compared with just 26% of those identifying as Republican voters.

Around the Country

• MCAA members operating in Texas should be aware that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the state’s request to administer permitting for Class VI underground injection wells used for geologic carbon sequestration, allowing Texas to implement Underground Injection Control (UIC) programs covering all well types (Class I-VI) and obviating the need for EPA permits for such wells. This is expected to speed the process of getting carbon-capture storage projects approved in the “Lone Star” State.  

• Last week, the Energy Department announced that it has awarded $56 million in contracts to acquire almost 1 million barrels of crude oil for the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum Reserve site in Brazoria County, Texas, including contracts for 600,000 barrels from Trafigura Trading LLC and 300,000 barrels from Energy Transfer Crude Marketing LLC. Crude oil deliveries to the Bryan Mound SPR site are scheduled from December 1, 2025 through January 31, 2026.

• MCAA members that perform work for the Navy, operate in shipyards, or otherwise support the shipbuilding industry should know that South Korean shipbuilding giant Hanwha Ocean announced plans last Monday to invest $5 billion into the Philadelphia Shipyard, which the company acquired last year. The investment is intended to revive a shipbuilding workforce and supply ecosystem that has largely disappeared in the United States. Hanwha’s commitment comes in response to a request from President Trump that the company assist in constructing a nuclear-powered submarine for the U.S. Navy at the site as part of South Korea’s broader $150 billion initiative to support Trump’s effort to restore American shipbuilding. The joint U.S.–Korean projects so far include repairing U.S. military vessels, helping design Navy supply ships, and assisting American firms in expanding capacity, training workers, and improving production efficiency.

• In an interesting development on the decarbonization front, the Trump Justice Department filed a brief in support of a lawsuit by twenty-two states challenging New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, which aims to charge certain fossil-fuel emitters $75 billion over 25 years. The case was consolidated with a separate case brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association, and the Business Council of New York State Inc. In its filing, DOJ asserts that the law violates the U.S. Constitution, is pre-empted by the Clean Air Act, and usurps the federal government’s role in U.S. foreign policy by imposing penalties on global energy production.

• Last Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) issued a Request for Information and market research that MCAA members may want to stay updated on as it seeks to identify prospective locations within the 150 largest U.S. metropolitan areas for a new, large training center the USCG wants to stand up very quickly. USCG seeks existing facilities that can be remodeled and made operational within 12 months of acquisition or lease. Prospective locations that meet at least six of the following requirements will be strongly considered: (1) lodging for 1,200 recruits; (2) a dining facility capable of seating 400 personnel; (3) a medical facility to support 1,000 personnel (minimum 200 medical encounters and 200 dental encounters per day); (3) 14 classrooms sized to accommodate 30-60 students; (4) an auditorium with a capacity of 500+ students; (5) a pool with 6 lanes, 25 yards in length, and a minimum depth of 4 feet; (6) a multipurpose gymnasium/athletic/sports facility suitable for sitting 1,200 personnel; (7) office space for 400 staff members; (8) a land area of 150-250 acres; and (9) proximity to a Small Commercial Service or larger airport within 30 miles. Responses are due by December 8, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. EST.

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, November 10, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Last week, President Trump distanced himself from Republicans’ election losses last Tuesday night, saying on Truth Social that the fact he “wasn’t on the ballot, and [the] shutdown were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections” across the country. In Virginia, Democrats swept the state’s top offices by strong margins, and in the Virginia House of Delegates, Democrats greatly expanded their majority, ensuring they can proceed with their congressional redistricting plans. In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the state’s gubernatorial election by an unexpectedly wide margin of 56.2%-43.2%. And in California, voters overwhelmingly backed Proposition 50 granting the state legislature temporary authority to redraw congressional district maps through 2030. California Republicans quickly filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the new House map. Last Tuesday’s election results prompted some congressional Republicans to speculate that the results mark the start of President Trump’s “lame-duck” period, with some lawmakers questioning whether continued deference to him remains politically advantageous. New data and polling out last week raised additional concerns for President Trump and the GOP. In last Tuesday’s election, Latino voters broke 2-1 for Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey as their approval of President Trump dropped from 44% in November 2024 to just 25% at the end of October. A separate poll showed 67% of respondents (including 77% of independents) feel the country has “gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track” while only 32% say things are “generally going in the right direction.” And a new Pew Research Center survey found that while Republicans still have an edge with voters on crime (+19%) and immigration (+9%), their advantage over Democrats on the economy has largely disappeared, falling from a 12% advantage to just 3%.

• Administrators of MCAA pension and health benefit plans should take note of two developments from last week. Health plan trustees should know that Thursday, President Trump announced a deal with pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to lower prices for the weight loss drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound, and (if approved by the FDA) Orforglipron when purchased directly through the federal government’s TrumpRX web portal set to launch in January. The drug companies also agreed to provide most-favored-nation pricing for their other medications to Medicaid, as well as any new medications they bring to market under the deal. House Ways & Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Wyden (D-OR) both issued statements saying that the President’s deal was possible because Democrats included the Medicare Price Negotiation program in the Inflation Reduction Act. Separately, pension plan trustees should be aware that last Tuesday, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins confirmed he has met with leadership at the Labor Department (DOL) to discuss how the regulators should implement President Trump’s August 7, 2025 Executive Order “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” to add assets such as private equity funds and cryptocurrencies to the investment options of 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans. Chairman Atkins cautioned that before alternative assets can be added to defined contribution plans, the SEC will need more staff to develop a suitable regulatory framework. He also said that the SEC and DOL will plot “out a course to study and then make proposals for these sorts of retirement plans to be able to access alternative investments, but within guardrails, so we’re not just going to fling the gates wide open.”

• Last week, the Trump Administration swore into office leaders of several important federal agencies. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer announced that seven newly confirmed appointees have been sworn in to lead agencies at DOL, including: (1) MCAA-endorsed David Keeling to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; (2) Andrew Rogers to lead the Wage and Hour Division; (3) Daniel Aronowitz to lead the Employee Benefits Security Administration; (4) Jonathan Berry, the author of the Labor Chapter of Project 2025, to be Solicitor of Labor; (5) Wayne Palmer to lead the Mine Safety and Health Administration; (6) David Castillo to be DOL’s Chief Financial Officer; and (7) Julie Hocker to lead the Office of Disability Employment Policy. President Trump also named Andrea Lucas chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission following the addition of a second Republican commissioner, Brittany Panuccio, giving the EEOC a quorum to resume business when the government shutdown ends. The Commission is expected to revisit Biden-era regulations—including rules implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Separately, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced that Janet Dhillon was sworn in as director on November 3, 2025.

• Given MCAA’s interest in tariff issues discussed at this year’s policy conference in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday MCAA’s policy team listened to the Supreme Court’s oral argument over the President’s authority to impose emergency tariffs. A majority of Supreme Court justices sounded skeptical of President Trump’s authority to impose sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and encroach on Congress’s power to tax. Three of the conservative justices and all three liberal justices questioned the Trump Administration’s claim that the tariffs were “regulatory, not revenue-raising,” and seemed receptive of the plaintiffs’ argument that the Constitution reserves the power to tax to Congress alone. While skeptical of the Administration’s position, Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed concern about the process of reimbursing businesses for tariffs they’ve already paid. Justice Neil Gorsuch observed that, “if the court allows Congress to broadly ‘hand off’ its tariff power to the president, there might be no limits on other constitutional powers Congress might be able to relinquish.” Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito sounded more sympathetic to the Administration. Following the oral argument, the odds on prediction market Kalshi for a ruling in favor of Trump’s tariffs plunged from about 44% to around 25%. Although the White House is projecting confidence it will prevail, the Administration has made it known that it has a contingency plan in case it does not. This plan involves using trade laws such as Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, Sections 301 and 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and Section 339 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to re-create Trump’s IEEPA-based tariff regime. These alternatives, however, are narrower and take longer to deploy, so they would impede the President’s ability to impose new tariffs as quickly as he has been doing under IEEPA.

• As we continue advocating to maintain President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) 14063 requiring project labor agreements (PLAs) on most large federal construction projects valued at $35 million or more, we wanted to note that last Wednesday, Alaska mechanical contractor Slayden Plumbing and Heating, Inc. sued the federal agencies that comprise the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council over its rule implementing the EO. The lawsuit alleges that the PLA requirement exceeds the president’s authority under the federal Procurement Act. Slayden Plumbing and Heating withdrew two bids on federal projects due to the PLA requirement, and the company says it derives a substantial portion of its work from federal projects.

• The MCAA continues engaging with the Trump Administration on implementation of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), and we wanted MCAA members to be aware of developments last week in the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) implementation of the OBBBA’s “No Tax on Overtime” and “No Tax on Tips” provisions. Last Wednesday, the IRS issued Notice 2025-62 granting penalty relief for tax year 2025 related to new information reporting requirements for overtime pay and cash tips under the OBBBA. Employers and other payors will not face penalties for failing to provide separate accountings of “qualified overtime compensation” or cash tips—including the occupation of the employee receiving such tips—on wage statements or information returns, provided the rest of the filing is complete and accurate. This temporary relief applies only to 2025 filings and reflects the IRS’s acknowledgement that many employers lack systems to track and report this information. Last week’s, notice follows the agency’s earlier proposed rule that MCAA highlighted in the September 22, 2025 Government Affairs Update implementing the OBBBA’s “No Tax on Tips” deduction—which included certain home service occupations such as HVAC technicians, residential plumbers, and appliance repairers as “eligible occupations” for the tax deduction for qualifying tips from customers. The public comment period on this IRS proposal closed on October 22, 2025. If this rule is finalized as proposed, MCAA members employing such workers will have new obligations to track and report “qualified tips” for such workers on revised tax forms.

• Last week, as MCAA continued engaging with the EPA on decarbonization issues, we learned there is an active debate about ending the EPA’s Energy Star program but “no final decision has been made at this time” as to whether it will be terminated or restructured after internal agency discussions flagged it as a “government-sponsored advertising scheme.” The program, which enables companies to display the blue Energy Star label on products meeting efficiency specifications is voluntary. Its future now hinges on the outcome of a broader agency review EPA Administrator Zeldin is undertaking even as the EPA this week renewed key Energy Star contracts through 2030.

• Last Monday, the Energy Department announced a $100 million funding opportunity to refurbish and modernize the nation’s coal-fired power plants, aiming to extend their lifespan, improve efficiency, and strengthen grid reliability. The Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), part of a broader $625 million plan to revitalize the coal industry, seeks projects focused on advanced wastewater management, coal-to-gas retrofits, and coal-natural gas co-firing technologies. Applications are due January 7, 2026, and will be managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

• Last Monday, the U.S. became the first country to export 10.1 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a single month (October 2025), up from 9.1 million tons in September. The surge was driven by the start-up of Venture Global’s Plaquemines facility and Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Stage 3 project, which together accounted for 72% of exports. President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14154, “Unleashing American Energy” directed the Energy Department and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expedite LNG export approvals and streamline permitting for new terminals by revoking prior climate-focused EOs and removing regulatory barriers to fossil-fuel infrastructure.

Congress

• As the government shutdown broke the record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history last week, prospects for reopening the government dimmed after Tuesday’s elections emboldened Senate Democrats to insist Republicans agree to renew Affordable Care Act subsidies as a condition of ending the impasse. Progressives appear to be persuading the Democratic congressional caucus that last week’s strong election victories show voters want them to hold firm. Congressional Republicans extended an olive branch, offering to rehire thousands of federal workers laid off during the shutdown and to guarantee back pay, but the White House has not yet agreed to those terms. Some Senate Democrats also quietly explored using a discharge petition to force House Republicans to vote on extending the ACA healthcare tax credits, but leadership dismissed the idea as unrealistic. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) insists he will not commit to any vote on the healthcare subsidies, frustrating ongoing Senate negotiations over a “minibus” appropriations package expected to carry a short-term stopgap to end the shutdown and fund the government into January. President Trump is also complicating negotiations to reopen the government by continuing to demand GOP senators forgo negotiations with Democrats and instead abolish the legislative filibuster and then act unilaterally to reopen the government without making any deals with Democrats. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) rejected the idea of abolishing the filibuster, saying “it’s just not happening.” Meanwhile, as the shutdown continues, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that ongoing staffing shortages and related safety concerns forced it to reduce flight capacity at 40 major airports beginning last Friday, starting with a 4% reduction that will phase up to 10% as the shutdown continues. On Friday, Secretary Duffy said this could rise to “15 or 20% if the shutdown continues.” The phased cuts impact peak travel hours between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. and affect key hubs including Washington’s Dulles and Reagan National, the three New York-area airports, and airports in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Denver, and Miami. Many airlines are already offering refunds and free re-bookings as delays mounted across the country to end last week.

• As the MCAA continues to engage the Trump Administration and Congress on matters affecting registered apprenticeship programs, last Wednesday, we attended the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s hearing entitled, “Registered Apprenticeship: Scaling the Workforce for the Future.” The witnesses were: (1) Brent Booker, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA); (2) John Downey, General President of the International Union of Operating Engineers; (3) Gardner Carrick from the Manufacturing Institute; (4) Latitia McCane from the Apprentice School, Newport News Shipbuilding; and (5) Josh Laney from the Competency-Based Education Network in Alabama. During the hearing, senators and witnesses—particularly LiUNA President Booker—highlighted the negative impact that the Trump Administration’s cancellation of energy and infrastructure projects is having on registered apprenticeship programs in the construction industry and efforts to recruit more young people into these programs. There was also discussion of the administrative and compliance costs small and medium-sized businesses incur when they sponsor registered apprenticeship programs. Senators and witnesses also discussed the importance of wraparound services, such as childcare and transportation, calling them essential to ensuring more people enter and complete apprenticeship programs.
  
  At the end of the hearing, HELP Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) submitted to the record a letter from ABC arguing that overly prescriptive state regulation of apprenticeship programs discourages contractor participation. ABC wants the federal government to override states that “impose prescriptive requirements and limit adaptability” by having the U.S. Department of Labor redefine the term “trade” used in apprenticeship contract addenda—such as a ‘Schedule of Work Process,’ ‘Trade Information’ or ‘Exhibit A’”—to move away from imposing “required hours for uniform and trade-specific on-the-job training” and to “define on-the-job training hours as 75% uniform and approved by the DOL or a state, and 25% employer-specific, regardless of trade” to “allow contractors nationwide to align apprenticeship training with their operations and encourage greater” participation in apprenticeship programs. ABC also urged the development of “industry-recognized, national credentials that provide craft and safety training for today’s leading construction positions.”

• In response to the Trump Administration’s ongoing cancellations of federal construction projects during the government shutdown, on October 31^st, House Transportation Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA) led Committee Democrats in a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers requesting information on the Office of Management and Budget’s October 17^th announcement that President Trump is pausing or cancelling over $11 billion in projects in Democratic-led states. The letter specifically requests an update on multiple projects of interest to MCAA authorized by Congress under the Water Resources Development Act, including water and wastewater infrastructure improvements in Queens, New York; the replacement of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges over the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts; navigational improvements and deepening of the Ports of New York-New Jersey, Long Beach, CA, and Baltimore, MD; and the South San Francisco Bay Shoreline project in California.

• As MCAA continues advocating for permitting reform and enactment of the SPEED Act, last week we confirmed that House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO) intends to include permitting reforms in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization next year—which funds major infrastructure projects that drive demand across the construction trades. MCAA is educating Congress on the merits of the MCAA-endorsed SPEED Act permitting bill and the need to include it in any deal to advance permitting reform. We also learned that Chairman Graves plans to add money to the Highway Trust Fund  by imposing new user fees for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrids under the reauthorization. His plan is expected to mirror language left out of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act that would have imposed a $250 annual fee on EVs and a $100 annual fee on hybrids. Congress must pass the reauthorization before September 30, 2026 when the Biden-era Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expires. The committee is aiming to mark up the reauthorization in early 2026 and bring it to the House floor sometime in the spring. Democrats, however, are continuing to warn that the Administration’s continued cancellations of clean energy and transportation projects may frustrate bipartisan cooperation on the measure. This is a position we reported on in our September 15^th report detailing the House Committee on Natural Resources Committee’s hearing on the SPEED Act and some other permitting reform bills. Since that hearing, the Administration has halted more projects in democratically-controlled states since the start of the government shutdown on October 1^st.
  

• On October 31^st, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-MI), Environment and Public Works Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Energy and Natural Resources Ranking Member Martin Heinrich (D-NM) sent a letter to President Trump requesting information on the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to construct a ballroom, noting donors have been disclosed for only $60 million of the $200 million contributed by private companies, wealthy individuals, and other donors. The senators requested full disclosure of all donors and warned that the private funding poses “pay-to-play” corruption risks, noting that some of the donations that have been disclosed are from firms with large government contracts, including Lockheed Martin, Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, Meta, Palantir, and Caterpillar. They also raised concerns that the demolition violated federal laws requiring congressional and National Capital Planning Commission review and objected to the October 28^th firing of all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts before it was scheduled to review the project. The senators requested contracts and solicitations for the project demonstrating compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations, any environmental assessments or impact statements, and documentation that required asbestos and lead-paint abatement plans were developed and followed. Congressional Republicans defended private funding for the ballroom and rejected Democrats’ calls for Congress to prohibit any taxpayer dollars being used for the project, which is expected to cost approximately $350 million. Last Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told CNN that his firm will not contribute to the White House ballroom because the bank has “to be very careful how anything is perceived—and also how the next DOJ is going to deal with it,” insinuating that he is concerned about being dragged into the political firestorm over the project and that he does not expect the controversy to end when Trump leaves office.

• There were several developments last week in races for the U.S. Senate. Energized by last Tuesday’s election wins, Democrats are expanding their 2026 Senate ambitions into red states like Texas, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and Alaska, fueled by a surge in donor interest and candidate recruitment. Roll Call released its early list of the most vulnerable senators heading into next year’s midterms, identifying Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Cornyn (R-TX), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jon Husted (R-OH), and Ed Markey (D-MA) as top targets. Senator Markey risks losing his seat in the Democratic primary that Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) said she may enter, setting up a potential three-way Democratic contest between Sen. Markey, and Rep. Pressley and Moulton (D-MA), who announced his primary challenge to Sen. Markey last month. Last Monday, it was revealed that Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), Kansas’ lone Democratic House member, is exploring a 2026 U.S. Senate bid.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. New polling reveals that Democrats currently hold an 8% lead over Republicans in the generic Congressional ballot. Last Tuesday, Roll Call released its early list of the 10 most vulnerable House members in the midterm elections amid ongoing redistricting fights, with Democratic Reps. Don Davis (NC) and Vincente Gonzalez (TX), whose districts have already been redrawn, atop the list. Freshmen Reps. Gabe Evans (CO) and Ryan Mackenzie (PA) are viewed as the most endangered Republicans. Reps. Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-IA); Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); Mike Lawler (R-NY); Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ); Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA); and Jared Golden (D-ME) round out the list. Golden subsequently announced he will not seek re-election in 2026, creating an open and highly competitive seat in Maine’s 2nd District. In California, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced she will retire at the end of this term, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) endorsed state Sen. Scott Weiner (D-CA) to replace her. The passage of Proposition 50 last week also set off a wave of political reshuffling in California: Rep. Ken Calvert (R) said he would run in the state’s 40th District, setting up a Republican member-on-member primary against Rep. Young Kim (R), while highly-regarded election analyst Larry Sabato shifted CA-40 to “safe Republican” and revised ratings for 11 other California congressional seats in favor of Democrats. In New Jersey, former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D) announced he will run for the soon-to-be-vacant 11th Congressional District seat currently held by New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill (D). In Texas, a 16-candidate special election to fill former Rep. Sylvester Turner’s (D) seat is headed to an all-Democratic runoff between Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards after no candidate secured a majority. In Kansas, House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R) abandoned plans to call a special legislative session to redraw the state’s congressional map—halting, for now, Republicans’ bid to target Rep. Sharice Davids’ (D) Kansas City-area district. And, in Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D) created a Redistricting Advisory Commission to propose new congressional maps ahead of 2026, setting up a clash with Senate President Bill Ferguson (D), who opposes mid-cycle redistricting.

Around the Country

• As the MCAA continues to engage the Trump Administration and Congress on efforts to build out domestic nuclear energy infrastructure, we wanted to be sure that MCAA members were aware that last Thursday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced the availability of a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) construction permit to build a GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at TVA’s Clinch River Nuclear Site in Roane County, Tennessee. The 300-megawatt BWRX-300 reactor would be the first SMR constructed and operated in the U.S. It will provide enough electricity to power around 175,000 homes. Comments on the EIS are due by December 22, 2025 and should be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal using Docket ID NRC-2024-0146. The progress at the TVA comes, it was revealed last Thursday that X-energy, LLC has begun testing to evaluate performance of the TRISO-X advanced nuclear fuel at the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory as part of the company’s efforts to establish the country’s first commercial advanced nuclear fuel fabrication facility supporting the deployment of Xe-100 small modular reactor designs. Testing of TRISO-X fuel will take place over the next 13 months to evaluate how the fuel performs at various power levels, temperatures, and burnup conditions to simulate a wide range of operating scenarios.

• MCAA members in Texas should be aware that last Tuesday voters approved two constitutional amendments. By a 2-to-1 margin, Texans passed Proposition 1, creating two new state funds with $850 million in dedicated resources to expand vocational training at the state’s technical colleges—funding land purchases, new classrooms and labs, campus repairs, and updated equipment—all managed by the State Comptroller outside the state budget process. This measure may become a model for states focused on addressing the skills gap in construction and other occupations that do not require a four-year college degree. Voters also overwhelmingly approved Proposition 4, which should create work for MCAA members by dedicating up to $20 billion over the next 20 years to fix aging pipes, build reservoirs, and strengthen the state’s water supply. It is funded through annual sales tax revenue that will go into the Texas Water Fund beginning in 2027.

• As the MCAA continues advocating for permitting reform to accelerate the construction of data centers and other large-scale infrastructure projects, last Tuesday, we learned that the Energy Department’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management issued a Request for Offer (RFO) seeking proposals from companies to build and power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers at DOE’s Paducah site in McCracken County, Kentucky—one of four federal sites designated for AI infrastructure and clean-energy generation projects that will benefit from expediting permitting because they are on federal land. The solicitation invites companies to enter long-term lease agreements to develop facilities on the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant property. Selected developers would finance, construct, operate, and decommission their projects and must secure their own utility interconnection agreements. Proposals are due by January 30, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. ET. DOE will post future dates for a sponsored industry event for applicants to learn more about the solicitation process and requirements outlined in the RFO and to tour the sites available for consideration. Registration is required and potential attendees should email Marcia Fultz at marcia.fultz@pppo.gov for more information.

• MCAA members operating in the southwestern U.S. should take note that the Trump Administration last Monday notified tribal leaders that it is considering revoking a 20-year ban on oil and gas development across hundreds of square miles of federal land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historic Park in northwest New Mexico. In 2023, the Biden Administration barred new drilling within 10 miles of the UNESCO World Heritage site, citing the region’s cultural and environmental significance. The Trump Bureau of Land Management said it will conduct an environmental assessment and consult with tribes on whether to maintain, modify, or rescind the withdrawal.

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, November 3, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• After returning from his trip to Asia, last Thursday President Trump called on Senate Republicans “to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option—Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump argued that “Just a short while ago, the Democrats, while in power, fought for three years to do this, but were unable to pull it off because of Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Never have the Democrats fought so hard to do something because they knew the tremendous strength that terminating the Filibuster would give them.” Senate Republican leadership quickly swatted down the President’s push to eliminate the filibuster, with spokespeople for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) saying the lawmakers’ positions against ending the filibuster had not changed. Still, Trump’s post threw a monkey wrench into nascent bipartisan talks to end the shutdown that began in the Senate last week. Those talks center around sequencing a new continuing resolution—possibly through mid-December or into 2026—with a three-bill appropriations package containing the Agriculture-FDA, MilCon-VA, and Legislative Branch appropriations bills, and a vote to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Amid these discussions, Senate appropriators are also continuing work on additional full-year funding bills, hoping to make progress on a second “minibus” package composed of the Defense, Labor-HHS, Transportation-HUD, and Commerce-Justice-Science funding bills consisting of $1.2 trillion in appropriations. Meanwhile, some Senate Democrats are contending that if their party does well in the gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia tomorrow, congressional Democrats should declare a political victory and begin to finalize the endgame for reopening the government. While Republicans say Democrats could agree to end the shutdown as soon as this week, Thune said longer-term negotiations—potentially including an ACA “working group”—would follow once the government is back open. Meanwhile, the economic toll of the shutdown continues to mount as illustrated by a new U.S. Chamber of Commerce report showing that more than 65,000 small business that are federal contractors have lost a combined $12 billion in October alone—roughly $3 billion a week. As last week ended, several Republicans were alarmed by the impending expiration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Susan Collins (R-ME). But late Friday federal judges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts issued separate rulings barring the Administration from ending SNAP benefits set to expire on Saturday. The judges also ordered the Administration to use a $5 billion contingency fund to continue the food benefits while the government shutdown continues. Heading into the weekend it was not clear if the Administration would appeal the rulings, and if it did not, how quickly the debit cards that SNAP beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded to comply with the court orders.

• During President Trump’s trip to Asia last week, the U.S. finalized a series of trade and investment agreements with China, South Korea, and Japan. Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last Wednesday produced a temporary truce in trade tensions as the U.S. cut fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods from 20% to 10%, reducing the average rate on Chinese imports to roughly 47%, and delayed for one year implementation of the “50% rule” that would have subjected more Chinese-owned firms to onerous licensing requirements on exports and technology transfers for violating labor standards and persecuting Uyghurs. Beijing, in turn, agreed to resume U.S. soybean purchases, pledged in general terms to take action on fentanyl precursor chemicals, and postponed for one year its new export controls on rare-earth minerals, but left in place opaque licensing systems for rare earths. No progress was made on China’s trade surplus or industrial subsidies.
  
  Under the trade pact the President finalized with South Korea, Seoul will invest $350 billion over the next decade to bolster U.S. shipbuilding and other critical industries—beginning with $150 billion in direct funding for shipbuilding and $20 billion annually for other industries—while the U.S. lowers tariffs on Korean cars and auto parts to 15%. Profits from joint ventures will now be split 50/50, a change from the 90/10 framework in favor of the U.S. proposed in July. Trump also approved the construction of nuclear-powered submarines by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard.
  
  Last week’s deal between the U.S. and Japan includes $500 billion in Japanese investment for U.S. energy and technology infrastructure, including new nuclear projects with Westinghouse, AI data-center power systems with Mitsubishi Electric, and facilities for fertilizer and copper refining. Both countries also signed accords to expand cooperation on fusion energy research and to secure critical-mineral and rare-earth supply chains.

• Over the course of three days last week, the Senate adopted resolutions expressing disapproval of President Trump’s tariff measures and his reliance on emergency authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to implement those actions. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 51-47 to overturn Trump’s sweeping emergency “global tariffs” of 10%-50% on nearly every country. Last Wednesday, senators voted 50-46 to terminate his authority to impose emergency tariffs on Canada. In both cases, four Republicans—Sens. Rand Paul (KY), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME), and Mitch McConnell (KY)—joined with all Democrats supporting the resolutions. Last Tuesday, these four senators, along with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), voted with all Democrats 52-48 to reject Trump’s 50% emergency tariffs on Brazil. The votes preceded this week’s Supreme Court arguments over an appellate court ruling that Trump’s IEEPA-based “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority. Earlier last week, Alaska Sen. Murkowski joined 35 Senate Democrats in filing an amicus brief urging the Court to uphold the lower court’s decision. Several other groups and individuals—including former federal judges, former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and the libertarian Cato Institute—also submitted briefs supporting the appellate court’s ruling against the President.

• Last Wednesday, President Trump acknowledged that “it’s pretty clear” he can’t be elected to a third term. His comments come after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last Tuesday dismissed the notion of a third term for President Trump, saying that he does not “see a path” given the “constrictions of the Constitution,” adding “I don’t see a way to amend the Constitution because it takes about 10 years to do that.”

• As part of the MCAA’s advocacy supporting development of large-scale energy infrastructure projects, the Energy Department published an interim final rule last Tuesday amending its loan guarantee regulations to implement the “Energy Dominance Financing” (EDF) authority established by the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The EDF replaces the Inflation Reduction Act’s “Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment” (EIR) program. The new EDF authority allows DOE to guarantee up to $250 billion in loans through September 30, 2028 for projects that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure; expand capacity or output; or enhance grid reliability. Unlike the IRA’s EIR program, the new EDF authority is not limited to projects that reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions, the EDF authority broadens eligibility to include midstream fossil fuel infrastructure, baseload generation, and grid-stability resources. Relatedly, the Energy Department last Wednesday closed its second loan under the EDF program, lending $1.5 billion to Wabash Valley Resources, LLC to restart and repurpose a coal gasification plant in West Terre Haute, IN as an ammonia fertilizer facility. The plant, which has been idled since 2016, is expected to produce 500,000 metric tons of anhydrous ammonia per year using coal from a nearby southern Indiana mine and petcoke as feedstock.
  
  
• There were several developments last week that may interest Administrators of MCAA pension and health plans. For pension plans, last week the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation set the 2026 multiemployer flat-rate premium at $40 per participant—a $1 increase from 2025. MCAA plans with a 401(k) component may also be interested to know that Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) warned that President Trump’s Executive Order on “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors” could expose retirement savers to risky private funds and cryptocurrencies. The Senators called the move “dangerous” amid rising living costs and said it raised conflict-of-interest concerns after reports that the Trump family gained billions in paper wealth from recent crypto ventures. On the healthcare front, last Tuesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Plan Year 2026 Marketplace Plans and Prices Fact Sheet ahead of the November 1–January 15 open enrollment period, projecting that tax credits will cover 91% of the lowest-cost plan premium next year compared to 85% in 2020—the last year unaffected by temporary ACA subsidies set to expire absent Congressional action. Following the release, Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee accused the Trump Administration of concealing rate information to mask “the biggest premium hike in history,” while the Kaiser Family Foundation and other experts said CMS’s figures are misleading because they highlight the lowest-cost bronze plan rather than the benchmark silver plan that determines tax credits. According to KFF, enrollees could pay about 114% more to keep the same plan if ACA subsidies expire, while actual insurer rates are expected to rise about 26%. Meanwhile, senators from both parties last week reported progress on bipartisan legislation to reform the 340B drug pricing program, which requires drugmakers to sell discounted drugs to hospitals and clinics serving low-income patients but has been criticized for contributing to higher overall costs. Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is also preparing a separate measure addressing hospitals’ use of drug savings and transparency around contract pharmacies.
  
  
• President Trump signed a proclamation on October 24^th granting two years of regulatory relief from a May 2024 Biden EPA rule on “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Primary Copper Smelting Residual Risk and Technology Review and Primary Copper Smelting Area Source Technology Review,” which imposed new emissions-control mandates on domestic copper smelters. The Trump Administration argued that the Biden-era “Copper Rule’s” uniform compliance deadlines failed to reflect the technical constraints and high retrofit costs faced by U.S. copper smelters, risking shutdowns that would further tighten global supply. Industry analysts say that the suspension could stabilize domestic refined copper output and ease price pressures, since stricter controls were expected to reduce U.S. production by up to 10% and boost dependence on imports from Chile and China.

• At the end of last week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright formally directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to assert jurisdiction over large electrical loads—such as AI data centers and major industrial facilities—that connect directly to the interstate transmission grid and to fast-track new rules standardizing and expediting those interconnections. The directive included a draft Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking suggesting changes for “large loads” of 20 MW or more and hybrid facilities where load and generation co-locate. Notably, both Democratic FERC Commissioners Allison Clements and David Rosner signaled support for the proposal. If implemented, the rule could streamline approvals for large computing facilities and the power plants that serve them, reshaping how grid operators integrate high-capacity loads and reinforcing DOE’s push to align energy infrastructure growth with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and digital industries.
  
  
• This week, there was lots of discussion in D.C. about an October 21^st directive to federal agencies issued by acting White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Jeffrey Clark to speed up efforts to repeal existing regulations as part of the Trump Administration’s broader deregulatory push. The memo tells federal agencies to treat repealing rules differently from creating new ones and allows them to skip certain procedural steps, such as conducting impact analyses on energy supply and small businesses or consulting with state and local governments. The memo also shortens OIRA’s review periods to 14 days for rules deemed unlawful and 28 days for other repeals, down from the usual 90 days. The issuance of this memo to speed deregulatory activities during the shutdown is being viewed as “priming the pump” for a wave of deregulatory activity intended to help agencies meet the President’s goal of repealing 10 regulations for every new regulation issued.

Congress

• Last Thursday, the Senate voted 52-45 in favor of a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution overturning a Biden-era plan restricting drilling in the Arctic. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to join Republicans in the vote. The House must still pass the CRA before it is sent to President Trump for his signature. The vote came after the Trump Administration last week ruled out selling offshore oil and gas leases along the East Coast after its initial plan for auctioning them drew alarm from Republican members of congress from GOP strongholds in the Southeast. Administration officials are still preparing to include a draft proposed program for developing a new five-year schedule for offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of America and in waters off the West Coast and Alaska.

• The MCAA attended last Wednesday’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee markup of several nominees and bills of interest to our association. Among the notable nominees, the committee approved Jeffrey Hall to lead EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) and Douglas Troutman to serve as EPA Assistant Administrator for Toxic Substances, each by a 10–9 party-line vote. Ho Nieh was approved 13–6 to join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while the nominations of Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, Randall Jones, and Arthur Graham to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors advanced 10–9. Most of the discussion during the markup occurred in relation to Mr. Hall’s nomination to lead OECA, which is responsible for ensuring that companies and other regulated entities are following environmental laws, including the phase down of HFCs pursuant to the AIM Act, and referring criminal violations of EPA standards to the Justice Department for prosecution. Committee Chair Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) said that the Biden Administration put too much emphasis on penalizing regulated entities, rather than helping them to ensure compliance, and that she believed Hall would take a more balanced approach. Committee Ranking Member Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI) objected to Hall’s nomination, calling him “another industry crony, here to serve the big polluters who have occupied this administration.” Whitehouse also noted that the Justice Department has filed fewer environmental enforcement complaints under the second Trump Administration than in any previous presidential administration.
  
  In addition to advancing nominees, the committee also voted 16–3 to favorably report the bipartisan Nuclear REFUEL Act (S. 2082), which clarifies that nuclear fuel recycling facilities producing fuel for advanced reactors would follow the same regulatory path as uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication plants. MCAA members in the DC metro area should know that during the markup, Republicans approved a resolution on a party-line vote authorizing the Trump Administration to relocate the new FBI headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C. instead of the previously selected Greenbelt, Maryland site. The General Services Administration will use roughly $844 million in previously appropriated funds, while the FBI will contribute $555 million toward the move. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) sharply criticized the decision, arguing that the administration provided “minimal planning and zero transparency,” noting the proposal lacks a completed security plan and includes only a partial cost assessment.

• Last Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced a hearing this Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 10AM entitled, “Registered Apprenticeship: Scaling the Workforce for the Future.” The witnesses for the hearing are not yet available. The MCAA policy team is planning to cover this hearing and will report back on developments in next week’s Government Affairs Update. The hearing comes as the Trump Administration continues work on implementation of President Trump’s April Executive Order on “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future” and as the tech industry is increasingly raising alarms about a lack of skilled construction workers to buildout the data centers and related energy infrastructure they are planning as part of their efforts to scale AI technologies. For example, last Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sent a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy warning that the company’s $500 billion Stargate project—now under construction in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin—is at risk due to a shortage of skilled trade workers and insufficient new power generation in the United States. Altman wrote that “the country will need many more electricians, mechanics, metal and ironworkers, carpenters, plumbers, and other construction trade workers than we currently have,” and said OpenAI plans to launch a Certifications and Jobs Platform in 2026 to expand workforce training pipelines. He also cautioned that limited domestic electricity generation threatens U.S. AI competitiveness and national security, noting that China added 429 gigawatts of new power capacity in 2024, compared with 51 gigawatts in the U.S. Altman said OpenAI’s goal is to establish a technical and financial framework to build one gigawatt of new AI infrastructure capacity per week at a cost of roughly $20 billion per gigawatt, and reported that the company has already spent about $1.4 trillion on infrastructure, equivalent to approximately 30 gigawatts of data center capacity.
  
  
• Last Monday, a group of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. requesting details on the TrumpRx initiative, raising questions about the transparency and effectiveness of the White House’s new direct-to-consumer prescription drug platform. In a separate letter to BlinkRx, lawmakers sought information about the company’s role in the development of TrumpRx, citing concerns over potential conflicts of interest following reports that Donald Trump Jr. joined BlinkRx’s board earlier this year after his investment fund, 1789 Capital, led a $140 million financing round for the company. The letters come amid intensifying scrutiny from both Congress and the Trump Administration over pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and their role in driving up prescription costs. That pressure coincided with Cigna’s announcement of a new rebate-free model through its PBM Express Scripts, beginning in 2027, under which manufacturer discounts will go directly to patients at the pharmacy counter—an approach the company says will reduce average out-of-pocket costs by about 30% and respond to growing bipartisan demands for greater transparency in drug pricing and PBM rebate practices.
  
  
• There were several developments last week in the fight for control of the U.S. House, as redistricting battles intensified in several states. In Ohio, a bipartisan redistricting commission unanimously approved a new congressional map that represents a bipartisan compromise by state legislators in the redistricting fight over next year’s midterms. Under the new maps, Reps. Greg Landsman (D-OH) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) will see their seats in Ohio’s 1^st and 9^th congressional districts become slightly “redder,” while Rep. Emilia Sykes’ (D-OH) 13^th congressional district seat will become more Democratic but remain competitive. In Virginia, the House of Delegates advanced a constitutional amendment allowing the state to redraw its congressional lines if another state does so outside the regular 10-year census or due to litigation. In Maryland, Democratic Senate President Bill Ferguson said he would not pursue a midcycle redistricting push, warning that the legal and political risks would be “catastrophic.” In Kansas, the state’s mid-decade redistricting effort stalled after GOP leaders failed to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s objections, while in Indiana, Gov. Mike Braun (R) called a November 3 special session to consider new congressional maps despite warnings from GOP legislators that Republicans lack the votes to pass a plan adding two seats. In New York, Democrats sued over the Staten Island-based congressional seat held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), alleging her gerrymandered district unconstitutionally dilutes minority voting power. Meanwhile, the American Action Network, a GOP-aligned group tied to Speaker Mike Johnson’s Congressional Leadership Fund, launched a $5 million ad campaign targeting 15 vulnerable House Democrats. In Illinois, the Justice Department indicted progressive candidate Kat Abughazaleh for allegedly obstructing ICE during a protest—an action she called “a political prosecution.” And in Iowa, Rep. Randy Feenstra’s (R-IA) 4^th Congressional District seat became an open-seat race after he announced a 2026 gubernatorial bid.

Around the Country

• MCAA members operating in New York City should be aware that last Thursday the U.S. Transportation Department provided updates on the New York Penn Station “Transformation” Project conducted in partnership with Amtrak. DOT highlighted: (1) the release of a solicitation for the project’s master developer, for which Letters of Interest may be submitted through Amtrak’s Procurement Portal; (2) the selection of Public-Private Partnership advisors to help structure the project approach and agreements, including Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP as Legal Advisor, KPMG as Financial Advisor, and AKRF as the project environmental consultant; and (3) the initiation of the project’s Service Optimization Study to analyze how to accommodate passenger service growth at New York Penn Station and the surrounding region.
  

• Last week, MCAA’s lobbying to enact the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act got some notable support from the National Governors Association (NGA). On behalf of the NGA, a group of bipartisan governors from across the country urged Congress to streamline infrastructure project reviews, improve interagency coordination, and modernize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process to eliminate duplication and provide greater regulatory certainty. These permitting reform prescriptions mirror provisions of the MCAA-supported SPEED Act. The NGA letter explains that “this set of ideas represents areas of potential common ground and would reduce barriers to developing critical energy infrastructure at the pace needed to win the AI race, lower costs for consumers, and responsibly develop the advanced energy sources of the future.” The NGA letter was signed by the governors of Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming.
  
  
• A new report underscores the importance of the MCAA’s ongoing advocacy for permitting reforms to speed deployment of energy infrastructure and meet growing demand from data centers and emerging AI technologies. Last Monday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected that the 42% of U.S. households heating with electricity will see winter expenditures rise 4% to an average of $1,133, driven mainly by higher retail electricity prices rather than increased usage. With the Northeast facing the highest costs at $1,520 on average.

• As MCAA presses to speed the permitting of major technology and energy infrastructure, we are struck by the continuing stream of major public-private partnerships being announced during the government shutdown to advance artificial intelligence (AI) and data center infrastructure. Last Wednesday, the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico selected HPE and NVIDIA to develop and deploy two new AI supercomputers to help scientists assess and modernize U.S. nuclear security capabilities. This followed the Energy Department’s Argonne National Laboratory announcing a partnership with NVIDIA and Oracle last Tuesday to build Solstice—the DOE’s largest AI supercomputer, featuring 100,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs—and a smaller system, Equinox, slated for delivery in 2026. Meanwhile, last Monday, the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee unveiled a new public-private partnership model and two AMD-powered AI supercomputers—Lux and Discovery—representing more than $1 billion in combined public-private investment. Lux is set to come online in early 2026 to expand near-term AI capacity for research in nuclear energy, materials discovery, grid modernization, and advanced manufacturing, while Discovery is expected in 2028. And the U.S. Air Force recently issued a Request for Lease Proposals seeking private developers to construct AI data centers at Air Force five installations—Edwards AFB (CA), Davis-Monthan AFB (AZ), Arnold AFB (TN), Robins AFB (GA), and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (NJ). The land being offered for lease at these five bases totals roughly 3,000 acres, with each project requiring at least $500 million in investment and 100 megawatts of new power.

• Energy Secretary Wright highlighted the need to retain all existing generating capacity while the nation works to build more in issuing an emergency order allowing PJM Interconnection, in coordination with Talon Energy, to continue operating Unit 4 of the H.A. Wagner Generating Station in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, beyond its annual 438-hour limit imposed by the EPA to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions from this oil-fired generating unit. Secretary Wright said the order was necessary to precent blackouts in 13 states that could impact 65 million Americans “in the coming winter months.”

• MCAA members that perform work for the Navy, operate in shipyards, or otherwise support the shipbuilding industry should know that at the beginning of last week, South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and U.S. shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries signed a memorandum of agreement to jointly build U.S. Navy auxiliary ships, with plans focused on establishing production capacity along the U.S. Gulf Coast, including potential expansion near Pascagoula, Mississippi, where Huntington Ingalls already operates its Ingalls Shipbuilding complex. The companies will explore joint investments to build new shipyards or acquire existing facilities to support fleet logistics.

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, October 27, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Today marks the 27th day of the government shutdown—the longest full shutdown in American history and the second longest overall, trailing only the 2018–2019 partial shutdown. Ignoring Senate Democrats’ pleas to facilitate negotiations to end the shutdown, President Trump departed for Asia last Friday on his second overseas trip during the shutdown. Before adjourning for the week, last Thursday the Senate rejected legislation to pay federal employees and the military. The fact that about 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA screeners will continue working without pay prompted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to warn that flight delays and cancellations could worsen, with the FAA reporting growing staffing shortages. Last Monday, the Energy Department also furloughed 1,400 National Nuclear Security Administration workers responsible for safeguarding the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Meanwhile, polls released last week showed a slight majority of Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown and two-thirds believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, President Trump’s approval rating has inched up slightly from 40% to 42%. But as this week begins, there are clear signs of rising economic anxiety, with 47% of Americans unsure they could find a good job and 54% stressed about daily living costs, such as groceries.

• Last Friday, it was revealed that the Trump Administration is preparing a new offshore drilling proposal that would open nearly all U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas leasing from 2026 to 2031. The draft plan, developed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, outlines potential lease sales along the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, and Gulf coasts, signaling a significant expansion beyond the long-developed portions of the Gulf of America. The proposal represents the first step in replacing the Biden-era oil and gas leasing program, under which just three lease sales were scheduled through 2029. While the plan could be revised before publication, it aligns with the Trump Administration’s broader strategy to boost domestic energy production pursuant to Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order 14156, “Declaring a National Energy Emergency.”

• Also last Friday, President Trump selected Laura Swett as the next Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Swett was confirmed by the Senate as a member of FERC on October 7, 2025 for a term expiring on June 30, 2030. She previously served at FERC advising a former Chairman and Commissioner, and as a lead attorney in FERC’s Office of Enforcement.

• Last Thursday, MCAA’s Washington, DC team served as a non-participant observer to the Energy Department’s introductory meeting regarding voluntary Defense Production Act (DPA) agreements with a consortium of domestic nuclear energy companies to facilitate an increase in the production and availability of nuclear energy in response to President Trump’s May 23, 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14302 “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.” The EO emphasized that the United States currently faces a variety of serious nuclear energy-related challenges ultimately affecting national security and preparedness, prompting this DPA working group.
  
  The meeting was an introduction for invited DPA consortium members and was followed by a series of closed meetings between representatives from consortium members and DOE, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Department of Justice (DOJ). During the open public meeting, DOE announced that it has made the draft version of the DPA Voluntary Agreement available on regulations.gov in advance of its publication in the Federal Register next month to gather public comments. Industry participants in this DPA working group must be approved and sign the final DPA voluntary agreement. Pursuant to Section 708 of the DPA, participants in this working group are provided with immunity for liability for collaboration and information sharing that might otherwise result in claims for violations of federal or state antitrust laws. This liability shield is intended to ensure DPA consortium members are free to work with the government and other companies to collaborate and address a national security priority.
  
  Under the terms and conditions of the Draft DPA Voluntary Agreement, the Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy would serve as the consortium’s Chair, while the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Fuel Cycle would serve as the Vice Chair. The consortium steering committee will consist of representatives from DOE, DOJ, the FTC, and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), including DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Nuclear Reactors and High Level Waste and Disposition. The consortium will have seven committees consisting of a DOE official, representatives from DOJ, the FTC, and NNSA, and industry participants that have “substantive capabilities, resources or expertise,” to facilitate necessary actions. Each committee will be charged with developing Plans of Action (POAs) to “bolster the domestic nuclear fuel cycle to enable the continued reliable operation of the Nation’s existing, and future, nuclear reactors.” Specifically, the seven committees will develop POAs for the following stages of the nuclear fuel cycle: (1) uranium mining and milling; (2) uranium conversion; (3) uranium deconversion; (4) uranium enrichment; (5) fuel fabrication; (6) spent nuclear fuel recycling and reprocessing; and (7) end-use. In determining committee members, the Chair will select consortium participants representative of the segment of the nuclear industry covered by the POA.

• Last Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a suite of new and updated tools to help water systems nationwide prevent and respond to cybersecurity incidents that some MCAA members may find interesting. The new tools include: (1) an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) Guide for Wastewater Utilities describing strategies, resources, plans, and procedures utilities can use to prepare for and respond to incidents that threaten life, property, or the environment; (2) a Template for Developing an Incident Response Plan, which assists drinking water and wastewater systems with developing a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan (CIRP); (3) Incident Action Checklists to help drinking water utilities prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies such as wildfires, power outages, floods, and cybersecurity incidents; and (4) a Cybersecurity Procurement Checklist to help water and wastewater utilities incorporate cybersecurity into the procurement process.

• MCAA members that perform work for the Navy, operate in shipyards, or otherwise support the shipbuilding industry will be interested to know that last Wednesday the Pentagon sent a memo to Congress detailing how it plans to spend an initial $89.3 billion installment of defense funding authorized by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. In following up to learn more about the spending outline and how it may generate work for MCAA members, we learned that it directs $17.7 billion for shipbuilding covering construction of new naval vessels and to fund workforce development programs to train workers to build more ships. The naval construction plan includes two guided-missile destroyers, a Virginia-class submarine, and three T-AO oilers. The Pentagon memo also includes $2.5 billion to modernize unspecified Air Force facilities and $1.8 billion for improvements to troop barracks and military housing. These plans for more shipbuilding come ahead of a hearing scheduled for this Tuesday, October 28^th in the Senate Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries on “Sea Change: Reviving Commercial Shipbuilding.” The hearing will examine how to modernize and accelerate U.S. commercial shipbuilding and strengthen America’s broader maritime industrial base.

Congress

• As the government shutdown heads into its fourth week, congressional leaders are exploring longer-term funding options and potential changes to the Senate filibuster. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) last week acknowledged that lawmakers may need to pass a longer continuing resolution (CR)—which would require the House to return to D.C. Among the options Republican leaders are considering are CRs extending funding through December 2025, January 2026, or even September 2026. Congressional appropriators are pushing for a shorter extension because they want to finalize appropriations bills that allow them to fund new priorities, and pass funding for member-directed projects (a.k.a. “earmarks”) that would not be part of a CR. Meanwhile, GOP leaders are quietly discussing scaled-back ACA subsidy extensions with income caps to help vulnerable House Republicans, while contending with a rising trickle of calls to eliminate the Senate filibuster for government funding bills. The calls for filibuster reform are now bipartisan as Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) both urged Leader Thune to take this step, but Thune is a longstanding opponent of altering the filibuster outside the context of confirming Presidential nominees. As this week begins, everyone is watching to see if either party will blink as pressure to reopen the government mounts after federal employees missed another paycheck last Friday and ahead of a looming deadline to pay the military this Friday (October 31^st). Some members are also facing pressure from a growing number of states announcing that their SNAP food assistance programs will end on Friday and as open enrollment begins for insurance on Affordable Care Act Exchanges with higher prices reflecting that Congress has not yet extended ACA premium subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. There is also the “wildcard” of growing airport delays and cancellations.

• Last Wednesday, the MCAA attended the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s second labor law reform hearing entitled, Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward during which lawmakers debated the future of collective bargaining, worker choice, and union accountability. HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Republican witnesses such as Thomas Beck of management law firm Littler Mendelson and Vincent Vernuccio of the conservative Institute for the American Worker argued for more disclosure of how unions spend dues—particularly on political activities—and for “worker choice” by mandating secret-ballot elections and outlawing neutrality agreements while also limiting what they called “frivolous” unfair labor practice charges. Chairman Cassidy and Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) also focused on making it easier for union members to get back the portion of their union dues used to support political causes with which they don’t agree. GOP witness Jonathan Hartley, a Stanford graduate student, detailed his experience of being required to join a union whose dues funded political activity he opposed. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) discussed Boeing cutting workers’ healthcare during an ongoing strike at its St. Louis facility.
  
  Democrats argued that the real challenge workers face is corporate resistance to unions and the willingness of companies to commit unfair labor practices that suppress unionization because of the modest penalties associated with doing so. HELP Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and other committee Democrats—including Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ed Markey (D-MA), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO)—advocated for passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. They said the bill is vital to restore collective bargaining rights and hold employers accountable. Witnesses Mary Turner of National Nurses United and IAM shop steward Joshua Arnold described how employers fail to negotiate fair contracts—citing Boeing’s stalled talks with machinists—and endorsed stronger bargaining protections, fair contract standards, and apprenticeship programs that provide hands-on training for skilled union labor. Democrats also highlighted the need for pro-worker reforms to safeguard healthcare benefits and workplace rights during strikes.

• Last Tuesday, the MCAA team attended the Senate Commerce Committee’s markup of the MCAA-endorsed “PIPELINE Safety Act” (S. 2975) which was approved by unanimous voice vote and now goes to the full Senate. The bill provides a 5-year, $1.65 billion reauthorization of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). MCAA has been lobbying in support of this legislation and sent a formal letter of endorsement to the Committee last week in anticipation of the markup. MCAA praised the bill’s provisions to strengthen the nation’s energy infrastructure and enhance worker and community safety, as well as its focus on emerging fuels and energy transition technologies. MCAA specifically cited the bill’s requirements for studies and potential rulemakings related to hydrogen blending and carbon dioxide pipelines, the reauthorization of PHMSA’s grant programs, and the creation of dedicated Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization funding that will support good-paying, skilled jobs in the mechanical and construction industries. The Committee’s markup and approval of S. 2975 moved quickly, reflecting the strong bipartisan support for the legislation. Prior to its passage, the Committee adopted by voice vote a manager’s amendment offered by Chairman Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Cantwell (D-WA). Among other things, it added a provision generally setting a 180-day timeline for granting pipeline operators nonemergency waivers from compliance with federal pipeline safety regulations. The Committee also adopted by voice vote an amendment from Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) requiring PHMSA to expand a mandated report to Congress on the effects of weather on the safety of natural gas pipeline facilities to specifically include the February 2021 Winter Storm Uri and the December 2022 Winter Storm Elliot. It requires that within 90 days after the report is submitted, PHMSA review the distribution integrity management plans of pipelines that are at increased risk of applicable weather events to ensure that the owners and operators of those pipelines are mitigating those effects to ensure public safety.

• Last Monday, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) sent a letter to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer supporting the Labor Department’s plans to replace the Biden-era, MCAA-supported final rule on “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights” (Prudence and Loyalty Rule). This rule replaced a regulation from President Trump’s first term called the Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments rule that the MCAA and its allies in the National Coordinating Committee on Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) opposed because it eliminated clear, longstanding procedures for fiduciaries to follow when selecting plan investments and imposed new, vague standards threatening increased legal uncertainty for plan trustees. During the last Administration, MCAA and its allies successfully lobbied to rescind the Trump-era Financial Factors rule and replace it with the Prudence and Loyalty Rule, returning to the clearer standards for plan fiduciaries to use when selecting plan investments. This rule also clarified that it is legitimate for trustees to select from equivalent investments based on whether they create work for plan participants that generate contributions to the plan. In his letter the Labor Secretary, Chairman Cassidy inaccurately characterized the Prudence and Loyalty Rule as allowing fiduciaries to “choose investments or exercise shareholder rights based on subjective, unprovable factors to further an ideological agenda.” Chairman Cassidy also issued a press release on his letter, highlighting his longstanding efforts to prevent the consideration of ESG factors in investment decisions related to retirement assets.

• While the House remains out of session amid the government shutdown, last Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would allow a floor vote on a bipartisan bill from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to release the Jeffrey Epstein files once the House returns from the shutdown—provided the discharge petition to force consideration of the bill reaches the required 218 signatures. That threshold is expected to be met when Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is sworn in, but Johnson has delayed her seating until the government reopens. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) filed a federal lawsuit last Wednesday against Speaker Johnson for refusing to seat Grijalva, arguing that her swearing-in “cannot be used as a bargaining chip.”

• There were several developments in U.S. Senate races last week. Last Wednesday, former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) announced he is running for retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) seat, setting up a GOP primary against former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). In Texas, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on Wednesday said she is “strongly considering” a U.S. Senate run against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) after redistricting left her and two other Dallas-area Democrats competing for only two seats. Last Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said he would continue supporting Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner after it was revealed that Platner has a Nazi tattoo, which he has since covered and expressed regret over. Meanwhile, President Trump said last Monday that he will make his first in-person fundraising appearance of the 2026 midterm cycle at a November fundraiser for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

• There were several developments in U.S. House races last week. In Ohio, the state’s redistricting commission faces a deadline at the end of the month to produce a new congressional map. If the Commission fails, it would allow Republicans to take over the process and draw maps potentially tilting up to three Democrat-held congressional seats towards the GOP. In Virginia, Democrats are making a surprise push to redraw congressional lines to add two or three new seats favoring their party. The plan requires a constitutional amendment, approval in consecutive legislative sessions, and a statewide referendum. In North Carolina, Republicans enacted a new congressional map likely shifting the state’s delegation from 10–4 to 11–3 by eliminating Rep. Don Davis’s (D-NC) seat in the 1^st District. In Illinois, House Democrats revised their proposed map to target Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) instead of Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), but the effort stalled amid warnings from the Illinois Black Senate Caucus against diluting the Black vote in historically Black districts. Meanwhile, Indiana Senate Republicans said they lack the votes for mid-cycle redistricting despite pressure from President Trump and Vice President Vance. Beyond redistricting developments, President Trump last Tuesday endorsed retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein in his GOP primary challenge to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). And in California, state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) announced a primary campaign for former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) seat, while Pelosi said she will announce her re-election plans after next month’s redistricting ballot measure.

Around the Country

• As the MCAA continues engaging the Trump Administration to support large-scale energy projects, the Energy Department last Wednesday approved the final export authorization for the Venture Global CP2 Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, allowing exports of up to 3.96 billion cubic feet per day of U.S. natural gas to non-Free Trade Agreement countries. DOE officials said the move reflects President Trump’s directive to end the Biden-era LNG export pause and resume reviews of pending applications. The announcement comes as Phillips 66 and Kinder Morgan separately began soliciting shipper commitments last Wednesday for their proposed Western Gateway Pipeline project, which will combine new and existing pipes into a system to transport gasoline and other fuels from the refining hubs of the Midwest and Gulf Coast to California, Arizona, and Nevada and will include the construction of a new pipeline from Borger, Texas, to Phoenix, Arizona.

• As the MCAA continues advocating for permitting reform to accelerate construction of data centers and other large-scale projects, new private-sector projects were announced last week even as federal permitting reform legislation remains stalled with the House having adjourned during the shutdown. Last Wednesday, Applied Digital announced it had signed a $5 billion, 15-year infrastructure lease agreement with an unnamed U.S. hyperscaler to deliver 200 megawatts of capacity at its Polaris Forge 2 campus in North Dakota. The agreement—following a separate $5 billion funding commitment from Macquarie Asset Management earlier this month—brings the company’s total leased capacity to 600 megawatts across its two Polaris Forge campuses. Also last Wednesday, Soluna Holdings announced plans for a new data center in Willacy County, Texas that will be powered by wind energy and designed as a “flexible-load” facility capable of adjusting power use based on grid conditions. These project announcements come as new polling finds mounting public concern over AI’s environmental toll. Nearly four in ten Americans say they are highly worried about AI’s impact on the planet. The survey also revealed that people are more concerned about the environmental impact of AI and related data centers than they are about the environmental impacts of meat production, air travel, or cryptocurrency mining. Public concern seems to focus on the massive energy and water demands of the AI industry, and the fact that data centers are often powered by fossil fuels like natural gas. This is prompting concerns that the rise of AI infrastructure will accelerate climate change, especially as some major tech firms scale back their carbon emission reduction goals.

• MCAA member companies may want look at Clayco’s second annual mental health survey released last week showing that more than one in five construction executives admit they are less likely to assign important tasks to workers who disclose mental health concerns. The survey, which included responses from over 1,000 industry leaders across the U.S., also found that 30% of executives said such employees are more closely monitored. The survey also highlights a worsening mental health crisis in the construction industry overall, with 64% of workers reporting anxiety or depression in the past year—up from 54% in 2024. While 80% of executives claim their organizations offer mental health support, only 61% of workers believe those services are actually available. More than a third of workers reported discrimination after seeking help, and 45% said they feel ashamed discussing mental health on the job.

• Last Tuesday, the Energy Department (DOE) issued a solicitation to purchase one million barrels of U.S. produced sour crude oil for delivery to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at the Bryan Mound site in Brazoria County, Texas between December 1, 2025 and January 31, 2026. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act appropriated $171 million to begin refilling the SPR, which currently holds just over 400 million barrels of its 700 million barrel capacity. Bids for the solicitation are due by 11am CT on October 28, 2025.

• Last Tuesday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued three Underground Injection Control (UIC) Class VI permits to ExxonMobil for a project in Jefferson County, Texas that will convert three existing test wells to carbon dioxide storage injection wells for long-term storage. The permits allow ExxonMobil to inject an average of 1.1 to 1.67 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year into each well, with a maximum total of 5 million metric tons per year across all three injection wells. Over the 13-year injection period, ExxonMobil would be allowed to inject a maximum of 53 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

• Given the MCAA’s successful efforts to retain tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we wanted to be sure that MCAA members operating in Indiana were aware that last Tuesday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened public comments, until December 8, 2025, on a draft carbon storage permit from One Carbon Partnership for carbon sequestration at the Cardinal Ethanol Facility in Randolph County, Indiana. Under the proposed plan, One Carbon Partnership would be permitted to inject up to 450,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year for 30 years. The deep formation where the injected carbon would be permanently stored is between 3,100 and 3,659 feet beneath the surface and is protected by a 487-foot-thick confining zone composed of caprock, preventing carbon from migrating upward into underground sources of drinking water. The EPA will host a public hearing related to this permit at the Winchester Community High School Commons, 700 N Union Street, Winchester, Indiana 47394 on December 4, 2025 from 5:30pm to 9pm. There is no stated requirement to pre-register in order to attend the meeting.

• MCAA members operating in Michigan should be aware that on October 16^th, Michigan sued the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. over a DOE order extending the life of a coal plant in West Olive, MI that was due for retirement. DOE issued an emergency order on August 20, 2025 to keep the J.H. Campbell plant open in response to concerns over electric grid strains. Michigan’s lawsuit alleges that the August order is based on a fabricated energy emergency and disregards prior regulatory approvals for the plant’s planned retirement. The state also claims the order imposes unnecessary costs on Michigan ratepayers and exceeds DOE’s authority under the Federal Power Act. This case could set a national precedent if it undermines the power of the Trump Energy Department to stop states from closing coal-fired power plants to maintain their power generation on the grid.

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, October 20, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• The MCAA is continuing its advocacy despite the ongoing government shutdown, which entered its third week after the Trump Administration took action last week to reprogram funds to alleviate impending deadlines that could serve as a pressure point to bring congressional leaders to the table. The week started with President Trump ordering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “use all available funds to get our Troops PAID,” which required the Pentagon to redirect $8 billion of unobligated research, development, testing, and evaluation funds from the prior fiscal year to cover the military’s payroll. The Administration also moved money around to ensure that the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) supplemental food program for low-income women and children continues during the shutdown and is working to find money to pay federal law enforcement, including U.S. Capitol Police and immigration officers who are continuing to work. But there is not enough money to pay everyone doing critical functions for the federal government. Last Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that the Energy Department would begin furloughing contractors at the National Nuclear Security Administration due to the shutdown. And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged that the ongoing government shutdown is beginning to affect the U.S. economy—potentially costing as much as $15 billion per week.

• Despite the shutdown, the Administration is continuing to take trade actions of interest to MCAA members. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) last Friday issued a notice eliminating and amending certain Section 301 trade actions previously announced on April 23, 2025 to spur U.S. shipbuilding, including a proposal to suspend liquefied natural gas (LNG) export licenses for companies that failed to meet requirements for shipping fuel on U.S.-built LNG tankers starting in the second half of the decade to “avoid potential short-term disruptions to the LNG sector.” Comments on this and other proposed modifications are due by November 10, 2025 and should be submitted through the USTR’s comment portal using Docket ID USTR-2025-0017. This followed a statement last Wednesday on the Administration’s strategy to address China’s threats to manipulate the market for strategic goods, such as rare earth minerals. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the Trump Administration would backstop domestic production and suppliers in allied nations by establishing price floors across a range of strategic goods. The measures could include the U.S. taking equity stakes in more companies, similar to the deal the Administration announced in July with rare earth miner MP Materials. Additionally, the Administration plans to create a strategic mineral reserve. Secretary Bessent justified centralized, national industrial policy as necessary to compete against China’s non-market economy and to ensure U.S. self-sufficiency in critical industries.

• Last week provided several datapoints confirming that tariff-fueled inflation is continuing to impact the economy. A Goldman Sachs analysis released last week found that American consumers are bearing 55% of the costs from President Trump’s tariffs, U.S. businesses are covering 22%, and foreign exporters 18%. While companies have absorbed some of the impact, they are increasingly passing higher costs on to consumers, who have seen overall prices rise 2.9% year-over-year. The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report released last Wednesday also confirmed that tariffs are fueling inflation as businesses struggling to absorb tariff expenses are being forced to raise prices. The report comes as new data shows grocery inflation is particularly acute, with households paying roughly 20% more for groceries in some areas, including a 20.9% jump in coffee prices, a 12.9% increase in ground beef prices, and a 6.6% rise in the cost of bananas, alongside higher costs for dairy, produce, and cereals.

• MCAA’s work to unwind the prior Administration’s decarbonization agenda also continued last week. Policies hostile to natural gas and oil continue to be rolled back as the nation’s primary banking regulatory agencies (the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) withdrew interagency Principles for Climate-Related Financial Risk Management for Large Financial Institutions. These principles created a framework requiring federally-regulated financial institutions with more than $100 billion in total consolidated assets to manage their climate-related financial risks with a particular focus on reducing not only the use of, but also funding for oil and gas development that the previous administration viewed as a leading cause of climate change and air pollution. The agencies now reject the idea that principles specific to climate-related financial risk are necessary because they say their existing safety and soundness standards require all supervised institutions to have effective risk management commensurate with their size, complexity, and activities. A prepublication notice of this rescission of interagency guidance is available here.

• As MCAA continues monitoring the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and pending nominees to restore the Board’s quorum to operate and the Board’s General Counsel. While these nominees remain pending in the U.S. Senate, last Wednesday the NLRB filed a lawsuit asserting NLRA preemption of a California law giving the state’s Public Employment Relations Board authority to certify union elections and adjudicate unfair labor practice charges in instances where the NLRB lacks a quorum or when the state determines that the board has ceded its authority. California’s Public Employment Relations Board historically has overseen union elections and disputes involving state and local government employees, but the new law extends its jurisdiction to include private sector workers covered by the National Labor Relations Act.
  
• As a strong advocate of nuclear energy, MCAA was encouraged last Tuesday by the U.S. Army’s launch of the Janus Program, a nuclear energy initiative to strengthen both national security and the domestic nuclear industry. The program will deploy Army-regulated nuclear microreactors by 2028 using a fast-track contracting and permitting model. The reactors will be commercially owned and operated, with the Army providing oversight and technical support.

• In another positive development regarding nuclear energy, last week, MCAA received word about (and was encouraged to participate in) an October 23, 2025 Department of Energy meeting of a Defense Production Act (DPA) consortium to discuss development of voluntary agreements and plans of action to utilize DPA authorities to expand domestic production of nuclear power. The consortium is composed of companies involved in the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as end-users of nuclear power. Further details on the consortium and its work are available here. Any interested MCAA members can sign up to listen to the meeting online here. The meeting follows DOE’s August 25, 2025 interim final rule establishing procedures at 10 CFR 821 for reaching DPA agreements with domestic nuclear energy companies to expand U.S. nuclear power production pursuant to President Trump’s May 23, 2025 Executive Order 14032, “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.” The meeting will be held on October 23, 2025 from 10am to 11am ET at the Nuclear Energy Institute at 1201 F Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20024.

• Trustees of MCAA health plans may be interested to learn that as the 2026 Medicare open enrollment period started last Wednesday, experts are predicting a “nightmare” for many enrollees as Medicare insurers get rid of plans, trim popular benefits, and increase out-of-pocket deductibles and other costs. Medicare insurers are reportedly making these changes to improve the profit margins of their plans. They accept that these changes will make their Medicare Advantage plans less attractive to consumers and cause enrollment in these plans to shrink for the first time in 15 years. It is unclear what impact declining enrollments in Medicare Advantage may have for health plans.

Congress

• The partisan divisions in Congress over the shutdown deepened last week, threatening to extend the stalemate. The week started with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) predicting the shutdown could become the longest in history and vowing not to negotiate until Democrats relented on their healthcare demands and voted to reopen the government. The week ended with the Senate, for the tenth time since the government shutdown began, failing to advance the House-passed continuing resolution to reopen the federal government. The vote was 51-45, short of the 60 votes necessary to overcome Democrats’ filibuster. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Angus King (I-ME) again voted with all Republicans. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) appeared to move in Senate Democrats’ direction last Thursday by promising Democrats a vote on extending Affordable Care Act subsidies after the shutdown ends. But his gesture did not generate too much good will as Senate Democrats blocked an effort later in the day by Senate Republicans to take up the House-passed FY 2026 Defense appropriations bill, which many hoped could serve as the foundation for a potential minibus package to pass the Transportation-HUD, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Labor-HHS spending bills. Speaker Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) did agree last Wednesday to participate in a televised C-SPAN debate about the government shutdown as it entered its third week. The debate will air on C-SPAN’s new show Ceasefire at a yet-to-be announced date.

• Ahead of this Tuesday’s Senate Commerce Committee markup of the “Pipeline Integrity, Protection, and Enhancement for Leveraging Investments in the Nation’s Energy to assure (PIPELINE) Safety Act” (S. 2975), the MCAA highlighted its advocacy to enact key provisions of the bill in a letter of support submitted last Thursday. Among other things, the bill would modernize U.S. pipeline infrastructure by expanding safety programs to support emerging fuels like hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The legislation also invests in workforce training and new technologies supporting development of oil, gas, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. In the letter, the MCAA emphasized that its members are critical to the development of hydrogen and carbon capture projects that would benefit from clearer regulatory guidance and federal investment. The MCAA also urged support for provisions promoting risk-based inspections, advanced leak detection, and modernization grants for local utilities—noting that these measures will create skilled jobs, improve safety outcomes, and strengthen long-term energy reliability.

• Last Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced its second hearing on labor law reform, entitled, “Labor Law Reform Part 2: New Solutions for Finding a Pro-Worker Way Forward” scheduled for next Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 10am ET. The witnesses for the hearing are not yet available. This is a follow up to an earlier October 8^th hearing about labor law reform that we detailed in our October 13^th report.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. Last Tuesday, Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) officially launched her campaign against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), prompting Dan Kleban to suspend his bid and endorse Gov. Mills. Maine Democrat Graham Platner, who is running against Mills in the Democratic primary, received major labor endorsements on Wednesday from the UAW, the Maine State Nurses Association, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, but faced backlash later in the week over resurfaced Reddit posts in which he used slurs and called police “bastards”—posts he disavowed. Last Wednesday, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) announced a primary challenge to Massachusetts’ senior Sen. Ed Markey (D). That same day, reports surfaced that Pennsylvania Democratic Reps. Brendan Boyle and Chris Deluzio, along with former Rep. Conor Lamb, are eyeing a 2028 primary challenge to incumbent Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). In New Hampshire, former GOP Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) plans to run for retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) seat and will face former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) in the primary. And last Thursday, Democrat Jackie Norris ended her campaign for Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-IA) seat to focus on local education issues.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. Last Thursday, Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Harvie’s campaign released internal polling showing him tied with incumbent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) in a Democratic-leaning district Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024. Last Tuesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) threatened legal action against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for delaying the swearing-in of newly-elected Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ). Also last Tuesday, North Carolina Republicans announced plans to propose a new congressional map next week following pressure from President Trump, while in Illinois, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) met with state Democrats to discuss redistricting strategies to turn Rep. Mary Miller’s (R) district blue. Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard a major Voting Rights Act (VRA) case that could strike down Louisiana’s second majority-Black district by curtailing Section 2 of the VRA, potentially reshaping the battle for control of the House of Representatives by shifting as many as 19 House seats toward Republicans. Also last Wednesday, GOP Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) was hit with a protective order after a former girlfriend accused him of threatening her. And the Latino Victory Fund endorsed Democrats challenging GOP Reps. Mike Lawler (NY), Monica De La Cruz (TX), David Valadao (CA), and Gabe Evans (CO).

Around the Country

• Last week, lobbying continued to enact the MCAA-supported Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery (SPEED) Act. While funding continues to flow to Trump Administration efforts to enhance the power grid to accommodate data center buildouts, bipartisan efforts to enact federal permitting reform to speed these projects has stalled because of the Trump Administration’s hostility towards renewable energy projects. Many Democrats are open to permitting reform, but even those who have joined Republicans in prior efforts to improve the federal permitting process are withholding support for more transformational permitting reform legislation out of fear that President Trump won’t allow wind, solar, and other types of clean energy projects to benefit from the reforms. This fear was reinforced last week as the Administration continued to cancel clean energy projects for which funding has already been appropriated and obligated. Last week’s cancellations included $50 million awarded to American Battery Technology, Co. to design and construct a plant to manufacture battery cathode-grade lithium hydroxide used for the production of clean energy storage systems. These developments also come as the Trump Energy Department finalized a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to AEP Transmission to upgrade nearly 5,000 miles of power lines in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia primarily serving fossil fuel-powered grids. The loan guarantee is part of the Trump Administration’s new “Energy Dominance Financing” program that aims to boost grid capacity and reliability amid rising power demand from data centers..

• As part of the Trump Administration’s efforts to expand domestic nuclear energy, last Wednesday, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford Nuclear Site in Richland, Washington launched its Low-Activity Waste Facility, marking a major milestone in treating and immobilizing radioactive tank waste by turning it into glass. This achievement meets the Department of Energy’s October 15, 2025 Consent Decree commitment with Washington State and demonstrates the facility’s ability to produce high-quality immobilized glass on schedule. By reaching this milestone, DOE’s efforts now shift toward safely operating the facility, advancing treatment of high-level waste, and accelerating cleanup of the 56 million gallons of legacy radioactive and chemical waste stored in 177 underground tanks—remnants of the nation’s World War II and Cold War efforts. Separately, last Monday, California-based startup Radiant Industries announced plans to build a nuclear reactor manufacturing facility at a Department of Energy site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The reactor will be built on land that was originally part of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bombs. Radiant aims to break ground in early 2026 and begin producing its 1-megawatt Kaleidos reactors by 2028. If approved by federal regulators, Radiant’s Oak Ridge site would become the first place in the U.S. mass-producing portable nuclear generators.

• Last Wednesday, after Stellantis announced plans to expand U.S. production by 50% across plants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, and Whirlpool committed to invest $300 million in two appliance manufacturing facilities in Ohio, the Trump Administration highlighted the announcements as evidence of how “President Trump continues to drive an American manufacturing boom.” The White House also praised GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp’s announcement that the GE Aerospace Foundation will launch a $30 million, five-year workforce skills training program aimed at revitalizing U.S. manufacturing by helping community colleges and other local programs around the country “purchase new equipment, hire new instruction staff, expand curricula, and alleviate financial burdens for students” seeking careers in manufacturing and related fields. This followed news earlier in the week that JPMorgan Chase will invest $1.5 trillion over 10 years through its Security and Resiliency Initiative to direct financing and investment in industries critical to U.S. economic and national security. The effort focuses on strengthening Energy Independence and Resilience, Supply Chain and Advanced Manufacturing, and Frontier Technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). On the energy side, JPMorgan is directing resources toward nuclear energy, grid resilience, battery storage, and solar technologies—areas expected to expand as AI-driven power demand grows. The bank is also targeting shipbuilding, critical mineral mining and processing, and microchip manufacturing to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers and rebuild U.S. industrial capacity.

• Last Wednesday, it was confirmed that the Trump Administration is backing Sable Offshore Corp.’s effort to restart oil production off the southern California coast, nearly a decade after a catastrophic pipeline spill shut the operation down. With federal support—including moves to roll back offshore drilling bans and fast-track permitting—Sable aims to revive the aging infrastructure it acquired from ExxonMobil despite ongoing legal challenges, multimillion-dollar fines, and strong opposition from California and environmental groups. The company has also indicated plans to bypass state oversight by operating in federal waters and exporting oil by tankers.

• MCAA members in Louisiana should be aware that a Louisiana state court has vacated the coastal use permit for Commonwealth LNG’s proposed export facility in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The court ruled that the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources failed to adequately consider cumulative environmental impacts, climate change, and environmental justice factors when issuing the permit. The decision remands the permit back to the agency for further review, halting the project until a new assessment is completed. 

• As we continue advocating for permitting reform to expand construction of new data centers, the backlog of projects is growing. Last Wednesday, BlackRock’s AI infrastructure consortium revealed that it is spending $20 billion to acquire Aligned Data Centers, which is operating or developing 50 data center campuses. The deal marks the first investment of the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Partnership composed of BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, MGX, Microsoft, and Nvidia that is seeking to raise up to $100 billion to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure. This comes as a Nvidia-backed AI startup called Poolside announced plans to build a massive data center complex in West Texas called the Horizon Project that will generate its own power using natural gas produced in the Permian Basin. The companies are betting the project’s proximity to natural gas resources could reduce costs and improve the long-term viability of the data center, as many planned facilities across the U.S. have been built without power generation capabilities. The companies also plan to build out a massive data center powered by electricity from the Hoover Dam on the border between Nevada and Arizona. Finally, last Monday, Bloom Energy announced a $5 billion agreement with Brookfield Asset Management to deploy “fuel-flexible” fuel cells capable of running on natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen to power AI data centers. Because these systems operate independently of the electric grid, they can be installed quickly to help meet growing power demand. Bloom Energy has already deployed hundreds of megawatts of its fuel cells through partnerships with utilities such as American Electric Power and data center developers including Equinix and Oracle.

• Growing private sector investment in nuclear power continues to create opportunities for MCAA contractors engaged in large-scale energy and infrastructure projects. On October 10th, Bechtel Group, one of the world’s largest engineering and construction firms, projected that the United States could have as many as ten large nuclear power plants under construction by 2030 or 2031. Bechtel Chief Operating Officer Craig Albert said the company’s outlook is based on a new “shared risk” construction model that distributes financial and schedule risk more evenly among contractors, utilities, and suppliers.

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, October 13, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• As the week begins, the government shutdown continues as both the House and Senate went home for the Columbus Day holiday weekend. Before the Senate departed last Friday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), who is facilitating shutdown negotiations with Democrats, floated a new continuing resolution to fund the government through December 18^th or 19^th instead of the House-passed continuing resolution (CR) that expires November 21^st. Sen. Mullin also hinted that it could be paired with a promise to negotiate with Democrats on expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) credits. The proposal came after the Senate failed for the seventh time last Thursday to overcome a filibuster of the House-passed continuing resolution, while a Democratic proposal to extend ACA premium tax credits also failed. On a House Republican conference call last Thursday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected bringing the House back to Washington, D.C. to vote on a standalone bill to pay the troops before they miss paychecks on October 15^th. Speaker Johnson also continued to insist that the House will not reconvene until the Senate approves the House-passed CR. Despite Speaker Johnson’s remarks, the White House is considering options to pay members of the military if the shutdown drags on, including shifting available funds or pressing Republican leadership to put a standalone troop pay bill on the floor. In addition to the impending deadline to pay the military, other deadlines are approaching that could increase pressure to resolve the government funding impasse, including: October 17^th when federal courts run out of money; October 20^th the pay date for Senate staff; October 24^th the next pay date for federal workers; October 31^st the pay date for House staff; and November 1^st when open enrollment begins for the Affordable Care Act. As the shutdown continues, pressure is also mounting due to significant delays at a growing number of major airports—including Reagan National in D.C., Philadelphia, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco, LaGuardia, Newark Liberty, Nashville, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, and Boston Logan. The delays are due to staffing shortages, as air traffic controllers and TSA screeners call in sick during the shutdown (as they did during the 2019 shutdown). And smaller airports may begin halting commercial air service after funding for the Essential Air Service Program expired on Sunday. Concerned about the growing airport delays caused by staffing shortages, Transportation Secretary Duffy is threatening that “problem children” air traffic controllers who call out sick during the shutdown could lose their jobs. The White House also sought to pressure Democrats to end the shutdown by announcing last Friday that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has initiated reductions in force of furloughed federal employees at unspecified federal agencies.

• Evidence of President Trump’s growing influence over corporate America was illustrated last week in the latest installment of the Global Situation Room’s “Reputation Risk Index”— a quarterly survey of executives tracking evolving reputational threats to companies and organizations. The latest edition reveals that executives surveyed view the greatest risk currently facing organizations as targeted criticism from President Trump. This includes potential backlash not only from the President himself, but also from a wide range of “MAGA influencers,” which surveyed executives say can escalate into criticism from the President and investigations or actions by federal agencies or Congress. Notably, this type of political pressure has now surpassed emerging threats associated with the rise of artificial intelligence systems, ransomware attacks, and hacking incidents as executives’ greatest concern.

• As the MCAA continues lobbying to preserve the Biden-era rules creating a presumption in favor of project labor agreements (PLAs) on construction projects valued at $35 million or more, last week we confirmed that while courts have generally been granting the Administration’s requests to postpone civil cases due to the lapse in appropriations, the Administration’s request for a delay was denied in the pending lawsuit over the MCAA-supported PLA rules brought by Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida that is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. As a result, briefs were due October 10^th in response to the Court’s order questioning its jurisdiction to decide this case. MCAA confirmed that the Trump Administration is continuing to enforce the Biden-era PLA presumption during the pendency of this lawsuit.

• Last Thursday, President Trump signed a memorandum to authorize the construction of up to four Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs) in shipyards located in Finland, subject to an agreement to leverage Finnish expertise to construct up to seven additional ASCs in unspecified shipyards located in the United States.

• MCAA members who are federal contractors should be aware that the Trump Justice Department has started using the False Claims Act (FCA) for immigration enforcement  against government contractors who utilized illegal aliens for work in shipyards billed to the federal government. In recent weeks, Bayonne Drydock and Repair Corp. agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle FCA allegations that its subcontractors employed “unauthorized aliens” who worked on federal ship contracts in violation of the E-Verify provision of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Separately, Bollinger Shipyard paid more than $1 million to settle claims it had failed to verify the employment eligibility of certain workers on a federal contract. The developments come as the Justice Department has pledged that a “focus” of the Criminal Division’s Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program will include pursuing “violations by corporations of federal immigration law.”

• During Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit with President Trump last Wednesday, Carney proposed reviving the Keystone XL pipeline project in exchange for lowering the 50% tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Canadian steel and aluminum products. It is unclear if anything will come of this because the company that was behind the project has said it has “moved on.”

• Last Tuesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its forecast for renewable energy capacity growth in the United States by nearly 50%. The revision is based on the Trump Administration’s early phase-out of federal tax incentives for many renewables in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, its suspension of new offshore wind leasing, new permitting restrictions on wind and solar projects on federal lands, and new import controls. As you know, the MCAA lobbied successfully to prevent similarly drastic cuts to federal tax credits for nuclear, hydrogen, and geothermal in the recently-enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The cuts that did take effect for other types of “clean energy” are disproportionately affecting states like Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas—top wind producing jurisdictions that supported President Trump in the 2024 election.

• MCAA members should be interested in the Supreme Court’s new term that began last week because it could have major implications for President Trump’s tariff policy and other aspects of his agenda. On November 5^th, the Justices will hear arguments appealing a case that declared unlawful President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs imposed in April under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The Supreme Court will also consider a case in December about the President’s authority to fire federal officials at independent federal agencies like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

• The government shutdown has already forced the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to delay the September jobs report, and if the impasse continues, next month’s report could be postponed as well. While other key inflation indicators such as the producer price index and import and export prices will remain on hold, on Friday the BLS announced it will publish the September 2025 Consumer Price Index on October 24, 2025 at 8:30am ET. The agency said that this limited release ensures the Social Security Administration can meet statutory deadlines to calculate the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The CPI report is critical for Social Security because it determines benefit increases for tens of millions of retirees.

Congress

• Last Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee advanced to the full Senate four nominations of interest to the MCAA by a party-line vote of 12-11: (1) Morgan Lewis attorney Crystal Carey to be General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); (2) former NLRB attorney James Murphy to be a member of the NLRB; (3) Rosario Palmieri to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy; and (4) former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) to serve as the Labor Department’s Inspector General. Notably, the HELP Committee did not consider the nomination of Boeing chief labor counsel Scott Mayer to be a member of the NLRB over concerns expressed by Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) about Boeing’s inability to reach an agreement with the union representing workers on strike at the company’s St. Louis facility.

• Last Wednesday, the MCAA policy team covered the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s hearing entitled, “Labor Law Reform Part 1: Diagnosing the Issues, Exploring Current Proposals.” The hearing largely centered on two labor reform proposals—the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act and the Faster Labor Contracts Act. During the hearing, witnesses supporting the PRO Act, including former National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and UAW union member Steve Cochran, argued that the bill would strengthen workers’ ability to unionize and bargain fairly by giving the NLRB real enforcement power and curbing corporate stalling tactics. Abruzzo and Cochran also noted issues with the current system that allow employers to delay union negotiations for years without consequences. Abruzzo also explained that the NLRB is chronically underfunded and unable to protect workers effectively, while Cochran cited Volkswagen’s prolonged union contract talks as evidence of the need for stronger labor protections, like those in the PRO Act. Notably, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien declined to expressly endorse the PRO Act and instead focused on the more modest Faster Labor Contracts Act introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO). O’Brien said that the bill would prevent corporations from dragging out negotiations indefinitely, noting that half of new unions fail to secure contracts within a year. Both O’Brien and Cochran argued that the Faster Labor Contracts Act’s binding timelines for negotiation and arbitration would force companies to bargain in good faith. However, witnesses Rachel Greszler of the conservative Heritage Foundation and former Republican NLRB Chair Marvin Kaplan, warned that the Faster Labor Contracts Act’s “arbitrary deadlines” and reliance on federal mediation could invite government overreach and undermine the voluntary bargaining framework established by the National Labor Relations Act.

• Last Wednesday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released new estimates showing that in fiscal year (FY) 2025, the federal budget deficit grew to $1.8 trillion as interest on the public debt surpassed $1 trillion for the first time ever. President Trump’s tariffs generated $195 billion in customs duties in FY 2025—up from $77 billion the prior year. And for the just-concluded 2025 fiscal year, CBO’s data indicates that the Treasury Department’s corporate tax receipts fell 15%—to $453 billion—as businesses benefited from MCAA-advocated tax provisions included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These include the corporate and individual tax rates retained from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a permanent extension of the Section 199A 20% pass-through deduction, a permanent extension of the Section 168 100% bonus depreciation for new and used equipment and machinery, and an increase in the limitation amount for the Section 179 immediate expensing of qualified property from $1 million to $2.5 million. Last Thursday, the IRS released Revenue Procedure 2025-32 providing the tax year 2026 annual inflation adjustments for these MCAA-advocated tax provisions and many others that will generally apply to tax returns for 2026 filed in calendar year 2027. 

• Last Tuesday, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the “Pipeline Integrity, Protection, and Enhancement for Leveraging Investments in the Nation’s Energy to assure Safety (PIPELINE Safety) Act” (S. 2975). The legislation would provide $1.65 billion to reauthorize the Pipeline Safety and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for five years. The bill also includes provisions revising the pipeline safety technology pilot program created by the 2020 PIPES Act, increasing the maximum civil penalties for violations of federal pipeline safety statutes and regulations, improving whistleblower protections, and requiring PHMSA to conduct a study of the safety, technical, and practical considerations of blending hydrogen into existing natural gas systems. The bill text is available here, and a section-by-section is available here. MCAA’s policy team is evaluating the legislation and is in discussions with Committee staff about it.

• We are pleased to report that last Tuesday, the Senate voted 51-47 to confirm President Trump’s MCAA-endorsed nominee to lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Davd Keeling. Keeling was one of over a hundred nominees confirmed in a block by a single vote that was made possible by Senate Republicans invoking the “nuclear option” in early September to change Senate rules to permit confirmation of nominees in blocks rather than individually. Several additional Executive Branch nominees of interest to the MCAA were also confirmed as part of this block, including: (1) Andrew Rogers to lead the Wage and Hour Division that oversees federal prevailing wage; (2) Jonathan Berry to be Solicitor of Labor (DOL’s chief legal officer); (3) Janet Dhillon to lead the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (4) Jonathan Snare to be a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (5) Audrey Robertson to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; (6) Timothy Walsh to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management; (7) Catherine Jereza to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Electricity; (8) Laura Swett and David LaCerte to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; (9) Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and (10) Kevin Rhodes to be Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy. As these newly confirmed officials take their posts, MCAA will be engaging with them and we expect the pace of regulatory activity at their agencies to pick up.

• Given MCAA’s continuous efforts to strengthen and expand participation in registered apprenticeship programs, we wanted to highlight a report from Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released last Monday on artificial intelligence (AI) that could help encourage people to go into registered apprenticeship programs in the skilled trades as they look to enter careers that won’t be destroyed by the rise of AI-powered robots and systems. The report posits that these robots and systems could result in 100 million people losing their jobs over the next decade, but the skilled trades for which the United Association’s apprenticeship programs train people are not among the occupations expected to be significantly impacted. The report finds that AI could lead to the displacement of: (1) 54% of software developers; (2) 83% of customer service representatives; (3) 47% of operations managers; (4) 47% of heavy and tractor trailer truck drivers; (5) 81% of laborers and freight, stock and material movers; and (6) 62% of retail salespersons.

• There were some notable developments last week in races for the U.S. Senate. Last Thursday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) made it known that this week she plans to enter the Maine Senate race against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. A new poll released last Thursday found Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in a dead heat in the Texas Republican Senate primary, with 34% backing Paxton, 33% backing Cornyn, and 22% backing Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) who entered the race last Monday. The poll also showed that Paxton fared the worst of the three Republicans against potential Democratic challengers in a general election. Last Monday, former Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) announced that he raised more than $14.5 million in the race for his campaign to replace retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), far ahead of Republican candidate Michael Whatley, who raised $6 million. Also on Monday, Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine aviator, announced a Senate bid in Kentucky to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

• There were several developments last week in races for the U.S. House. Last Thursday, it was reported that twenty-seven-year-old New York City Council member Chi Ossé, a close ally of Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, is privately discussing a primary run against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Progressives see an opening to potentially knock off Jeffries, 55, after Mamdani won his congressional district in New York’s mayoral primary. Last Wednesday, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson (D), one of the “Tennessee Three” lawmakers who were expelled from their seats in 2023 after participating in a gun control protest on the state House floor, announced a Democratic primary bid against Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Last Tuesday, Trump-endorsed Republican Matt Van Epps won the special Republican primary in Tennessee’s 7^th Congressional District to replace former House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-TN). Van Epps will face Democrat Aftyn Behn in the December 2^nd special general election. Last Monday, Maine state auditor Matt Dunlap (D) announced a Democratic primary bid against incumbent Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) in Maine’s 2^nd Congressional District. Last Monday, former Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-IL) announced a bid for his former seat in Illinois’ 2^nd Congressional District despite having served a prison sentence for embezzling $750,000 in campaign funds for personal luxuries. Last Monday, former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin (D) reported raising over $1.2 million in the two months since launching his primary challenge against incumbent Rep. John Larson (D-CT), a senior member of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee. Larson has raised just over $1 million since January.

Around the Country

• Throughout the government shutdown, MCAA has been busy tracking announcements and rumors about the cancellation of federally funded infrastructure and energy projects. Last week, the Trump Administration made it known that it is considering canceling nearly $12 billion in clean energy projects awarded during the Biden Administration. These include all seven regional hydrogen hubs: (1) the Appalachian Hydrogen Hub in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania; (2) the California Hydrogen Hub; (3) the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub in Texas; (4) the Heartland Hydrogen Hub in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota; (5) the Mid-Atlantic Hydrogen Hub in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey; (6) the Mid-West Hydrogen Hub in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan; and (7) the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub in Washington, Oregon, and Montana. Also at risk are $35 million for California’s Lodi Energy Center Hydrogen Project—a facility intended to serve as Northern California’s only hydrogen fueling site for heavy-duty trucks and machinery—and two direct air capture projects: Occidental Petroleum’s South Texas Hub in Kleberg County, Texas, and Battelle’s Point Cypress Hub in southwest Louisiana. In addition, the Trump Administration is weighing the cancellation of $500 million for General Motors to convert its Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant in Michigan to EV production, $335 million for Stellantis to retool the shuttered Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois for mid-size electric trucks, and $250 million for Stellantis to convert its Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo to produce EV components.

• MCAA members monitoring the deployment of geothermal may be interested in a legal challenge filed last week to a Biden-era endangered species designation that halted a project in Nevada. Last Tuesday, Reno, NV-based Ormat Technologies sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the Interior Department over the placement of the “Dixie Valley toad” on the Endangered Species List during the Biden Administration. The listing of the toad has prevented construction of the company’s planned geothermal plant in Churchill County, NV. In the lawsuit, Ormat argued that FWS violated the law by listing the toad because it was not in danger of extinction at the time of listing. Conservationists have countered that the construction of the geothermal plant will lead to the toad’s extinction.

• MCAA members in North Carolina should be aware that last Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a public hearing on October 22, 2025 regarding its objection to a North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the City of Asheboro’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Biden-era EPA argued in a Specific Objection Letter earlier this year that the proposed permit “does not include effluent limits stringent enough to meet applicable water quality standards” after a state administrative judge voided the 1,4-dioxane effluent discharge limitation.

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, October 6, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• MCAA has been busy monitoring the federal government shutdown and its implications for MCAA members. Right now, it looks like the shutdown could last a while. Last Friday, for the fourth time, Senate Democrats blocked a seven-week continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government, ensuring that the government shutdown will continue into this week. Senate Democratic leaders pledged to continue to vote against the House-passed seven-week CR until Republicans addressed expiring health care benefits, including Affordable Care Act premium subsidies set to expire at the end of this year, and there seems to be no critical mass of Republicans willing to accept such a deal in the near term. Throughout last week, the White House blamed the shutdown on Democrats and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought directed all federal agency heads to undertake an orderly shutdown of the federal government, observing “the duration of the shutdown is difficult to predict.”

• Within hours of the government shutdown beginning last week, the Trump Administration made good on its prior threats to ensure it would be particularly painful for Democrats and “blue” states. Last Wednesday morning, the White House announced that it is withholding $18 billion in infrastructure funds already appropriated and allocated to continue construction of New York City’s subway line along Second Avenue, and funds allocated for the Hudson Tunnel Project for commuter rail trains to cross the Hudson River. White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought said the funds “have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles.” The Transportation Department (DOT) said it will conduct an administrative review of both the Second Avenue subway project and the Hudson Tunnel Project to determine whether they include such DEI policies, and that no federal reimbursements for the projects will be issued until the DOT review is concluded. But DOT noted that the government shutdown means the agency’s review of potential DEI policies has been put on hold because DOT furloughed the civil rights staff responsible for the review. White House Budget Director Vought subsequently posted last Wednesday that the Energy Department is cancelling what he called “$8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda.” Most of the cancelled projects are in the Democratic-led states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. New Hampshire was the only state with a Republican governor to have projects defunded as part of the $8 billion cancellation. The cancelled projects include California’s $1.2 billion clean hydrogen hub known as the Alliance for Renewable Clean Hydrogen Energy Systems (ARCHES). And last Friday, OMB Director Vought posted that the U.S. Transportation Department froze $2.1 billion of infrastructure funding appropriated for Chicago’s Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project transit projects over concerns about the city’s race and gender-based contracting preferences similar to those justifying the hold on NYC’s funding earlier last week.

• MCAA members who are certified as women- or minority-owned disadvantaged business enterprises should take notice that the Administration’s freeze on the $18 billion of infrastructure funds for New York and the $2 billion frozen in Chicago were predicated on an interim final rule (IFR) effective October 3rd that the U.S. Department of Transportation published last Friday halting the government’s largest contractor set-aside program, the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program. This is the federally-mandated, state administered program under which minority- and women-owned contractors get preferences on contracts issued by myriad state and local transportation agencies, such as airport authorities, state departments of transportation, and public transit agencies that receive federal funds covered by DBE Program requirements. Among the federal funding streams covered by the DBE program regulations revised by this IFR are airport, highway, and transit funds authorized by: (1) 49 U.S.C. 47101, et seq; (2) Titles I, III, V and VI of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991; (3) Title 49, U.S.C., or Titles I, III, and V of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century; (4) Titles I, III, and V of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users; (5) Divisions A and B of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act; (6) Titles I, II, III, and VI of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act; and (7) Divisions A and C of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
   
  This IFR removes the race- and sex-based presumption of disadvantage that has historically been the basis for states certifying businesses as DBEs eligible for the set-aside program. It implements the Trump Administration’s interpretation of federal civil rights law in support of a proposed consent order in Mid-America Milling LLC v. United States Department of Transportation responding to a preliminary injunction issued on September 23, 2024 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky holding that the DBE program’s race- and sex-based presumptions likely do not comply with the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. In the preamble to the IFR, DOT says the rule seeks to ensure that “existing DBEs do not continue to receive any benefits as a result of their certification under the old standards.” 
   
  While the revised regulations maintain the structure of the existing DBE program, they rewrite the substantive standards states must follow for certifying DBEs to make them race- and sex-neutral. The IFR does this by eliminating the language in 49 CFR 26.67(a) that permitted state certifying authorities called “Unified Certification Programs” (“UCPs”) to “presumptively” classify businesses as “disadvantaged” if they were majority owned and controlled by: (1) Black Americans; (2) Hispanic Americans; (3) Native Americans; (4) Asian-Pacific Americans; (5) Subcontinent Asian Americans; (6) women; and (7) any additional groups whose members are designated as socially and economically disadvantaged by the Small Business Administration.
   
  Under the IFR, state Unified Certification Programs (UCPs) that oversee certification of DBEs and publish lists of certified DBEs are directed to review the certification of all DBEs to determine if they still qualify as DBEs under the new requirements, or whether they should be decertified. Recipients of federal funds covered by the DBE program are instructed to pause implementation of goals under the current program, to set 0% DBE goals on all contracts, and to not enforce goals in existing contracts while the review process is undertaken by UCPs. DOT says goals cannot be set until DBEs are certified by the relevant UCP in compliance with the new requirements.

• As MCAA has been meeting with federal officials about the shutdown and possible impacts on our members, we have become aware of some resources that you may find useful. In particular, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a document on “Frequently Asked Questions During a Lapse in Appropriations” for federal agencies that addresses the general principles that govern agency operations during a government shutdown. MCAA members who are federal contractors may find useful Section II of the OMB document discussing the impact of a shutdown on federal government contracts and grants. Section II.B deals specifically with the shutdown’s impact on “previously awarded” contracts and grants and Section II.C addresses federal agency payments to contractors and grantees in relation to prior awards. Relatedly, the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) posted a slide deck on the economic consequences of a government shutdown, noting that the federal government awards approximately $15 billion in federal contracts to businesses each week, and a shutdown means “[t]hese companies would lose funds due to lack of available contract work, not be reimbursed for completed projects, and have to lay off workers.” 

• The MCAA government affairs team devoted considerable time last week to digesting and disseminating to MCAA leadership the shutdown contingency plans of federal cabinet departments and agencies. The Labor Department’s shutdown plan for the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has only ten of the agency’s 1,270 employees working, and seven of these ten employees will monitor complaints and respond to emergencies. WHD will not process prevailing wage determinations during the shutdown. At the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), only 460 of the agency’s 1,664 staff will work during a shutdown, with 280 of these employees dedicated to functions “necessary to protect life and property.” An additional 170 employees will continue to review whistleblower complaints. The DOL shutdown plan also ceases operations at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Veterans Employment and Training Service, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Women’s Bureau, and Office of Administrative Law Judges. The closure of BLS means that last Friday’s jobs report for September was delayed until the government reopens, however, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said former BLS staff have told her that the jobs report is ready to be released, and she is pressing the Trump Administration to publish it. The National Labor Relations Board’s shutdown contingency plan says that only two of the agency’s 1,195 employees will be available to perform “activities expressly authorized by law” and explains that the agency will not conduct activities related to union elections, unfair labor practices, resolution of workplace disputes or disputes between an employer/employee and a union, or litigation outside of matters necessary to protect legal actions already taken. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) shutdown contingency plan furloughs 90% of EPA employees and the agency would largely cease civil enforcement inspections, issuing permits or regulations, issuing grants, or approving pending state requests. A small number of EPA staff would remain on hand to perform emergency and disaster assistance, law enforcement work, criminal investigations, and some types of litigation and legal counseling. In stark contrast to the sweeping furloughs at DOL, the NLRB and the EPA, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Committee announced that it will continue all of its work and operations to speed permitting of the largest and most complex projects throughout the shutdown by using funds in the Environmental Review Improvement Fund created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

• We also wanted to ensure MCAA members are aware of the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) shutdown guidance impacting registered apprenticeship program sponsors and DOL grantees as detailed in Training and Employment Notice (TEN) 02-25, “Impact of a Temporary Suspension of Federal Government Services on Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration Funded Programs and Activities.” TEN 02-25 explains the impact of the shutdown on registered apprenticeship programs and DOL’s job training grants and activities. It says that for most ETA programs, staff will not be available to answer questions, provide technical assistance, or resolve any technical issues with performance data or financial report submissions. Regarding registered apprenticeship, the notice says that during the shutdown program, sponsors in the 27 states in which ETA’s Office of Apprenticeship is the Registration Agency will experience delays in registering new programs, new apprentices, and verification of their status as registered apprenticeship programs. The notice explains that such delays may impact the ability of some employers to hire new apprentices and/or bid on new projects that require proof of registered apprenticeship program status. Additionally, daily Departmental functions associated with ETA grants will cease.

• Amidst the shutdown, MCAA’s ongoing advocacy on permitting reform continued to make progress last week with the President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) releasing updated guidance for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) aimed at expediting the permitting process, ensuring NEPA timelines are met, and allowing federal agencies to revise or establish their NEPA procedures more efficiently. The new guidance aligns with President Trump’s Executive Order 14154, “Unleashing American Energy,” recent amendments to NEPA in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act provisions MCAA supported to streamline environmental reviews, as well as the Supreme Court’s May 29, 2025 decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado. Specifically, the guidance clarifies that agencies can issue their NEPA procedures as non-regulatory documents, like guidance or a handbook, and bypass the traditional notice-and-comment rulemaking process. This flexibility is intended to speed up efforts to streamline permitting processes and help agencies implement improvements based on practical experience, without the need for lengthy, formal notice and comment rulemaking. The guidance is accompanied by a template that federal agencies are encouraged to follow for implementing NEPA procedures, which includes information on determining when NEPA applies, the appropriate level of NEPA review required, conducting environmental reviews, and the use of categorical exclusions.

• As part of the MCAA’s ongoing regulatory efforts on implementation of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act), we wanted to be sure MCAA members were aware that last Friday the EPA published a long-awaited proposed rule amending their regulations implementing the AIM Act’s Technology Transitions Program for the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The proposed rule implicates changes to previously announced phasedown regulations for, among other things: (1) industrial process refrigeration (IPR) chillers and IPR equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing; (2) residential and light commercial air conditioning and heat pump systems; (3) retail food and cold storage warehouse refrigeration; and (4) refrigeration for laboratories and centrifuges. A fact sheet on the proposed rule is available here. Comments are due by November 17, 2025 and should be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal using Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0005. The EPA is also providing an opportunity for the public to request a hearing by October 8, 2025 by email to a-and-r-Docket@epa.gov including “Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0005” in the subject line. If the EPA receives a hearing request, the hearing will be held virtually on October 20, 2025. Those interested in attending the hearing must register in advance on the EPA website when registration becomes available. Requests to speak at the hearing must be submitted by email to silver.joshua@epa.gov in advance of the hearing.

• Pursuant to President Trump’s April 23, 2025 Executive Order (EO) “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last Wednesday confirmed that it directed all area, local, and district office directors to discharge any complaints based on “disparate impact liability.” Disparate impact liability is a legal concept that argues that even if a policy looks fair on the surface, it can still be discriminatory if it creates unnecessary barriers that make it harder for certain groups of people to succeed. In changing the policy, the EEOC cited language in the April EO arguing that disparate impact theory has become a “key tool” of a “pernicious movement” that threatens meritocracy in favor of “racial balancing” in the workforce and instructs EEOC staff to compile a list of pending disparate impact cases and then close them.

• While economic data from the federal government is not expected to publish during the shutdown, we got a snapshot of the economy last Wednesday with the release of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Purchasing Managers’ Index showing that U.S. factory activity contracted for the seventh consecutive month. While production moderately improved, declines in new orders and inventories offset any gain, leading to negligible overall improvement. Notably for MCAA members, “Petroleum and Coal Products” was the only one of the six largest manufacturing industries that expanded in September.

Congress

• Last week, a bipartisan group of Senate centrists worked to reach a deal to reopen the government with some moderate Democrats indicating that they would support a funding measure to reopen the government if they were given strong assurances from Leader Thune that he will move a bill later this month to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance premium subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. As Democrats continued to discuss their shutdown strategy, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richie Neal (D-MA) last Tuesday cracked open the door to negotiating income limits for recipients of the ACA subsidies. Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) floated a one-year extension of the subsidies, followed by a one-year phasedown to return the health insurance tax credits to pre-pandemic levels. These discussions continued as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) warned that the shutdown could “provide an opportunity” to further “downsize” the federal government. As last week ended, President Trump was discussing potential downsizing at federal agencies with OMB Director Vought, but no specific announcements were made about the threatened reductions in force.

• We are pleased to report that last Friday President Trump’s MCAA-endorsed nominee to lead OSHA, David Keeling, advanced to a final vote in the Senate by a party-line vote of 51-46. A final confirmation vote is expected to be held this week. The vote also advanced additional Executive Branch nominees important to MCAA, including: (1) Andrew Rogers to lead the Wage and Hour Division that oversees federal prevailing wage; (2) Jonathan Berry to be Solicitor of Labor (the DOL’s chief legal officer); (3) Janet Dhillon to lead the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (4) Jonathan Snare to be a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission; (5) Audrey Robertson to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; (6) Timothy Walsh to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management; (7) Catherine Jereza to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Electricity; (8) Laura Swett and David LaCerte to be members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; (9) Neil Jacobs to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; (10) Kevin Rhodes to be Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy; and (11) Brittany Panuccio to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The advancement of these nominees came after the White House formally withdrew some nominations from Senate consideration last Tuesday, including the nomination of Erwin “EJ” Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni’s nomination was withdrawn following bipartisan concern that he was unfit for the job following reports earlier this month that he was behind a social media account that posted derogatory remarks about gay people, attacked former Vice President Kamala Harris, and featured extreme conspiracy theories.

• We learned early last week that the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee intends to hold two hearings in October on labor reform, one of which has been publicly noticed. The first hearing is scheduled for October 8, 2025 at 10am ET, entitled, “Labor Law Reform Part 1: Diagnosing the Issues, Exploring Current Proposals.” No witnesses are available yet for the hearing, and the HELP Committee has not announced the date for the second hearing in this series. The October 8 hearing is the day before the HELP Committee plans to hold a markup on October 9, 2025 to advance President Trump’s NLRB nominees: (1) Morgan Lewis attorney Crystal Carey to be NLRB General Counsel; (2) Boeing Chief Labor Counsel Scott Mayer to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); and (3) former NLRB attorney James Murphy to be a member of the NLRB. The hearing will also consider the nominations of Rosario Palmieri to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy and former Congressman Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) to be the Inspector General of Labor Department.

• MCAA members who are federal contractors should be aware that House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) and Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA) on September 26^th introduced the Expanding Whistleblower Protections for Contractors Act. The legislation is intended to improve whistleblower protections against retaliation, and ensure that non-disclosure agreements or conditions of employment do not waive a contractor’s whistleblower rights. The bill would also clarify that Executive Branch officials do not have the authority to request that a contractor engage in a reprisal. Text of the bill is available here.

• There were several developments in races for Congress last week. Regarding the Senate, last Monday ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum said he is considering a Republican bid for Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) seat now that Tuberville is running for Alabama governor. As for the House of Representatives, last Friday, former Rep. Cori Bush launched her campaign to retake her former St. Louis-area House seat that she lost to now-Rep. Wesley Bell, who beat her in the Democratic primary. Last Thursday Cliff Johnson, the director of the MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi Law School, said he will run as a Democrat against Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS) in Mississippi’s 1^st Congressional District. Last Wednesday, former North Carolina GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn announced he will run for Congress in Florida’s 19^th District, which is open following incumbent Rep. Byron Donalds’ (R-FL) decision to run for Florida governor. Last Tuesday, Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) announced a run in the Arizona Republican gubernatorial primary, opening up his swing district seat in Arizona’s 1^st Congressional District. Last Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed a new U.S. House map into law that targets Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), the only Democrat in the state’s congressional delegation. The DNC responded by launching a referendum petition that, if successful, would force a statewide vote on the new map. The fight in Missouri comes as President Trump is ratcheting up pressure on Republicans in other states to redraw their congressional maps—even threatening primary challenge against New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) if she continues to avoid redistricting in her state.

Around the Country

• Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) continued prioritizing the build out the infrastructure needed to power data centers by issuing Requests for Proposal last Wednesday for U.S. private sector partners to build and power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. For Savannah River, proposals—which are due December 5, 2025—must include long-term leasing plans, and companies will be responsible for building, operating, decommissioning the infrastructure, and securing utility interconnection agreements. A virtual industry day will be held at a date to be determined and those interested in attending should email NNSA_AI_Infrastructure@srs.gov. For Oak Ridge, proposals—which are due December 1, 2025—must similarly cover construction, operation, decommissioning, and utility interconnection for new power generation and storage. An in-person industry day with a site tour is scheduled for October 15, 2025 and registration is required by emailing Steve Cooke at steve.cooke@orem.doe.gov. The announcement comes as PJM Interconnection LLC issued a report this week showing that data-center demand added $7.3 billion in power-supply costs on its grid, which stretches from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic, accounting for 45% of total power-supply costs.

• Last Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Energy selected Oklo, Inc., Terrestrial Energy, Inc., TRISO-X LLC, and Valar Atomics, Inc. for its new Fuel Line Pilot Program, under which the Department authorizes fast-tracked commercial licensing to support the construction and operation of advanced nuclear fuel facilities. Under the program: (1) Oklo Inc. of Santa Clara, California will build and operate three fuel fabrication facilities to support their Aurora and Pluto reactors; (2) Terrestrial Energy, Inc. of Charlotte, North Carolina will develop the Terrestrial Energy Fuel Line Assembly to demonstrate a fuel salt fabrication process in a phased approach; (3) TRISO-X Inc. of Oak Ridge, Tennessee will build and operate an additional fuel fabrication laboratory facility to enable pilot-scale integration, training, and system validation to support the TX-1 commercial TRISO fuel fabrication facility; and (4) Valar Atomics Inc of Hawthorne, California will support TRISO fuel fabrication for the Ward 250 reactor deployment and potentially other high-temperature gas reactors. Relatedly, last Tuesday, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded a contract to BWXT Ordnance Tennessee for the licensing, design, and operation of High Purity Depleted Uranium (HPDU) at the contractor’s Y-12 National Security Complex site in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Under the contract, NNSA will provide the HPDU to the contractor for production use.

• As the MCAA continues to engage on permitting reform and other policies that promote the buildout of domestic semiconductor manufacturing facilities pursuant to the CHIPS and Science Act, details are emerging of how the Commerce Department has thrown the $7.4 billion National Semiconductor Technology Center (NTSC) initiative created to implement the CHIPS and Science Act into disarray by canceling its contract with Natcast, the nonprofit created to operate the public-private partnership central to CHIPS Act implementation and related workforce development. This abrupt cancellation has left dozens of planned projects—across states like Arizona, New York, and California—in limbo, with Natcast forced to lay off over 90% of its 110 staff. Backed by tech giants like Intel, Apple, and Samsung, Natcast was supposed to be the central hub for U.S. chip R&D, workforce development, and prototyping. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, however, denounced Natcast as a “slush fund” for Biden allies, citing a new Trump Justice Department opinion that its formation violated federal law. Commerce Secretary Lutnick’s vision for federal R&D investments is to secure stronger returns, such as equity stakes, royalties, and intellectual property rights, marking a stark departure from the nonprofit model pursued by Natcast. This comes as the Commerce Department moves forward with a new process to redirect billions in CHIPS Act funding to deals with chipmakers and researchers in emerging fields like artificial intelligence, biotech, and quantum computing.

• In a notable development related to the efforts of private equity to take stakes in energy companies, last Tuesday the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-0 to reject a petition to reopen its 2023 consent order allowing a $5.2 billion cash-and-stock deal between private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners and natural gas producer EQT Corporation. The 2023 consent order resolved anti-trust concerns that the deal would make Quantum—a direct competitor of EQT in the production and sale of natural gas in the Appalachian Basin—one of EQT’s largest shareholders and provide it a seat on EQT’s board of directors. The 2023 consent order also addressed an existing joint venture between EQT and Quantum, which involved purchasing mineral rights in the Appalachian Basin and raised concerns about anticompetitive information exchange that could harm competition in the acquisition of mineral rights. The FTC’s vote last week means it is leaving in place the 2023 consent order under which Quantum is prohibited from occupying an EQT board seat to prevent the formation of an interlocking directorate (i.e., when a person serves on the boards of multiple corporations at the same time). The final order also required Quantum to divest its EQT shares, prevent anticompetitive information exchanges, unwind the joint venture between the two entities, and impose additional restraints to protect competition.

• Last week, as the MCAA continued to engage the Administration on our shared priority of building out domestic shipbuilding capability, we were informed last Tuesday that the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration awarded more than $86 million in Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund grants to Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming to address critical workforce needs in shipbuilding and related trades. The awards include $20 million to support the revitalization of the domestic shipbuilding industry, training workers in welding, marine electrical, manufacturing, and other skilled trades. Applicants receiving awards were required to propose a model to award funds to employers for training and retaining newly hired and incumbent workers in high-growth and emerging industries critical to the competitiveness of America’s shipbuilding industry.

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBB), signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, introduces new federal income tax deductions for qualified overtime compensation. These provisions do not alter existing wage and hour requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), but they do provide tax advantages for eligible employees while adding new reporting obligations for employers.

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, September 22, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Last week, the Federal Reserve reduced interest rates a quarter of a point, citing recent labor-market softness. It was the first interest rate cut this year and followed repeated exhortations from the White House to reduce rates. Eleven of the 12 Fed Governors backed the quarter-point cut, with only newly confirmed Fed Governor Stephen Miran dissenting in favor of a larger, half-point cut. The Fed’s caution about the job market was reinforced by the Business Roundtable’s latest survey of the CEOs of America’s largest companies indicating that are being cautious about hiring “consistent with a softening labor market.” DC policymakers also took notice of a warning last week from the CEO of artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic that the ability of artificial intelligence (AI) to displace humans at various jobs is accelerating quickly, and that “the government may need to step in and support people as AI displaces human work.” Anthropic’s CEO insisted such widescale displacement is “likely enough to happen” that he “felt there was a need to warn the world about it and to speak honestly.” Other economic data released last week also pointed to a slowdown in the U.S. economy amid sustained inflation. Last Wednesday, the Census Bureau reported that housing starts fell to 1.307 million in August, below economists’ expectations of 1.37 million. Residential permits also experienced a decline in August to 1.312 million, a drop from July’s revised figure of 1.362 million, signaling a slowdown in construction. There were also reports indicating that the wage growth experienced by low-income workers since the pandemic has ended and that households making less than $250,000 are being forced to curb their spending due to inflation.

• Today, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a request for comments on a proposed rule establishing standards implementing the “no tax on tips” deduction in the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) that may be of particular interest to MCAA members employing residential HVAC technicians and installers, residential plumbers, and appliance repairmen. This is because among the 70 occupations the IRS is proposing to make eligible for the OBBBA’s “No Tax on Tips” deduction are certain “home services” occupations, including: (1) Home Plumbers; (2) Home Heating and Air Conditioning Mechanics and Installers; and (3) Home Appliance Installers and Repairers. If finalized as proposed, MCAA members employing such workers will have new obligations to track and report “qualified tips” for these workers on revised tax forms. The proposed rule defines “qualified tips” as cash tips received by an individual in an occupation that customarily and regularly received tips on or before December 31, 2024. Comments on the proposed standards are due October 22, 2025 and can be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal using REG-110032-25.
  
• As MCAA continues to engage on permitting reform, we were briefed last week on the Trump Energy Department’s (DOE) new “Speed to Power Initiative” to accelerate large-scale grid infrastructure project development for both transmission and generation to ensure sufficient power for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers while ensuring a continued supply of affordable, reliable energy for consumers. The initiative was launched in response to a July 2025 DOE analysis that we detailed in our July 14, 2025 Government Affairs Committee report. To solicit the support and expertise of industry and the public to kickstart the Speed to Power Initiative, last Thursday DOE published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking feedback on actions it can take to meet projected electricity demand growth from AI, advanced manufacturing, semiconductor fabrication plants, and other large energy users. The RFI specifically highlights DOE funding programs and authorities to support such infrastructure projects, including: (1) DOE Loans and Loan Guarantees, which can be used to support grid infrastructure and electricity generation projects, including high-voltage transmission, generation, grid upgrades, and integrated systems that support load growth; (2) the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, which provides funding for substation upgrades, grid hardening, advanced control systems, and innovative approaches to enhance reliability and improve transmission, storage, and other regional energy infrastructure; (3) the Transmission Facilitation Program, under which DOE provides long-term financial assistance to help overcome the financial hurdles in the development of large-scale new transmission lines and upgrading existing transmission; and (4) DOE technical assistance, which provides access to advanced modeling and analytical capabilities of the DOE National Laboratories to address grid modernization and infrastructure investment challenges. The RFI also requests information on specific large-scale generation, transmission, and grid infrastructure projects that are under development, in planning, or construction-ready that should be considered and considered for priority siting and permitting, technical support, and/or federal funding assistance by DOE. Specifically, DOE requests detailed information for such projects, including among others: (1) the project’s region, name, geographical location, and description, including detailed maps or geospatial data of the project, if available; (2) the project’s type and size (e.g., 100-mile 500 kV transmission line, 1.1 GW nuclear plant, 20 GW data center/grid corridor, etc.); (3) the project’s current development stage (e.g., conceptual, environmental planning and permitting, financing, or construction-ready); (4) a description of how the project is critical to meeting confirmed or anticipated large electric loads; and (5) a description of how DOE financial assistance, loan guarantees, or technical assistance could support the project. Comments are due by 5pm ET on November 21, 2025 and can be submitted by email to SpeedtoPowerRFI@hq.doe.gov.

• Last Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a lawsuit against the State of New York contesting the validity of S. 8034A, a state law that amended New York’s Labor Relations Act to give the New York Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) authority to oversee private sector union elections and to investigate and resolve complaints of unfair labor practices that violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Acting NLRB General Counsel William Cowen authorized the lawsuit asserting that the NLRB holds exclusive jurisdiction under the NLRA over such private sector labor disputes and that laws such as S. 8034A are preempted by the NLRA. The case is being closely watched by unionized employers, labor organizations, the Trump Administration and Congress because New York enacted S. 8034A to fill the vacuum created by the NLRB lacking the three-member quorum necessary to issue decisions in cases concerning violations of the NLRA after President Trump dismissed without cause former NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox, who continues to challenge the legality of her firing. President Trump’s nominees to fill the vacancies on the NLRB remain pending in the Senate, so it is unclear when the Board will have a quorum to decide cases.

• MCAA is continuing to engage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following its abandonment of the Biden-era non-compete rule that MCAA began registering concerns about when it was proposed in January 2023. In following up on the FTC’s plans to replace the Biden-era rule with a case-by-case enforcement approach, last Wednesday we learned that the Commission will hold a workshop on October 8, 2025 entitled “Moving Forward: Protecting Workers from Anticompetitive Noncompete Agreements” to explain its new approach. The workshop will be hosted by the FTC’s Labor Task Force created by FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to prioritize prosecution of deceptive, unfair, and anticompetitive labor-market practices. The workshop follows last week’s FTC enforcement action against noncompete agreements in the pet cremation industry; a broad request for information seeking tips that could lead to further enforcement actions; and a series of letters from the FTC to healthcare companies warning them to review and eliminate any anticompetitive noncompete agreements they may be using. The October 8^th workshop will include FTC Commissioners, victims of unfair and anticompetitive noncompete agreements, and leading legal experts. A full agenda and list of speakers, as well as virtual access information will be made available here. There is no requirement to register to attend.

• There was an important development on the decarbonization front last Monday when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a sweeping proposal to eliminate Obama-era greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting requirements for all source categories under the Clean Air Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), except for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems covered under subpart W of 40 CFR 98 (subpart W facilities). The EPA wants to permanently eliminate the GHGRP for most sectors because of high regulatory costs coupled with the lack of clear statutory authority for it. The agency estimates the rule could save businesses up to $2.4 billion in compliance costs. The proposed rule stems from the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (H. J. Res. 35) that the MCAA helped to pass earlier this year nullifying the Biden-era EPA final rule that would have implemented a waste emissions charge (WEC) on methane emissions starting in September 2025. The WEC is an annual fee imposed by the EPA on certain oil and gas facilities that emit excessive amounts of methane. Rather than fully eliminating reporting requirements for all subpart W facilities, the EPA proposes to suspend reporting for most of them until January 1, 2034 when they are scheduled to take effect under a delay included in the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Comments are due by November 3, 2025 and should be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal using Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186. The EPA will host a related public hearing on October 1, 2025 from 8am to 6pm ET, with additional details including location and access information available here.

• Last Monday, Department of Energy contact shared with MCAA an interesting decarbonization development in an unexpected place—the Trump-appointed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We were told that the SEC approved a proposal from Exxon to help the company counteract shareholder proposals from activist investors pushing the company to diversify away from fossil fuels by allowing Exxon to request that its thousands of individual investors, who own 40% of the company’s stock, to sign up for a free program that would cast their votes on shareholder proposals in lockstep with the company. Exxon is the first non-financial public company pursuing such a plan. The SEC’s decision clears a path for other companies to follow suit. Exxon’s plan and the SEC’s approval are being taken as signs that the Trump SEC will support companies’ more emboldened strategies for taking on activist investors, particularly with regards to environmental and social issues that have increasingly fallen out of favor.

• As the MCAA continues to engage on issues related to federal prevailing wages, we wanted to be sure that MCAA members were aware that last week, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced its next federal prevailing wage webinar for contractors, unions, and other stakeholders involved in federally funded construction and service contracts. It will be this Wednesday, September 24, 2025 and this Thursday, September 25, 2025 from 11am to 5:30pm ET each day. The agenda for the September 24^th webinar includes presentations from Department of Labor experts on: (1) Davis-Bacon coverage issues; (2) Davis-Bacon wage determinations and conformances; (3) the Davis-Bacon wage survey process; (4) apprentices on Davis-Bacon projects; and (5) Davis-Bacon certified payrolls. The agenda for the September 25^th webinar includes discussion of: (1) Service Contract Act coverage issues; (2) Service Contract Act wage conformances; (3) fringe benefits on prevailing wage projects; (4) price adjustments; and (5) Executive Order 13706, “Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors.” Participants can choose to attend one or both webinars. Registration is required to participate and can be completed through Eventbrite here.

• As the Trump Administration continues to scrutinize federal programs and the operations of private sector businesses for activities it deems to be discriminatory and unlawful diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), on Friday, September 12th, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued OMB Memorandum M-25-33 entitled, “Eliminating Funding of Unlawful Discrimination,” providing that entities receiving federal funding “must adhere to the equal protection principles under the U.S. Constitution and applicable federal antidiscrimination statutes” as set forth in Department of Justice (DOJ) guidance issued in July when managing federal programs and overseeing federal funding recipients. Notably, OMB says all “entities that receive federal financial assistance or that are otherwise subject to federal antidiscrimination laws, including educational institutions, state and local governments, and public and private employers, should review this guidance carefully to ensure all programs comply with their legal obligations.” The DOJ guidance OMB relies on includes several examples relevant to the operation of training, apprenticeship, and similar programs. Among other things, the guidance states: (1) recipients of federal funds should “eliminate diversity quotas” and “focus solely on nondiscriminatory performance metrics, such as program participation rates or academic outcomes, without reference to race, sex, or other protected traits”; (2) recipients of federal funds should “discontinue policies that mandate representation of specific racial, sex-based, or other protected groups in candidate pools, hiring panels, or final selections”; (3) recipients of federal funds must “replace a policy requiring ‘at least one minority candidate per slate’ with a process that evaluates all applicants based on merit”; (4) recipients of federal funds must “prohibit demographic-driven criteria” by discontinuing “any program or policy designed to achieve discriminatory outcomes, even those using facially neutral means” because “[i]ntent to influence demographic representation risks violating federal law” (e.g., a scholarship program must not target ‘underserved geographic areas’ or ‘first-generation students’ if the criteria are chosen to increase participation by specific racial or sex-based groups); (5) recipients of federal funds are required to “use universally applicable criteria, such as academic merit or financial hardship, applied without regard to protected characteristics or demographic goals”; and (6) recipients of federal funds are advised to “scrutinize neutral criteria for proxy effects” and gives the example of a “program targeting ‘low-income students’” warning that it “must be applied uniformly without targeting areas or populations to achieve racial or sex-based outcomes.”

Congress

• Last Friday, the House voted 217-212 to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government until November 21, 2025. Two Republicans—Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN)—opposed the bill, while one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME)—voted for it.Shortly after the House passed their CR, Friday afternoon Senate Democrats blocked consideration of it by a vote of 44-48. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) were the only Republicans to vote against the House-passed CR, while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to vote for it. The Senate also rejected, in a 47-45 vote, an alternative CR introduced from Senate Democrats that would have extended government funding through October 31, 2025 and reauthorize health insurance premium subsidies established by the Affordable Care Act that expire at the end of the year. The failure of the CR in the Senate significantly raises the prospects of a government shutdown when funding expires on September 30^th, especially after GOP House leadership sent members home until at least October 1, 2025 in an effort to pressure the Senate to agree to the House-passed CR. The Senate is also scheduled to be out of session next week, but is returning on September 29^th—one day before government funding expires.

• Last Wednesday, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) and Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), along with Reps. Daniel Webster (R-FL) and Dina Titus (D-NV), advanced the bipartisan Promoting Innovation in Pipeline Efficiency and Safety (PIPES) Act (H.R. 5301) to the full House for a vote. The legislation reauthorizes Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) pipeline safety programs for the next four years, reinforces the safety oversight of millions of miles of existing pipelines, including new carbon dioxide and hydrogen pipelines, and provides $450 million in dedicated funding to replace aging pipes. The bill also seeks to advance carbon capture and storage by requiring the Transportation Secretary to complete a rulemaking establishing minimum safety standards for the transportation and temporary storage of carbon dioxide incidental to the transportation of carbon dioxide and makes amendments to the United States Code to facilitate responsible regulation of carbon dioxide pipelines. A Committee summary of the PIPES Act is available here.

• After GOP senators invoked the “nuclear option” to make it easier to confirm President Trump’s Executive Branch nominees, last Thursday, the Senate voted 51-47 to confirm 48 presidential nominees. Of particular interest to MCAA, this vote resulted in the confirmation of some appointees running agencies overseeing issues of great importance to our industry, including: (1) Daniel Aronowitz to lead the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration that enforces ERISA and oversees ERISA-governed multiemployer retirement and health plans; (2) Theodore Garrish to be the Energy Department’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy; (3) Kyle Haustveit to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy; (4) Paul Roberti to lead the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; (6) Jessica Kramer to be the Environmental Protection Administration’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water; (7) Conner Prochaska to be Director of the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency; (8) Leslie Beyer to be the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management; and (9) Andrea Travnicek to be the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. MCAA is also seeking to confer with some of these new appointees on issues of concern to our association. 

• Following the confirmation of the first bloc of nominees under the revised Senate rules, last Thursday night, Senate Majority Leader Thune introduced a resolution (S. Res. 412) to confirm a second bloc 108 Executive Branch nominees, including MCAA-endorsed OSHA nominee, David Keeling. This latest tranche of nominees also includes several others of interest to MCAA, including: (2) Andrew Rogers to lead the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division; (3) Jonathan Berry to be Solicitor of the Labor Department; (4) Janet Dhillon to lead the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; (5) Audrey Robertson to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; (6) Timothy Walsh to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management; (7) Laura Swett and David LaCerte to be  members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; (8) Kevin Rhodes to be Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy; and (9) Brittany Panuccio to member of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This latest bloc of nominees is expected to be confirmed the week of September 29^th when Congress returns to session.
  
• MCAA is monitoring two employment-related bills introduced in Congress last week. Last Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) reintroduced the Equal Employment for All Act that would prohibit employers from requesting a job applicant’s credit history, obtaining a consumer or investigative report, and disqualifying applicants based on a poor credit rating. The bill also prohibits credit reporting agencies from providing credit reports to employers for use in employment decisions. The bill is cosponsored in the Senate by Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Last Tuesday, Reps. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Pete Stauber (R-MN) introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act establishing strict deadlines for employers and unions to meet once unions request contract negotiations or following an NLRB election certification, and mandating binding arbitration if a first contract is not reached within mandated time frames. Specifically, the bill provides that after 90 days of bargaining, the parties would be required to go to mediation and after 30 more days, the negotiations would go to binding arbitration, and the resulting arbitration decision would set the terms of an initial two-year collective bargaining agreement. Other cosponsors of the bill are: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA); Chris Deluzio (D-PA); Nikki Budzinski (D-IL); Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY); Tim Kennedy (D-NY); Don Bacon (R-NE); Josh Riley (D-NY); Mike Lawler (R-NY); Angie Craig (D-MN); Michael Rulli (R-OH); Jared Golden (D-ME); Nick LaLota (R-NY); Emily Randall (D-WA); Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ); Rick Larsen (D-WA); Chris Smith (R-NJ); Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA); Rob Bresnahan (R-PA); Seth Magaziner (D-RI); Riley Moore (R-WV); Morgan McGarvey (D-KY); Andrew Garbarino (R-NY); Haley Stevens  (D-MI); and Stephen Lynch (D-MA).     

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. Last Wednesday, Tejano musician Bobby Pulido announced a Democratic bid for Texas’ 15^th Congressional District currently represented by Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz. Last Monday, the Utah Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling requiring the state legislature to redraw its congressional district maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Last Monday, New York State Rep. Micah Lasher (D) announced he is running for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) seat in New York’s 10^th Congressional District. On September 14^th, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) announced he would not run for re-election to Texas’ 10^th Congressional District in the 2026 midterms. And it is becoming clear that California is the front line in Democrats’ intraparty, generational debate as fully half of the state’s older House Democrats are set to face primary challenges next year from younger candidates seeking to be the next generation of standard bearers for the party.

Across the Country

• MCAA affiliates in Indiana may be interested to know that last Wednesday, the Energy Department (DOE) awarded $77,217,590 to ENTEK Lithium Separators LLC (ENTEK) to help finance a lithium-ion battery separator manufacturing facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. The ENTEK facility will be the only U.S.-owned and U.S.-based producer of “wet-process” lithium-ion battery separator materials that can be used across industries such as data centers, energy storage, and consumer electronics. The project is expected to create approximately 763 construction jobs.

• As the MCAA continues to monitor and engage on the Trump Administration’s decarbonization efforts, we wanted to note that last week the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Environment and Natural Resources Division filed a motion for summary judgement in its litigation initiated in May to invalidate Vermont’s “climate superfund” law seeking to impose liability on energy companies for their alleged past contributions to climate change. In its motion, DOJ says, “Vermont is defying federal law, the Constitution, and binding precedent—all so it can punish disfavored businesses for ill-defined harms, without regard to the real harm to our federal system and the Nation’s energy needs.” The government asks the court to “end Vermont’s lawless experiment.” The motion refers to a case the DOJ filed against a similar New York law, saying that “[l]ike New York, Vermont is usurping the federal government’s exclusive authority over nationwide and global greenhouse gas emissions.”

• Last Tuesday, MCAA was informed that the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded a $1.5 billion sole-source contract to BWXT Enrichment Operations, LLC, for the licensing, manufacturing, development, facility construction, and operations of a Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) pilot plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The DUECE pilot plant is expected to provide a reliable, domestic supply of unobligated enriched uranium for U.S. national defense purposes. This includes providing low-enriched uranium (LEU) for tritium production, and highly enriched uranium (HEU) for naval nuclear propulsion. The DUECE pilot will not be used to produce enriched uranium for the commercial nuclear power industry, but construction of the facility may provide work for some MCAA contractors.

• MCAA affiliates in New York should be aware that last Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency issued an order pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act directing the City of Syracuse, New York to address lead levels in drinking water by: (1) improving corrosion control to prevent lead from pipes leaching into water; (2) continuing proper lead tap sampling at appropriate locations; and (3) establishing a “robust plan” for educating the public on the health risks of lead and how to reduce their exposure.

• MCAA affiliates in Texas should be aware that last Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Clean Air Act (CAA) permit to allow Texas GulfLink’s proposed deepwater port about 30 miles southeast of Freeport, TX to move forward using a vapor capture and control technology mounted on an offshore support vessel. Per the EPA, the offshore deepwater port will be able to load very large crude carriers with up to 85,000 barrels per hour, or 365 million barrels a year. This is the first use of the vapor capture and control technology alongside a very large crude oil carrier while it is being loaded and tethered to a single-point mooring buoy at a deepwater port. The permit is valid for five years from the effective date of issuance.

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, September 15, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Last Friday, Trump Administration lawyers went before the Eleventh Circuit to defend President Biden’s project labor agreement executive order and the regulations implementing it from claims by the Florida Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) that its exceeds the authority of the President under the Procurement Act. You can listen to audio of the oral argument here. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund filed an amicus brief in the case supporting ABC. The Procurement Act arguments of ABC’s Florida chapter resemble the Procurement Act arguments business groups used with mixed results against the Biden-era $15/hour minimum wage for federal contractors on which federal appellate courts split. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to address this circuit split, and in March, President Trump mooted the issue by rescinding the $15/hour minimum wage for federal contractors. MCAA will be watching to see how the Eleventh Circuit rules in this case.

• Last week was filled with yet more news indicating that the U.S. economy may be slowing down amid sustained inflation and tariffs. Last Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that inflation rose in August, with consumer prices up 2.9% compared to a year ago. Prices for groceries jumped 0.6%, while gasoline prices rose 1.9%. Consumers also saw higher prices for new and used cars, clothing, and airfares. This inflation data coincided with BLS reporting that in the week through September 6th, jobless claim filings rose to 263,000—the highest level for initial claims since October 23, 2021. These reports followed BLS’ downward revisions to jobs data from March 2024-March 2025, revealing that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than initially estimated. The total revision was more than 50% higher than last year’s adjustment and the largest on record going back to 2002. Job creation in the construction industry was revised down by 29,000 jobs and by 95,000 jobs in manufacturing. The same day the revised jobs data posted, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest household financial well-being survey finding that in 2024, inflation-adjusted median household income remained flat at $83,730—about the same as 2023. And the Federal Reserve’s August Survey of Consumer Expectations released last Monday revealed that Americans’ confidence in their ability to move from one job to another has hit a record low. Commerce Secretary Lutnick pushed back on concerns about the economy and promised that construction employment will pick up and that “the first quarter of next year will be the best quarter of construction jobs this country has ever seen. He also predicted GDP growth of 4% next year.

• Following the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) announcement on September 5^th that it was vacating the Biden-era non-compete clause final rule and dropping its appeal defending the rule, last Wednesday the FTC requested comments on a proposed consent decree in the first enforcement action by the Trump-appointed FTC against a company’s use of non-compete agreements. The MCAA advocacy team put together a policy overview of this FTC consent decree, which is available here. The consent decree charges Gateway, the largest pet cremation services company in the U.S., with violating section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act by requiring all newly hired employees to sign a 12-month post-employment non-compete agreement, which the FTC found to be an unfair method of competition. With the consent decree, the FTC also published a statement from FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson outlining the Trump FTC’s approach to assessing non-compete agreements under the common law “rule of reason” inquiry applied by state courts when assessing the lawfulness of non-compete agreements. This inquiry “focuses on whether the restriction is no greater than necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate interests and balances those interests against the hardship inflicted on the employee and any potential injury to the public.” Chair Ferguson was clear that “not all non-competes are unlawful,” noting that some promote competition, such as those that safeguard employer investments in worker training or those that allow business owners to sell their enterprise without having to worry about the seller immediately competing against them. The FTC also acknowledged that non-compete agreements may be lawful for a small number of discrete circumstances, but that companies bear the burden of proving the reasonableness of the terms of a noncompete. The FTC made clear that it will not issue another noncompete rule of general application but will instead undertake case-by-case enforcement of noncompetition agreements and other restrictive covenants that pose competition issues in the labor market. The FTC’s new position is likely to permit slightly more non-compete agreements of the type MCAA discussed in its April 2023 comments on the Biden-era rule but makes clear that employers will not have a free hand to impose non-competes “willy-nilly” and that they remain disfavored

• As the MCAA continues to track developments related to President Trump’s tariffs, we wanted to be sure that MCAA members were aware that last Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a fast track appeal of the August appellate court ruling invalidating President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs imposed through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The Court scheduled oral arguments in the case for November, and the justices are expected to issue a ruling by the end of the year. The Court’s decision comes after President Trump on September 5^th signed an executive order (EO) offering tariff exemptions to U.S. trading partners who strike framework trade deals with the United States. In the EO, President Trump said that his willingness to reduce tariffs depends on the “scope and economic value of a trading partner’s commitments to the United States in its agreement on reciprocal trade” and U.S. national interests. The EO also identified more than 45 imported products (including aluminum ores, molybdenum ores, hydrogen, and iron oxide) that will be exempt from the President’s reciprocal tariffs, as well as separate duties imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act that are not at issue in the litigation before the Supreme Court for nations that cut deals with the U.S. The exemptions took effect last Monday, September 8, 2025. 

• Last week MCAA continued pressing the Administration for regulatory changes to advance federal permitting reform and was pleased that last Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new guidance for New Source Review (NSR) permitting requirements that are intended to “provide much needed clarity for the buildout of essential power generation and the reshoring of manufacturing.” Under the new EPA guidance, entities will be able to begin certain building activities that are not related to air emissions, such as installing cement pads, prior to obtaining a Clean Air Act (CAA) construction permit. The CAA’s NSR program is a preconstruction permitting program that requires certain stationary sources to obtain permits prior to beginning construction. The NSR permitting program applies to both new construction and to modifications of existing sources. The EPA is also planning to propose and finalize a rule in 2026 revising the definition of “begin actual construction” in EPA’s NSR regulations to assist permitting authorities in properly distinguishing between emissions units and other parts of a stationary source facility that are not an emissions unit or part of an emissions unit and therefore are eligible to be constructed prior to the issuance of a CAA construction permit. This new guidance comes as the Energy Information Administration last Tuesday projected that U.S. power consumption will hit record highs in 2025 and 2026. Specifically, the EIA predicted that power demand will rise to 4,187 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2025 and 4,305 billion kWh in 2026, up from a record 4,097 billion kWh in 2024. Those demand increases come in part from data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency and as homes and businesses use more electricity and less fossil fuel for heat and transportation.
  
• Last Tuesday, ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve Board of Governor’s meeting to set interest rates, a federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The Trump Administration has already appealed the decision in hopes of preventing Cook from participating in this week’s Fed meeting. This battle over the President’s termination of Fed Governor Cook for getting lower mortgage rates by claiming more than one primary residence on her loan application became much more relevant to MCAA after ProPublica revealed that at least three current Trump Cabinet members in charge of matters MCAA cares a great deal about have allegedly done the same thing: (1) Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer; (2) Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy; and (3) EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. ProPublica, for example, documented that Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer and her husband Shawn, who has a business in Portland, Oregon, refinanced their longtime primary residence in Oregon in January 2021 and two months later bought a newly built house near a golf course in Fountain Hill, Arizona that they also claimed as their primary residence. It remains unclear what, if any, fallout will come from these revelations.

• Last week, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Small Business Administration announced a construction industry public webinar tomorrow, September 16, 2025 from 10am to 11am ET to discuss common Davis-Bacon issues for small business employers. The webinar will cover several topics, including understanding wage determinations, certified payrolls, fringe benefits, and hours worked. Participants will be able to ask questions during the webinar through the Chat feature and will receive a real-time response. The session will not be recorded. Those wishing to participate in the webinar must register here. Details on how to access the webinar through Microsoft Teams will be transmitted following registration.

Congress

• The chances of a government shutdown waxed and waned over the course of last week. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that Senate Democrats will reject Republicans’ proposal for a “clean” short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government after fiscal year (FY) 2025 ends on September 30^th. Schumer also urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to negotiate with Democrats to avoid a shutdown. For his part, House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries (D-NY) agreed with Schumer that a clean CR is “not the type of policy that actually meets the needs of the American people.” The statements from Schumer and Jeffries came as the Democratic leaders were under pressure from progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), as well as New York Times columnist Ezra Klien, to play hardball on government funding and force President Trump to back away from his “authoritarian consolidation” of power. As funding discussions continued through the end of last week, Republican leadership announced plans to vote this Thursday to extend government funding until November 21^st—the Friday before the Thanksgiving recess. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats coalesced around the extension of soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies as the price for their votes to extend government funding beyond September 30^th and avoid a shutdown. While there are vulnerable Republicans in competitive election races who support extending the ACA premium subsidies, some top Republican leaders in both chambers are opposed to including any such extension on this week’s stopgap funding bill. Moreover, many Republican fiscal conservatives oppose extending the enhanced subsidies, with House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-MD) announcing that his group opposes extending the subsidies, which he characterized as “free giveaways to insurance companies.” Legislators need to reach a deal this week because Congress is in recess next week and is not scheduled to return to session until September 29^th—one day before government funding runs out.

• Last Thursday, Senate Republicans pulled the trigger on the “nuclear option” to make it easier to confirm President Trump’s pending nominees. The Senate GOP passed a rule change that allows large batches of nominees to be confirmed in a single vote and began considering a resolution to confirm a single bloc of 48 nominees. Of particular interest to the MCAA, this bloc of nominees expected to be confirmed later this week includes: (1) Daniel Aronowitz to lead the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration that enforces ERISA and oversees ERISA-governed multiemployer defined benefit and health plans; (2) Theodore Garrish to be the Energy Department’s Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy; (3) Kyle Haustveit to be Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy; (4) Paul Roberti to lead the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration; (5) Jessica Kramer to be the Environmental Protection Administration’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water; (6) Conner Prochaska, to be Director of the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency; (7) Leslie Beyer to be the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management; and (8) Andrea Travnicek to be the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. Democratic Leader Schumer warned Republicans following last Thursday’s vote that they will “come to regret” their action.

• The MCAA’s advocacy efforts to enact permitting reforms bore fruit last week as our lobbying resulted in the House Committee on Natural Resources holding a legislative hearing last Wednesday on three permitting reform bills, including H.R. 4776, the “Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act,” a bill overhauling the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that the MCAA endorsed and urged the Committee to hold a hearing on when Congress returned from its August recess on September 2^nd. The other two bills considered during the hearing were: (1) H.R. 573, the “Studying NEPA’s Impact on Projects Act,” to require annual reports on project permitting and related litigation delays and costs imposed by NEPA; and (2) H.R. 4503, the “ePermit Act,” to develop a standard electronic system to serve as a single portal for all federal permitting matters and related materials. During the hearing, there was broad bipartisan support for H.R. 573 and H.R. 4503, but Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-CA) came out in strong opposition to the more sweeping SPEED Act despite endorsements from the MCAA, LIUNA, the Coalition for Renewable Energy, and state and local government officials of both political parties. Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), the original Democratic cosponsor of the SPEED Act, was the only Democrat to speak in favor of the bill. Reps. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) and Sarah Elfreth (D-MD) said they “wanted to get to yes” on the SPEED Act and agreed that NEPA reviews are too burdensome but said they could not do so until the Trump Administration paused its war on “renewable energy.” Rep. Magaziner and other Democrats also said they did not trust the Trump Administration to apply the permitting reforms in the SPEED Act to benefit all energy technologies given their persistent efforts to cancel wind and solar projects, including the almost completed Revolution Wind project, which is in Rep. Magaziner’s district. MCAA followed up with hesitant Democrats to address their concerns about implementation of the SPEED Act, but our forward progress was halted by statements Interior Secretary Doug Burgum made at the end of last week confirming Democrats’ fears when he said “[u]nder this administration, there is not a future for offshore wind.” Democrats took this as the clearest indication yet from a senior Trump Administration official that the President is intent on shutting down the U.S. offshore wind industry. MCAA and its allies are conferring on how to continue our progress on the SPEED Act in the face of this development.

• Democrats’ displeasure with the Trump Administration’s attacks on renewable energy also curtailed their support for the normally bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last week. Last Wednesday, the House voted 231-196 to pass its version of the FY 2026 NDAA, but only 17 Democrats supported the bill, while all but four Republicans backed it. Democrats argued that GOP proposals in the NDAA, including those restricting some renewable energy efforts, undermined the bipartisan nature of the bill produced by the House Armed Services Committee.

• Last Monday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the “Empowering Striking Workers Act,” legislation to provide unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to striking or locked out workers. The bill would allow workers to access UI benefits 14 days after the start of a strike. Additionally, workers would immediately be eligible for UI when there is an employer-initiated lockout, upon the hiring of replacement workers, or if a worker is out of a job following a work stoppage. Schiff introduced the bill last Congress when he was in the House, and this Congress, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) is the bill’s lead in that chamber. Schiff’s press release notes that several building trades unions endorsed the bill, including: (1) the MCAA’s labor partner—the UA; (2) the IBEW; (3) the Bricklayers; (4) the Operating Engineers; and (5) the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. Last Wednesday, it was revealed that Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is interviewing staff for a potential U.S. Senate bid against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Last Monday, Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D) formally announced he is entering the Texas Democratic U.S. Senate primary to run for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) seat. Last Monday, it was revealed that Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has closed the gap with his Republican primary challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, after a new poll showed Paxton leading Cornyn by five points, down from the nine point lead Paxton held in May. Last Monday, it was reported that California may have an open Senate seat if some of the state’s Democrats are able to convince incumbent Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) to run for governor.
  
• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. Last Thursday, Rep. Morgan Luttrell (R-TX) announced he will not run for re-election to Texas’ 8^th Congressional District. Last Tuesday, Missouri’s Republican-led state House passed a plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts so that Republicans could win almost all of them. The plan targets Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s (D) seat in Missouri’s 5^th Congressional District by stretching it eastward into Republican-heavy rural areas and reducing the number of Black and minority voters in the district. Last Tuesday, Fairfax County Virginia Supervisor James Walkinshaw (D) defeated Stewart Whitson (R) in the special election to fill Virginia’s 11^th Congressional District. Walkinshaw’s win brings Democrats’ total in the House to 213, meaning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can only lose two Republicans on any House vote. Coming special elections are expected to trim Republicans’ margin even further as Democrats are expected to win the special election for the late Rep. Raul Grijalva’s (D-AZ) seat in Arizona’s 7^th Congressional District on September 23^rd and prevail in the special election to fill the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s (D-TX) seat in Texas’ 18^th Congressional District on November 4^th. Democratic wins in both of those races would leave House Republicans with a margin of 219-215, which means Speaker Johnson can lose only one vote in his caucus and still prevail on a measure opposed by all Democrats.

Across the Country

• A new poll from Gallup released last Thursday indicates that there may be a better recruiting environment for registered apprenticeship programs and other career tracks that do not require a college degree. The poll finds that the perceived importance of a college education among Americans has dropped to a new low, continuing a downward trend of the last 15 years. The poll found that 35% of U.S. adults rate a college education as “very important,” while around 40% say that it is “fairly important,” and 24% say that it is “not too important.” This is a big drop from responses in 2019 when 53% of Americans asked about the importance of college said it was “very important,” in 2013 when 70% said the same, and in 2010 when 75% of U.S. adults felt that a college education was “very important.”
  
• As we continue to engage both the Trump Administration and Congress on efforts to advance the build out of nuclear energy in the U.S., MCAA members should be aware that last Wednesday, Holtec International said the company might seek to restart operations at the shuttered Indian Point Nuclear Plant in Westchester County, New York at an estimated cost of $10 billion. But the company said reviving the 2,000 megawatt nuclear plant would require overcoming deep-seated opposition to nuclear power close to New York City. The company also cautioned that political as well as financial support would be needed from both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and the Trump Administration before it proceeds with efforts to restart the plant.

• Given the MCAA’s successful efforts to retain tax credits for carbon capture and sequestration in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we thought MCAA members would be interested to know that last Tuesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested public comments on its intent to issue a permit for Marquis Carbon Injection, LLC to inject and store carbon dioxide underground at an injection well in Putnam County, Illinois. Under the proposed plan, Marquis Carbon Injection would inject up to 1.5 million metric tons of carbon per year, over a period of six years. Marquis would be required to monitor the wells—during the six years of proposed injection and for twelve years afterwards—to ensure that the injection wells work properly, the carbon dioxide does not move from its injected location and drinking water sources are protected. Comments are due by November 3, 2025 and can be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal here. EPA will also host a public availability session on October 15, 2025 from 6pm to 8pm ET at Putnam County High School, 400 East Silverspoon Ave., Granville, Illinois and a separate public hearing on October 29, 2025 from 6 pm to 8pm ET, also at Putnam County High School. There is no stated requirement to register to attend either the availability session or the public hearing. This request for comment was followed last Wednesday by the EPA announcing the approval of Arizona’s request to administer all classes of underground injection wells under the Safe Drinking Water Act’s (SDWA) Underground Injection Control (UIC) program. The EPA’s approval of Arizona’s UIC program primacy application will allow the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to authorize underground injection for all underground injection wells under SDWA and ensure compliance with UIC program requirements. Notably, EPA’s final approval also includes state permitting for wells for underground storage of carbon dioxide. The EPA will oversee Arizona’s administration of its UIC program and will remain the permitting authority for all well classes on Indian lands within the state, except for wells on Navajo Indian lands for which EPA has granted the Navajo Nation primacy.

• As the Administration continues its push to build out data centers and the power infrastructure they require, last Monday the Energy Department (DOE) announced that it is seeking proposals from U.S. companies to build and power artificial intelligence (AI) data centers at Idaho National Laboratory, which is one of four sites identified by the Energy Department for AI infrastructure and generation projects on federal land. DOE is seeking proposals from U.S. companies to potentially enter into one or more long-term leasing agreements at the site that would be solely funded by the applicants. DOE notes that it will prioritize applications that integrate innovative energy generation and storage projects with AI data centers, which could include advanced nuclear reactors, enhanced geothermal systems, and cold underground thermal energy storage. Selected applicants will be responsible for building, operating, and decommissioning each infrastructure project and must secure utility interconnection agreements for new power generation and storage systems. Proposals will be competitively evaluated for technological readiness, financial viability, and detailed plans to complete regulatory and permitting requirements. Initial applications are due by November 7, 2025, and DOE will host a virtual event on September 26, 2025 to provide more information. Registration for the event is required by email to Robert Coleman at colemarb@id.doe.gov.

• MCAA affiliates in Wisconsin should be aware that last Monday, the Energy Department (DOE) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced new actions to support the domestic production of the vital medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) that included awarding $32 million to SHINE Technologies, LLC to support completion of the company’s Mo-99 production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin.

• MCAA affiliated health funds with participants in New York City may want to keep an eye on a class action lawsuit filed last Monday by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 1500 Welfare Fund based in New York City alleging that New York Presbyterian Hospital is violating federal antitrust laws and preventing price competition in the general acute care inpatient services market though contract provisions with health insurance providers to charge “supracompetitive” prices and limit competition in the market. In the lawsuit, UFCW seeks an injunction prohibiting the hospital from enforcing these anticompetitive contracting terms, and to restore competition in the healthcare market, reduce costs for healthcare payors, and expand choices for patients. The proposed class of plaintiffs would include all entities whose funds were used to pay New York Presbyterian for general acute care services in New York during the period from July 25, 2021 to the present.

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, September 8, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• The view of the economy in Washington, D.C. grew much darker last week as Congress returned from its August recess. Last Friday, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the U.S. economy added only 22,000 new jobs in August and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, marking the highest unemployment level since 2021. The report also revealed that for the first time since late 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy lost jobs, as BLS posted downward revisions resulting in a decline of 13,000 jobs in June. The new BLS data highlighted a deceleration in hiring over the last few months, with employers hiring an average of 29,000 workers each month from June through August 2025, compared to 168,000 workers each month during the same period in 2024. Friday’s data followed the release last Wednesday of the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that set off alarm bells in D.C. because it showed that July 2025 was the first month in four years in which the number of unemployed people surpassed the number of job openings in the U.S. This was a surprise given the removal of large numbers of immigrants from the U.S. workforce amid the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown. The BLS JOLTS data also showed sharp negative revisions to June data on layoffs and discharges, which resulted in an increase of 192,000 people who lost their jobs involuntarily in June. The June data on job openings was also revised downward by 80,000. Just as concerning to D.C. politicians as the BLS reports was a Wall Street Journal poll released last Tuesday detailing how Americans currently feel about the economy. The share of Americans in the poll who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living fell to 25%—the lowest level recorded since the poll began in 1987. Additionally, more than three-quarters of respondents said they lack confidence that life for the next generation will be better than their own. Nearly 70% of respondents also said they believe the American dream—that if you work hard, you will get ahead—no longer holds true, which is the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys. And when asked how concerned respondents were “when it comes to the country’s economy,” 59% said they were anxious about the inability of the “country’s leaders to solve economic problems.” All this data has the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans alarmed because sour views of the economy tend to hurt the party in power during a midterm election.

• While Congress is tied up trying to figure out how to avoid a government shutdown at the end of this month, the Trump Administration is continuing to advance its regulatory initiatives at a rapid clip. Last Thursday, the Administration released its long-awaited Spring 2025 semiannual regulatory agendas for 60 Cabinet departments, federal agencies, boards, and commissions that are the first regulatory agendas of President Trump’s second term. They highlight the Administration’s current thinking on significant regulatory priorities over the coming year. MCAA’s advocacy team will be reviewing all these agendas to ensure MCAA is on top of what is coming. Having reviewed the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) new Spring 2025 Regulatory Agenda, we are pleased to report that there are no proposals to reverse the Biden-era, MCAA-supported Davis-Bacon modernization rule. In fact, DOL’s agenda shows that the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) intends to issue a direct final rule in October 2025 to revise “Rules of Practice for Administration Procedures Enforcing Labor Standards in Federal and Federally Assisted Construction Contracts and Federal Service Contracts” to reflect the “recently published substantive revisions to the regulations under the Davis-Bacon Act and the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.” MCAA has been lobbying since the start of the Trump Administration for DOL to leave these important prevailing wage regulations in place. DOL’s new regulatory agenda provides no target date for issuing a final rule on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s proposed rule on “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings” that the MCAA has been advocating on with our allies in the Construction Industry Safety Coalition. Nor does the regulatory agenda set a target date for issuing a final rule on the Employment and Training Administration’s pending proposed rule on “Prohibiting Illegal Discrimination in Registered Apprenticeship Programs.” The WHD is, however, planning to release a proposed rule later in September to rescind the Biden-era, MCAA-supported final rule on independent contractor status that made it more difficult to misclassify workers in our industry as independent contractors. The WHD also intends to propose alternative regulations that are expected to return to the less favorable independent contractor standard established during President Trump’s first term. The WHD is also planning to propose a rule in December 2025 to define the standard for joint employer liability under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Trustees of MCAA retirement plans will be interested to know that the Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) will defer until May 2026 a proposed rule revising the Biden-era, MCAA-supported 2022 final rule on “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights.” MCAA members may recall that we worked as part of the Construction Employers of America coalition in 2022 to secure language in the final rule preventing new liability risks for plan trustees and persuaded the Biden DOL that the creation of union jobs and contributions to a plan are benefits plan trustees may consider when selecting between two equivalent investments. And trustees of MCAA health plans should be aware that EBSA also hopes to release a proposed rule on improved transparency of pharmacy benefit manager fee disclosures in October 2025.

• Last Thursday, the issue of  the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) regulation of noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements sprung back to life as the Trump-appointed FTC requested public comments on a Request for Information (RFI) regarding these types of agreements. The Trump-led FTC wants to better understand the scope, prevalence, and effects of employer noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements, as well as gather information to inform possible future enforcement actions. In the RFI, the FTC says its “noncompete enforcement efforts have been obstructed by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Noncompete Rule” on which the MCAA submitted adverse comments. The FTC now describes that Biden-era rule in terms much more aligned with MCAA’s  position calling it “a blanket nationwide ban that exceeded the Commission’s regulatory power by purporting to prohibit nearly all noncompete agreements across all industries within the Commission’s jurisdiction without regard for their likely effects in specific contexts.” This new RFI seems to indicate that the FTC may abandon a rulemaking and focus on case-by-case enforcement or industry-specific activity. The Commission seeks comments on several topics, including: (1) the name of any employer known to be using employee noncompete or nonsolicitation agreements; (2) the reason for such agreements; (3) the roles, positions, or job functions for which the employer uses these agreements; (4) the typical salary ranges of the roles or positions subject to such agreements; (5) the terms or limitations of the agreements; and (6) whether the employer enforces the agreements and if so, how they enforce them. Comments, that will be made publicly available, are due by November 3, 2025 and should be submitted here. Interested parties can also submit confidential submissions to the FTC that can be separately submitted by email to noncompete@ftc.gov.

• As the MCAA continues to engage with the Trump Administration and Congress on implementation of the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), we wanted to be sure that MCAA members were aware that last week the Treasury Department released the preliminary list of occupations that can benefit from the OBBBA’s “No Tax on Tips” provision. There are some unexpected occupations on the list of particular interest to MCAA members, including “Home Heating and Air Conditioning Mechanics and Installers,” and “home plumbers.” Treasury says this list will “be published in the Federal Register as part of forthcoming proposed regulations from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.” Treasury and the IRS also note that they “anticipate that the official proposed list will be substantially the same as this preliminary list.” Public comments will be requested on the official proposed list of occupations and other aspects of the proposed regulations implementing the “No Tax on Tips” provision.

• As the MCAA continues to track developments regarding President Trump’s tariffs, we wanted to be sure you knew that last Wednesday, the Trump Administration filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court requesting that the justices decide by September 10^th whether they will review the August 29^th decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit striking down President Trump’s tariffs predicated on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). These include the President’s “reciprocal” tariffs that were imposed in April that took effect last month and a separate set of tariffs imposed in February on imports from Canada and Mexico, both of which were imposed under IEEPA authorities. While the Administration is expressing confidence that it will prevail in the Supreme Court, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he is developing backup plans in case the Supreme Court does not reverse the appellate court decision, including using Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This law allows the President to impose tariffs of up to 50% for five months against imports from countries that are found to discriminate against U.S. commerce. The fact that backup plans are being developed indicates that tariff uncertainty is likely to continue even if the President’s IEEPA-based tariffs are ultimately ruled unlawful.

• On the decarbonization front, there were three notable developments last week. FERC announced that the Secretary of Energy is planning to rescind a Biden-era policy that made it harder to approve interstate natural gas projects and the EPA published a rule rescinding Biden-era regulations threatening the continued operation of coal combustion residual (CCR) facilities that dispose of the byproducts of burning coal to generate electricity and are essential to the continued operation of coal fired power plants. There was also a 2-1 ruling last Tuesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturning a lower court’s ruling that prevented the EPA from clawing back $16 billion in unspent funds from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The funding was disbursed to eight environmental organizations tasked with sub-awarding it to programs that reduce global warming and U.S. air pollution. The ruling does not decide the ultimate outcome of the case, but it does lift an order preventing the EPA from taking back the money while the litigation over it plays out.

• The Trump Administration is also continuing its effort to revive the U.S. shipbuilding industry as evidenced by last week’s announcement from the Labor Department providing $8 million in funding for U.S. shipbuilding industry. The funding will be used to connect U.S. technical education centers and community colleges with similar training programs in several allied countries—including South Korea and Japan, the world’s second and third leading shipbuilders after China—and establish international collaboration to help American workers learn advanced shipbuilding capabilities. Priority occupational training for this funding will be directed at welders, steel workers, steamfitters, shipwrights, boilermakers, and industrial electricians. Eligible applicants include any commercial, international, educational, or non-profit organizations, including any faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, or public international organizations. Applications are due by September 26, 2025, and can be submitted through Grants.gov here.

Congress

• As lawmakers returned from the August recess last week, they faced a short legislative timeline to avoid a federal government shutdown once fiscal year 2025 ends on September 30, 2025. Last week, the White House told Congress that it prefers lawmakers pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government into early 2026. Congress, at least for now, appears to have other plans. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries (D-NY) held private talks last week about extending government funding into November or December. Separately, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) is hoping to pass a CR through the end of November that could include full-year appropriations for the Department of Agriculture, the Legislative Branch, and military construction and the Veterans Administration. This is also the preferred path of Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) who has expressed support for passing such a package to allow lawmakers more time to negotiate the remaining full-year funding bills.
  
  As the negotiations to avoid a shutdown gained steam, last week Congress continued to advance more FY 2026 spending bills. Last Thursday, the House voted 214-213 to pass its fiscal year 2026 Energy-Water funding bill (H.R. 4553). The bill provides a total discretionary allocation of $57.3 billion for the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and related agencies, which is $766.4 million below the FY2025 enacted level. MCAA lobbied to ensure the legislation provides $1.795 billion for nuclear energy ($110 million above the FY2025 enacted level). The bill also includes: (1) $687.5 million for fossil energy ($177.5 million below the FY2025 enacted level) to support fossil fuel generation technologies and increase research and development on critical minerals to develop the full suite of production technologies, including separation and extraction; (2) $9.883 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, including $397.8 million for construction projects on the inland waterways system and $3.473 billion for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund; and (3) $1.87 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Water and Related Resources account to prioritize projects that increase water supply and support drought response. The measure also includes a policy rider that bars funds to implement the Biden-era Energy Department’s final rule establishing clean energy performance standards for the new construction and major renovation of federal buildings.
  
  Other appropriations developments last week included the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services voting 11-7 along party-lines to advance its fiscal year (FY) 2026 spending bill to the full Appropriations Committee. With respect to the Labor Department (DOL), the bill provides a total of $9.6 billion (25% below FY 2025 enacted levels) and matches the White House’s request with reduced funding for the Wage and Hour Division (a cut of $25 million) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (a cut of $50 million). The bill also includes language prohibiting funds from being used to administer or enforce the Biden-era, MCAA-supported independent contractor final rule. DOL’s Employment and Training Administration would also see a cut of $2.6 billion (35%) under the bill. The bill would also eliminate funding for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult Job Training and WIOA Youth Job Training. Registered apprenticeship programs received $285 million in funding (which is equal to FY2025 levels) and $65 million (also equal to FY2025 levels) would be available for the Strengthening Community College Training Grants intended to develop, offer, or improve education or career training programs at community colleges. The MCAA helped to secure a provision ensuring that any grant funds in the bill used for apprenticeships can only be used for registered apprenticeship pursuant to the National Apprenticeship Act. The bill also includes $1.5 billion for Career and Technical Education and would rename Workforce Pell Grants as “Trump Grants.” Finally, the bill would eliminate funding for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance programs and the Women’s Bureau. The Republicans’ bill summary is available here and Democrats’ bill summary is available here.

• Last Wednesday, Senate Republicans made progress on a plan to change the Senate’s rules to speed confirmation of 145 pending presidential nominees, including several Department of Labor nominees of interest to MCAA and the nominee to lead the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY) said GOP lawmakers hope to vote on changing Senate rules to confirm dozens of Trump Administration nominees by the end of this week ahead of the congressional recess planned for the week of September 22^nd. The Republican rule change originates from a proposal Senate Democrats considered but never enacted in 2021 during the Biden Administration that would allow the Senate to confirm up to 10 nominees in one vote if they were all approved by the same committee. Republicans are also considering exceeding the ten nominee figure and broadening the proposal to include nominees from multiple committees in one batch.

• Last week, MCAA launched a renewed advocacy effort to enact federal permitting reforms. This effort began with letters to the House and Senate urging lawmakers to advance legislation revising and streamlining federal permitting processes. In a letter to leadership of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the MCAA urged the committee to examine the need to harmonize agencies’ procedural requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and further clarify the scope of environmental reviews. The letter also urged lawmakers to establish shorter, more appropriate timelines for judicial reviews of agency decisions and expand agencies’ authority to use categorical exclusions where practical and feasible. Finally, the letter asked lawmakers to address any statutory barriers to fully implementing President Trump’s executive orders (EO), including his EOs to expand domestic infrastructure and expedite American energy development—particularly as it relates to nuclear, natural gas, and geothermal energy projects. In a separate letter to the leadership on the House Committee on Natural Resources, the MCAA highlighted its support for the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776) to help further clarify federal agencies’ procedural requirements for project reviews under NEPA. The letter explained that the “byzantine NEPA environmental review process” causes years of delays and potential project cancellations that impacts the country’s ability to realize energy independence, to deploy new technologies, and to reshore manufacturing. The MCAA noted that the SPEED Act will streamline NEPA reviews, return the law to its intended purpose as a procedural statute setting parameters for assessing environmental impacts of all major federal actions, and establish limitations on judicial review of NEPA claims. MCAA’s lobbying team has been meeting with key congressional committees and offices to follow up on these letters and press our permitting reform priorities.

• Last week, MCAA also renewed its efforts on federal contracting reforms and our work with Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) to advance the Small Business Payment for Performance Act (H.R. 4615). As part of this effort, MCAA sent a letter last week to the House Small Business Committee to press for a mark-up of H.R. 4615 “at the earliest possible opportunity.” This important MCAA-advocated legislation would allow small businesses awarded a federal construction contract or subcontract to request an equitable adjustment if the agency’s contracting officer unilaterally directs a significant change in the contract. The bill also requires the agency to pay at least 50% of the additional costs of work pursuant to such changes while the request for equitable adjustment is pending. In the letter, the MCAA explained that the changes to federal contracting law contemplated in the bill would prevent federal contracts from becoming a trap for MCAA members and other specialty subcontractors that bear the risk of unilateral changes to federal agency contracts. MCAA is lobbying to garner additional support to consider and advance this legislation out of committee.

• Last week, the Epstein scandal that derailed legislative activity in the House last July showed no signs of abating. Last Thursday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the Senate has no plans to vote on legislation directing the Justice Department to release all its files on Jeffrey Epstein. Thune’s remarks came a day after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) held a press event with victims of Epstein, who threatened to publish a list of people involved in their abuse if the Justice Department doesn’t make more documents public. The victims also refuted GOP leadership’s arguments that Massie’s measure would harm them by exposing confidential victim information. Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Massie clashed during a closed-door House Republican Conference meeting last Wednesday during which Johnson pressed his caucus not to sign Massie’s discharge petition. After this clash, the House voted 212-208 to table a non-binding resolution calling on the Attorney General to publicly release all credible Epstein files within 30 days. Rep. Massie’s discharge petition currently has 215 signatures, including Massie and three other House Republicans: Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and Nancy Mace (R-SC). Some Republicans who had previously expressed interest in the discharge petition, like Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Eric Burlison (R-MO) and Keith Self (R-TX), now say they won’t sign the petition as the White House lobbies furiously to keep Republicans off Massie’s measure. Meanwhile, House Rules Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said that her committee would not seek to kill Massie’s discharge petition in committee after work in the committee ground to a halt in July amid Democrats’ efforts to force the release of the Epstein files. Relatedly, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced an expansion of his investigation into the financing of Epstein’s sex trafficking, demanding the Treasury Department turn over records related to 58 individuals and entities with documented ties to Epstein. This includes Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, UBS Financial Services, and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. Last Wednesday, former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) said he is “seriously” considering mounting a Senate comeback bid in New Hampshire for retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) seat. Last Wednesday, Maine brewery owner Dan Kleban announced a Democratic U.S. Senate bid against incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Last Wednesday, Mississippi District Attorney Scott Colom (D) announced a run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS). Last Tuesday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) announced she will not seek re-election next year. Shortly after Ernst’s announcement, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) declared that she will run for Ernst’s Senate seat.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. Last Thursday, Inside Elections found that 24 of the 25 congressional districts with the biggest partisan shifts between 2022 and 2024 moved in Republicans’ favor. Overall, the analysis found that 254 House districts saw a shift in partisan performance toward Republicans, while 166 saw movement toward Democrats. Last Thursday, progressive group Justice Democrats, which focuses on primarying safe-seat Democrats in hopes of moving the party to the left, endorsed Angela Gonzales-Torres’ Democratic primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) in California’s 34^th Congressional District. Last Wednesday, a Utah judge ruled that state lawmakers must proceed with redrawing the state’s congressional district map right away, pointing to Texas and California in rejecting lawmakers’ arguments that the job cannot be done in time for the 2026 midterms. In addition to Utah, the mid-decade redistricting battle initiated by Texas appears set to expand to more states in the coming months, with efforts to create new maps in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, and possibly even New York. Last Tuesday, Scranton, PA Mayor Paige Cognetti launched a campaign against incumbent Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) in Pennsylvania’s 8^th Congressional District. Last Monday, long-time Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) announced he will not seek re-election in New York’s 12^th Congressional District, saying it was time for the younger generation to lead his Manhattan district. Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy, is reportedly considering running for Nadler’s seat, but Nadler panned Schlossberg’s potential candidacy in an interview with CNN.

Across the Country

• Last Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded $337 million to North Carolina for water infrastructure resiliency and repair of environmental damage from Hurricane Helene. Of the total, North Carolina received: (1) $253,681,000 for its Clean Water Safe Revolving Fund to make low-interest loans with principal forgiveness toward the cost of planning, design and construction of eligible treatment works improvement projects; (2) $22,510,000 for a new Decentralized Clean Water Safe Revolving Fund to improve the resilience of septic systems and assess and connect homes served by septic systems to centralized wastewater systems; and (3) $61,006,486 under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to manage solid and hazardous waste debris, conduct site assessments to identify and address contamination, rehabilitate damaged waste management facilities and plan for future severe weather events.

• Last Thursday, the Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced $86 million in grants to enhance states’ pipeline safety programs, of which $82 million will be provided through Pipeline Safety State Base Grants and $4 million through Underground Natural Gas Storage Grants. A breakdown of grant funding by state is available here.

• Last Thursday, Japanese multinational conglomerate Hitachi announced a $1 billion investment to manufacture transformers and high voltage equipment in the United States, of which $457 million will be used to construct a new large power transformer facility in South Boston, Virginia. The White House highlighted the announcement in a press release that the company credited the President’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan as its “catalyst” for the move.

• Last Tuesday, President Trump announced that U.S. Space Command will move its headquarters from Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado to Huntsville, Alabama, ending a five-year battle over where the command would be permanently located. Trump said that the move will result in 30,000 Alabama jobs and “hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.”

• Last Tuesday, U.S. pharmaceutical company Amgen announced it will spend more than $600 million to build a new research and development facility at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California. The company said that construction of the facility will begin in the third quarter of 2025 and is expected to create hundreds of jobs. The announcement builds on other recent investments from the company including a $900 million expansion of its manufacturing facility in Central Ohio and a $1 billion investment to build a second manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

• On August 29^th, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that his department granted Commonwealth LNG, LLC final authorization to export up to 1.21 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas as liquefied natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries from its proposed project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

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, July 28, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

White House Releases AI Action Plan as President Trump Signs EO Accelerating Federal Permitting for Data Centers and Related Infrastructure 

Last Wednesday, the White House released “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan” that details over 90 federal executive branch actions that the Administration will pursue to speed the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure, including data centers, and additional power generation they require. Among other things, the White House proposes to: (1) loosen regulations to speed data center permitting and to expand energy supplies for data centers; (2) roll back regulations that hinder AI adoption; and (3) withhold funds from states that place burdensome rules on AI technologies. The plan also calls for streamlining National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) permitting by creating new categorical exclusions under NEPA to speed permitting and construction of new data centers.

Shortly after the release of the AI Action Plan, Wednesday evening President Trump signed an Executive Order “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Infrastructure.” Among other things, the EO: (1) directs the Commerce Department to provide financial support—such as loans, grants, and tax incentives—for infrastructure projects related to data center energy needs, semiconductor facilities, networking equipment, or other data center or related infrastructure projects selected by the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Interior or Energy; (2) instructs federal agencies to streamline environmental reviews and permitting for data centers and related infrastructure; (3) promotes the use of Brownfield and Superfund sites as locations for data center development; and (4) directs the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Interior to authorize data center construction on appropriate federal lands under their control. 

Following these White House actions, last Thursday, the Energy Department selected the Idaho National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge Reservation, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and the Savannah River Site as locations where it will move forward with plans for partnering with the private sector to develop data centers and other artificial intelligence infrastructure. Solicitations for these partnerships “are expected to be released in the coming months and partners could be selected by the end of the year.” DOE is also evaluating additional sites for more such public-private partnerships to develop AI infrastructure.

August 1 Deadline Approaches, Treasury Secretary Says China Trade Deal Likely to Be Extended as Administration Announces Trade Deals with Japan and Philippines   

MCAA remains engaged on tariff developments as we head towards the August 1^st deadline President Trump set for most nations to reach trade deals with the U.S. or face unilateral U.S. levies on their goods. Ahead of this deadline, trade negotiations are intensifying. Last Wednesday, President Trump announced a trade framework with Japan, placing a 15% tariff on goods imported from that nation. This lower than the 25% tariffs Trump threatened to impose on Japan beginning August 1^st. The president also said that Japan would invest $550 billion into the U.S. and would “open” its economy to American autos and rice. A White House fact sheet on the deal is available here. This comes as the Trump Administration and the European Union (EU) are making progress in negotiating a trade agreement in which the EU would accept 15% tariffs on most exports to the U.S.—similar to the agreement the Administration secured with Japan. 

Meanwhile last Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted that he will likely reach an agreement on an extension of President Trump’s upcoming trade deadline with China when he meets with his Chinese counterpart this week in Stockholm, Sweden. The 90-day delay of higher tariffs on China announced in May is set to expire August 12^th. Bessent’s remarks came after President Trump announced last Tuesday that he reached another trade deal with the Philippines.  

PHMSA Issues Memo Outlining Its Pipeline Inspection and Enforcement Priorities 

On the energy front, MCAA members should know that last Tuesday, the Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a memorandum outlining PHMSA’s five pipeline inspection and enforcement priorities: (1) incidents and accidents; (2) high and moderate consequence areas; (3) control room management and leak detection; (4) damage prevention; and (5) transactions and due diligence. The memorandum issued the same day House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Ranking Member Dina Titus (D-NV) sent a letter to PHMSA expressing concern about the lack of safety actions by the agency since President Trump took office. The lawmakers cited several examples since January 20^th, including a dramatic decline in enforcement of pipeline safety violations, the departures of senior career officials, and the failure to post requirement monthly updates on the regulatory actions the agency is pursuing.

White House Announces NLRB Nominees and FERC Nominee

As MCAA continues urging the Senate to advance the MCAA-endorsed nomination of David Keeling to lead OSHA, we are also tracking many other nominations relevant to our industry. On July 16^th that President Trump sent the Senate two nominees for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). One is Boeing’s Chief Labor Counsel, Scott Mayer, nominated to fill a five year term expiring December 16, 2029. He will fill the opening created by the President’s firing of Board Member Lauren McFerran, a Democrat. The other is James Murphy, a former career NLRB attorney, who was nominated to a five year term ending in December 16, 2027 to fill the seat formerly held by Republican NLRB member John Ring. President Trump also nominated David LaCerte to be a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). 

DOL Highlights Several “Self-Audit” Programs to Help Employers, Unions Voluntarily Assess and Improve Their Compliance with Federal Labor and Employment Laws

MCAA continues to be involved on many issues at the U.S. Department of Labor, building on the Deputy Secretary of Labor’s participation in out May policy conference in Washington, DC. On Thursday, the Labor Department shared with MCAA highlights of several “self-audit” programs to help employers, unions, and pension plans voluntarily assess and improve their compliance with federal labor and employment laws. The Wage and Hour Division is restarting the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program to enable employers to self-identify and resolve minimum wage, overtime, and leave violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act and Family and Medical Leave Act. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is increasing its efforts to support voluntary compliance by expanding its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), which exempts from OSHA’s programmed inspection schedule participating employers that have effective safety and health management systems and maintain injury and illness rates below the national average. OSHA is also increasing resources for its On-Site Consultation Program, which offers no-cost and confidential safety and health services to small and medium-sized businesses. The Employee Benefits Security Administration is reminding the public of two self-correction programs for fiduciaries and benefits plan administrators, the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program, which encourages employers and plan officials to voluntarily correct violations of ERISA, and the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program, which encourages voluntary compliance with ERISA’s annual reporting requirements and offers incentives to late filers, including reduced penalties. And the Veterans Employment and Training Service launched a new program called Support and Assistance for Leaders in USERRA Training and Employment (SALUTE), to help employers review their policies and practices under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).

OSHA Updates Field Operations Manual Penalty Guidelines

MCAA members, especially smaller employers, should know that on July 14^th the Labor Department announced changes to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Field Operations Manual to “minimize the burden on small businesses and increase prompt hazard abatement.” The new policy, outlined in the Penalties and Debt Collection section of OSHA’s Field Operations Manual,makes more employers eligible for reductions to penalties imposed by OSHA. For example, a penalty reduction level of 70%, which was previously only applicable to businesses with 10 or fewer employees, has been expanded to include businesses employing up to 25 workers. The revisions also include new guidelines for a 15% penalty reduction for employers who immediately take steps to address or correct a hazard. Additionally, the updated policy expands the penalty reduction for employers without a history of serious, willful, repeat, or failure-to-abate OSHA violations. Under OSHA’s revised policy, employers who have never been inspected by federal OSHA or an OSHA State Plan, as well as employers who have been inspected in the previous five years and had no serious, willful, or failure-to-abate violations, are eligible for a 20% penalty reduction if they are cited for OSHA violations. The new policies are effective immediately but do not apply to OSHA citations issued before July 14, 2025. The new policy does apply to citations that arise from investigations that were opened before July 14^th but for which penalties are issued after that date.

OBBBA Implementation

Interior Announces Implementation Plan for Energy Measures Included in GOP Reconciliation Bill 

Following MCAA’s successful advocacy to shape the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” as recounted in our prior updates, MCAA is now focused on implementation of this sweeping law. To that end, we were pleased to confirm on that the Interior Department plans to implement energy measures enacted the “One Big, Beautfiul Bill Act” (OBBBA) through expedited rulemakings on provisions related to oil and gas development, water infrastructure, and hydropower. Interior plans expedited regulatory action on OBBBA provisions mandating: (1) at least two offshore lease sales in the Gulf of America each year through 2039; (2) quarterly onshore lease sales in Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Nevada and Alaska; (3) elimination of “expression of interest” fees paid by lessees to nominate land for onshore oil and gas development leases; (4) that upon approval, a permit to drill for onshore oil and gas projects will now be valid for a four-year period; (5) an accelerated permitting process for major water infrastructure projects, including dams, canals and reservoirs; and (6) expanded access to hydropower development on federal dams, with streamlined licensing and priority for water storage projects that include power generation.

IRS Releases Taxpayer-Friendly Descriptions on Key Provisions of the GOP Reconciliation Bill

MCAA should also be aware that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released taxpayer-friendly descriptions detailing eligibility standards for four key provisions of the President’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—including the “No Taxes on Overtime” provision that is effective from 2025 through 2028. For the OBBBA’s no taxes on overtime, note that the deduction phases out for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income over $150,000 ($300,000 for joint filers) and employers are required to file information returns with the IRS (or Social Security Administration) and furnish statements to taxpayers showing the total amount of qualified overtime compensation paid during the year.

Congress

House and Senate Working on Legislation to Speed Permitting and Environmental Reviews

As House lawmakers departed for the August recess last Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said that GOP leadership plans to work on advancing long-awaited permitting reform legislation this fall. Scalise said the current plan is to advance a standalone bill that, ideally, would be the product of a bipartisan deal with Democrats. Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Republicans on several other committees are working on the legislation, but it’s unclear if House Democrats would strike an agreement with Republicans. Scalise’s comments come after Reps. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Scott Peters (D-CA) recently introduced the “ePermit Act” to digitize the federal government’s permitting process and reduce processing time for National Environmental Policy Act reviews.

In the Senate, the MCAA monitored a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing last Wednesday where Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) said that she and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) are working on legislation to reform the environmental review permitting process for federal construction projects. We were pleased to hear Chair Capito says she is hopeful they can get a bill to the President’s desk. During the hearing, Capito asked President Trump’s nominee to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, Katherine Scarlett, if she would commit to implementing any new permitting and environmental review reforms passed by Congress. Scarlett confirmed that she would. 

House Energy and Water Subcommittee Advances FY26 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill to Full Appropriations Committee 

As SWACCA continues its advocacy for nuclear energy, on July 17th, we were pleased to see the House Appropriations Committee advance the Energy and Water Development appropriations bill to the full House Appropriations Committee by a vote of 35-27. The bill funds small modular reactor and advanced reactor demonstration projects and increases funding for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to expand capacity for reviewing and licensing new nuclear reactors to achieve the President’s goal of expanding nuclear energy capacity to 400 gigawatts by 2050. The text of the bill is available here, a summary of the bill is available here, and a list of the earmarks included in the bill are available here.

Senate HELP Committee Holds Hearing on NLRB General Counsel Nominee 

On July 16^th, the MCAA monitored the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s hearing on the nomination of Crystal Carey to be the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel, as well as nominees for the EEOC and Department of Health and Human Services. In a notable exchange during the hearing, GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (R) said he’s worried about Ms. Carey refusing to enforce NLRB precedent that she disagrees with, particularly the Board’s November 2024 decision outlawing mandatory anti-union, captive audience meetings after Carey publicly criticized the decision, saying it went too far in limiting the ability of employers to communicate with workers. Senator Hawley’s concerns are notable as the HELP Committee has 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats, so Carey’s nomination could fail to advance if Hawley and all the Democrats vote against her. In a separate exchange with Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Carey also refused to say whether the NLRB is constitutional, adding that the question will ultimately be decided by the courts. In a sign that Republicans may have issues advancing Carey’s nomination, the Senate HELP Committee held a markup last Thursday to consider several nominees—including the EEOC and HHS nominees who were on the same hearing panel as Carey—that notably did not include Carey. This makes it unlikely that her nomination could be acted on before the Senate recesses. 

Democrats Introduce Bill to Establish a Federal Standard to Protect Workers in High-Heat Environments

As the MCAA continues to engage the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on the agency’s heat injury and illness rulemaking, Congress jumped into the issue on July 16^th. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act to implement federal enforceable workplace heat stress protections at indoor and outdoor settings. The legislation aligns closely with OSHA’s pending proposed rule that MCAA has been engaged on since it published last year, but goes further in certain respects. 

The bill would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to establish an enforceable federal standard to protect workers in high-heat environments and mandates an interim final standard within one year of enactment of the legislation. The bill applies to workers across all industries and requires that any standard OSHA issues pursuant to this measure require employers provide paid rest breaks, water or other suitable hydration, and shaded or cooled spaces to recover from the heat. The bill would also require OSHA to set limits on the amount of time workers are exposed to high heat, and to ensure emergency response for workers with heat-related illness. Additionally, employers would have to provide training for their employees on the risk factors that can lead to heat illness and guidance on the proper procedures for responding to symptoms. The legislation also requires employers to provide training and hazard advisories to their employees about heat stress in the language their employees understand and, in a format appropriate for their literacy and education levels. 

The Senate bill currently lacks bipartisan support, but is cosponsored by 23 democratic senators, including Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The House bill is cosponsored by 98 House Democrats and one republican members—New York Representative Mike Lawler. A one-pager on the bill is available here, a section-by-section of the bill is available here, and the full bill text of the bill is available here.

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Project Labor Agreements

Republican Senators Send Letter to President Trump Urging Him to Repeal MCAA-Supported, Biden-era Final Rule Mandating PLAs on Federal Construction Projects 

MCAA remains engaged defending Project Labor Agreements following the OMB guidance we helped to secure expressing the Trump Administration’s support for PLAs. As we continue educating members about PLAs, on July 16^th Alabama Senators Britt and Tuberville released a July 1st letter they sent asking President Trump to rescind the Biden-era, MCAA-supported final rule mandating project labor agreements on federal construction projects valued at $35 million or more. They sent this letter with full awareness of the successful lobbying effort in June that resulted in the White House Office of Management and Budget issuing a memo clarifying that the “Trump Administration supports the use of PLAs when those agreements are practicable and cost effective, and blanket deviations prohibiting the use of PLAs are precluded.”

In the letter, the Alabama Senators and 19 other republican Senators insisted that the EO “threatens the competitiveness of infrastructure bids, increases construction costs, and delays work on federal construction contracts procured by federal agencies.” We find it notable that the letter was only signed by 21 of the 53 Senate Republicans: (1) Tommy Tuberville (AL); (2) Katie Britt (AL); (3) Jim Banks (IN); (4) John Barrasso (WY); (5) Ted Budd (NC); (6) Bill Cassidy (LA); (7) Kevin Cramer (ND); (8) Lindsey Graham (SC); (9) Chuck Grassley (IA); (10) John Hoeven (ND); (11) Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS); (12) Jim Justice (WV); (13) Cynthia Lummis (WY); (14) Mitch McConnell (KY); (15) Rand Paul (KY); (16) Mike Rounds (SD); (17) Rick Scott (FL); (18) Tim Scott (SC); (19) Thom Tillis (NC); (20) Roger Wicker (MS); and (21) Todd Young (IN). This means that only 40% of the Senate GOP Caucus and no Democrats oppose PLAs, which is well short of the threshold needed to pass any PLA legislation in the Senate. This is a testament to the ongoing education effort MCAA and its allies are undertaking to debunk myths about PLAs, including through continued dissemination of the groundbreaking 2022 Independent Project Analysis study of PLAs sponsored by the MCAA and subsequent studies like the Illinois Economic Policy Institute report MCAA highlighted in March.

Bid Protest Filed in Federal Court of Claims over PLA Requirements in U.S. Navy Contract in Hawaii

While MCAA and its allies are making progress in the battel over PLAs, last week we were reminded that opponents of PLAs are not giving up. Specifically, last Monday, a non-union company called Environmental Chemical Corp. filed a bid protest at the U.S. Federal Court of Claims against project labor agreement (PLA) requirements in a U.S. Navy contract for pavement replacement at a Hawaii airfield. The complaint directly challenges President Biden’s PLA Executive Order and cites the Court of Claims’ January 21, 2025 ruling in MVL USA Inc. v. United States in which the Court of Claims held that a PLA pursuant to the Biden Executive Order violates full and open competition requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act and struck the PLA language in the contested bid documents. MCAA is monitoring this case as it continues its advocacy on PLAs.

Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage

GSA ICR to Allow Electronic Submission of Construction Payrolls and Basic Records for Davis-Bacon Projects 

On July 18^th, the General Services Administration (GSA) published a notice seeking comments on proposed revisions to its information collection request (ICR) for Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 52.222-8 “Payrolls and Basic Records” requiring United States construction contracts in excess of $2,000 subject to Davis-Bacon prevailing wage to submit a copy of all payrolls to the Contracting Officer weekly for each week in which any contract work is performed. The revisions to this ICR would allow construction contractors to use an electronic means to submit the required weekly payroll data, rather than requiring that the data be submitted in hard copy format. Comments are due by September 16, 2025 and can be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal here by searching “Information Collection 3090–0326; Construction Payrolls and Basic Records.”

Registered Apprenticeship

SCOTUS Allows Education Dept. and DOL to Implement Agreement to Letting DOL to Take Over Administration of Ed Dept.’s Management of Career and Technical Education

MCAA members interested in federal policy regarding workforce training and registered apprenticeship programs should be aware that the Supreme Court’s July 14^th ruling that lifted the injunction on the Trump Administration terminating Education Department staff also lifted a freeze on a May agreement between the Labor Department (DOL) and the Education Department allowing DOL to take over administering grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts that the Education Department has previously managed for career and technical education programs at high schools, community colleges, and other training facilities, as well as literacy and post-secondary education services for adults. DOL and the Education Department have begun implementing their May agreement to advance the President’s plan to consolidate Education’s literacy, adult education, and vocational training programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and Perkins V into DOL and is likely to result in new grant solicitations for these programs that are more focused on the real-world workplace needs of workers and employers.

Independent Contractors and Misclassification of Workers 

MCAA Lobbies to Oppose “Modern Worker Empowerment Act”

As we noted in our last MCAA Government Affairs Committee report, MCAA has been opposed to H.R. 1319, the “Modern Worker Empowerment Act” legislation to the extent it would make it easier to classify more workers in our industry as independent contractors and place law-abiding MCAA members at a competitive disadvantage to employers who want to avoid paying overtime, workers compensation, and other costs customarily associated with an employer-employee relationship. 

As part of this ongoing advocacy effort, the MCAA sent a letter opposing the bill ahead of a House Education and Workforce Committee markup last Wednesday. The letter explains that the legislation would “place law-abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage as unscrupulous competitors use this narrow standard to evade their duty to confirm the employment authorization of workers and their obligations to pay employment taxes, workers’ compensation, overtime, and other expenses.” The letter also notes that MCAA members “increasingly find themselves competing with companies that underbid them by dissociating themselves from the traditional obligations of being an employer” and that the bill would accelerate “a ‘race to the bottom’ in the construction industry that has caused work in the skilled trades to no longer be family-sustaining work in a growing number of markets across the nation.” 

During the hearing, Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) entered the MCAA’s letter and two others into the hearing record (see it on video here). At the end of the markup, H.R. 1319 was advanced out to the full House on a party line vote of 19-16. GOP Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Michael Rulli (R-OH) did not vote on the bill. With the House going into the August recess last Wednesday and the coming focus in September on avoiding a government shutdown, we do not yet know what plans, if any, Republicans have for bringing the bill to the floor. But, at this time, MCAA is hopeful it can prevent this legislation from becoming law this year. 

Senate HELP Committee Holds Hearing on Independent Contractors 

Relatedly, on July 17^th, the MCAA monitored the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s hearing entitled, “Freedom to Work: Unlocking Benefits for Independent Workers.” The hearing was a discussion of a series of bills Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Rand Paul (R-KY) have offered to facilitate more workers being treated as independent contractors instead of employees. During the hearing, Committee Chair Cassidy argued that these legislative proposals give workers “flexibility, making it clear what legally constitutes an independent contractor” and increases contractors’ “access to health care and retirement accounts, like solo 401(k)s” along the lines of what workers who are employees receive. Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) countered that the bills were “not about giving workers the freedom to work” but were about “giving corporations the freedom to deny workers the right to form a union…they’re about giving corporations the freedom to pay workers poverty wages and deny the overtime pay they are owed.” Sanders used the hearing to introduce his “Pensions for All Act,” a messaging bill with little chance of advancing that would allow every American to have a defined benefit retirement plan equivalent to what Members of Congress receive. 

The views of the unionized construction industry were represented at the hearing by the President of the Bricklayers Union, who talked about how “misclassification of workers as independent contractors is rampant in the construction industry.” He said misclassification allows “low-road employers” to “mistreat workers as contractors, deny workers the essential protections afforded to employees, and deprive state and local governments of the tax revenue that such employment should generate.” 

Pension Reform

IRS Issues Guidance on Uncashed Retirement Plan Distribution Checks and President Trump to Signs EO Opening 401(k) to Private Markets 

As the MCAA continues to engage with the Trump Administration on pension reform, there were several items we learned of a few developments we want to highlight. First, on July 16^th, the Internal Revenue Service issued Revenue Ruling 2025-15 providing guidance on withholding and reporting issues related to uncashed qualified retirement plan distribution checks and replacement checks. 

Separately President Trump is expected to sign an executive order to help make private equity investments more available to retirement plans. The order would instruct the Labor Department and Securities and Exchange Commission to guide employers on including private assets in 401(k) plans. The order is viewed as a response to companies’ refusal to include private equity investment options in retirement plans over concerns about being sued by participants over the high fees associated with private equity investment products. These developments come as Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said his agency is prepared to work with the Labor Department to establish guardrails for investors if they gain access to private equity in retirement plans. Private equity firms do not have the same level of required disclosures as public companies and are prone to valuation issues, so the SEC has historically prohibited ordinary investors from accessing them and restricted them to sophisticated parties who meet certain standards. 

Decarbonization

There were several notable updates on the decarbonization front over the past two weeks that we wanted to make you aware of:

EPA Proposes Repealing 2009 Endangerment Finding Allowing Agency to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

Last Wednesday, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said that his agency sent a proposed rule to the White House for review that would repeal a landmark 2009 Obama-era EPA “endangerment finding” that climate change poses a danger to the public. The finding provides a legal basis for EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. If the EPA succeeds in repealing the finding, it will not only allow the Administration to rescind all current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from power plants, factories, cars, and other sources, but would also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions. In proposing to repeal the finding, the EPA argues that the agency overstepped its legal authority under the Clean Air Act by making a broad finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public welfare.

White House Delays Biden-era Rules that Industry is Unable to Implement

On July 17^th, the White House announced that President Trump signed four proclamations to grant two years of regulatory relief from “stringent Biden-era regulations that impacted various sectors vital to national security.” The first proclamation exempts more than 50 chemical manufacturers and oil refineries from requirements in the Biden EPA’s final rule on “New Source Performance Standards for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry and Group I & II Polymers and Resins Industry” to cut emissions of toxic chemicals including ethylene oxide and other cancer-linked chemicals like chloroprene. The second proclamation exempts six coal plants from restrictions on releases of mercury, nickel, arsenic, and lead included in the Biden EPA’s “National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants:  Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and Technology Review” final rule. The third proclamation exempts eight producers of taconite iron ore, which is used to make steel, from requirements to reduce mercury emissions by 33% that were included in the Biden EPA’s final rule on “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Taconite Iron Ore Processing.” The fourth proclamation exempts about 40 medical device sterilizing plants from requirements to reduce 90% of their emissions of ethylene oxide that were included in the Biden EPA’s final rule on “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Ethylene Oxide Emissions Standards for Sterilization Facilities Residual Risk and Technology Review.”

EPA Announces Direct Final Rule to Extend Compliance Deadlines for Coal Combustion Residual Management Unit Requirements 

On July 17^th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is issuing a direct final rule and companion proposal that will extend the compliance deadlines for coal combustion residual (CCR) management unit (CCRMU) requirements. The EPA states that this rule will allow facilities to submit both sections of the Facility Evaluation Report at the same time, provided that both reports are turned in no later than February 8, 2027. The EPA is extending the groundwater monitoring requirements for owners or operators of coal combustion residual management units until August 8, 2029, at the latest. 

House Oversight Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Advancing Nuclear Energy 

Last Tuesday, MCAA closely monitored the House Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing entitled, “The New Atomic Age: Advancing America’s Energy Future.” During the hearing, Republicans emphasized the “importance of expanding nuclear energy” and the “advent of small and micro modular nuclear reactors and how their development and deployment will advance the use of safe, clean, and reliable nuclear energy in the United States.” Subcommittee Ranking Member Maxwell Frost (D-FL), however, sounded a more skeptical tone towards nuclear power. He raised safety issues about nuclear power, saying that while “we are lucky that nuclear power has a relatively strong safety record in the United States…this does not mean that it is inherently safe. It means the rules and regulations that prevent a nuclear accident have helped to keep us safe for more than 45 years.” Frost then criticized the Trump Administration, saying that it is jeopardizing the promise of nuclear energy “by crippling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and directing the agency to rubber stamp nuclear projects to get them done as fast as possible. 

Frost appeared to be referring to reports that during a meeting at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Adam Blake, a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer detailed to the NRC, reportedly told the NRC’s chair and top staff that the agency is expected to give “rubber stamp” approval to new reactors tested by the Departments of Energy or Defense. The meeting was held after President Trump signed a May 23^rd Executive Order that would supplant the NRC’s historical role as the sole agency responsible for ensuring commercial nuclear projects are safe and won’t threaten public health.

Trump Administration Working to Speed Nuclear Permitting

Last Tuesday, the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the artificial intelligence (AI) startup Atomic Canyon announced a collaboration to streamline Nuclear Regulatory Commission permitting for new nuclear plants. The collaboration focuses on using high-performance computing assets at Oak Ridge to create “high-fidelity simulations that ensure the safety of designs while accelerating licensing with artificial intelligence to automate aspects of the review process.” The announcement comes as AI developers are increasingly looking to utilize nuclear energy to power the growing number of data centers AI requires. 

DOE Announces BWX Technologies Commissioned a New Furnace for Advance Nuclear Fuel Production

Also last Tuesday, the Energy Department announced that BWX Technologies, with support from the Energy Department’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, successfully installed and tested a chemical vapor infiltration furnace used to manufacture advanced forms of TRISO fuel that can be used in Gen-IV nuclear reactors. The new furnace expands BWXT’s TRISO fuel manufacturing capabilities at the Advanced Technologies facility in Lynchburg, Virginia and is part of a larger project supported by DOE to optimize advanced manufacturing technologies to cut the cost of microreactors.

Federal Contracting 

OMB Memo Details GSA’s Plan to Consolidate Federal Contracts 

As we continue to engage the Trump Administration on federal contracting issues, we learned that on July 18^th, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum to federal agency heads implementing President Trump’s March 20, 2025 Executive Order “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement” and to consolidate the federal government’s contracting for “common goods and services” under the General Services Administration (GSA). While the term is not defined, an appendix to the memo suggests “common goods and services” incorporates contracts for facilities and construction, professional services, human capital, industrial products and services, and transportation and logistics.” According to the memo, priority attention for consolidation will be given to requirements that: (1) do not vary based on the mission of the agency; (2) involve highly commercialized products and services with no customization; (3) easy to standardize; and (4) allow for economies and efficiencies by reducing variation in offerings and services.

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

July 24, 2025

• A new Gallup poll found that President Trump’s approval rating dropped to 37%—the lowest level of his second term—largely due to a decline in support among independents. His approval rating has declined from 40% in June, 43% in May, and 44% in April.

July 23, 2025

• Norwegian energy giant Equinor reported mixed 2^nd quarter results as earnings were boosted by U.S. onshore gas production increasing 50% with prices rising 80% higher. But the company booked a nearly $1 billion impairment due to U.S. policy reversal on renewable energy that stalled construction of the company’s Empire Wind project off New York’s coast and created renewable energy lease issues.

• The Trump Energy Department terminated a conditional $4.9 billion loan guarantee for Grain Belt Project Phase 1 project, a giant Midwest high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line to connect wind and solar capacity across Kansas and Missouri. The Energy Department said that after a review it concluded the conditions necessary to issue the guarantee are unlikely to be met and it is not critical for the federal government to have a role in supporting this project. Republicans had criticized the project as a wasteful Biden-era green energy effort.

July 22, 2025

• European pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced a $50 billion investment in the U.S. by 2030 that includes a “drug substance facility” in Virginia that will be the company’s largest single manufacturing investment in the world. Additional funds will go towards the company’s existing or planned facilities in California, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts and Texas.

• The House Republican Caucus affirmed the recommendation of the House Republican Steering Committee to make Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee. Garbarino beat out Reps. Michael Guest (R-MS), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Clay Higgins (R-LA) for the spot after Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) announced his retirement. Among other things, the House Homeland Security Committee has oversight of physical security for critical infrastructure in the United States (including pipelines, refineries, and natural gas facilities) and border and port security.

July 21, 2025

• The Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration announced the award of $87.5 million in grants through the Small Shipyard Grant program, which supports advanced training, workforce development, and new technologies that strengthen U.S. shipbuilding and repair capabilities. Grant recipients under this announcement include: (1) $817,150 to Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corp. of Salisbury, MD to support the purchase of a 160-ton rough terrain mobile crane; (2) $817,150 to Snow and Company, Inc. of Seattle, WA for the purchase of a CNC Press Brake with segmented dies and Deburring Machine; (3) $817,150 to Breaux’s Bay Craft, Inc. to support the purchase of a 200-ton Marine Travelift; (4) $817,146 to Fraser Shipyards, LLC of Superior, WI to support the purchase of a Link Belt 130-ton Telescopic Boom Rough Terrain crane; (5) $617,040 to St. Johns Ship Building Inc. of Palatka, FL to support the purchase of a Grove GRT8100 110-ton Rough Terrain Crane; (6) $599,130 to JamesBuilt, LLC of Calvert City, KY to support the purchase of a 65-ton rough terrain crane; (7) $588,902 to Heartland Fabrication, LLC of Brownsville, PA to support the purchase of a Koike Aronson PlatePro XHD Model 3700 Plasma cutting machine; (8) $447,341 to Resolve Marine, Inc. of Dutch Harbor, AK to support the purchase of a Caterpillar 980 Wheel Loader; (9) $427,596 to Master Boat Builders of Bayou La Batre, AL to support the procurement and integration of training equipment and technologies; and (10) $388,777 to Bay Ship & Yacht Co. of Alameda, CA to support the purchase of a CNC plasma arc and gas cutting equipment.

• The National Republican Congressional Committee announced it raised $32.3 million in the second quarter, compared to $29.1 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 

July 20, 2025

• Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons promised to focus on employers exploiting undocumented immigrants, saying “not only are we focused on those individuals that are, you know, working here illegally, we’re focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers.” Lyons added that ICE agents will be obtaining “criminal warrants to focus on these American businesses that are trying to make an extra dollar on the backs of these people that came here for a better life.”

• A new poll from CBS Newsfound that 57% of Americans believe the President’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” will increase the cost of their healthcare, while only 13% believe it will reduce what they pay for healthcare. 

July 18, 2025

• An arbitration panel cleared the way for Chevron to complete its $53 billion purchase of Hess, dismissing Exxon Mobil’s claim that it had a contractual right to bid for Hess’s assets in Guyana.The ruling handed down Friday from the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris resolves an often tense and long-running dispute between Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Chevron originally struck the deal for Hess in October 2023, but Exxon Mobil caused an issue in the acquisition plan last year when it asserted a right to pre-empt its rival’s bid for Hess’s 30% stake in Guyana’s prolific Stabroek offshore block. Chevron had argued a right-of-first refusal on the Guyana project wouldn’t apply to the corporate takeover of Hess. Exxon’s move to block the deal stunned the oil industry, which hadn’t seen titanic oil companies battle to these extremes since a court fight with Pennzoil forced Texaco into bankruptcy in the 1980s.

July 17, 2025

• To speed the plugging of orphaned oil and gas wells around the nation, the Interior Department updated its guidelines for the $780 million Orphaned Wells State Matching Grant Program and the $1.93 billion Orphaned Wells State Formula Grant Program. The revised guidance eliminates non-statutory requirements and reduces burdens on state grant recipients by: (1) removing the requirement that states conduct pre- and post- plugging methane measurement; (2) recognizing the discretion states have in identifying and plugging orphaned wells; and (3) eliminating the Interior Department’s post-award, environmental review and approval process.

• The White House announced that President Trump was diagnosed with “chronic venous insufficiency” that is causing significant swelling in his lower limbs and ankles. Experts describe chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) as a condition in which the flow of superficial or deep venous blood is impaired, causing venous hypertension. The disease is caused by blood not efficiently returning from the legs to the heart, often as a result of damaged valves in the veins.

July 16, 2025

• House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) reintroduced the Child Care for Working Families Act, legislation to: (1) make child care affordable for working families; (2) improve the quality and supply of child care for all children and expand families’ child care options; (3) support higher wages for child care workers; (4) expand access to high-quality pre-K; and (5) better support Head Start programs by providing the funding necessary to offer full-day, full-year programming and increasing wages for Head Start workers. The bill text is available here, a fact sheet is available here, and a section-by-section is available here.

• Stellantis announced it is discontinuing its hydrogen fuel-cell technology development program because it doesn’t expect the adoption of hydrogen-powered light commercial vehicles before the end of the decade given the limited availability of hydrogen-refueling infrastructure, high capital requirements, and the need for stronger consumer purchasing incentives. The announcement means Stellantis will no longer launch its new range of hydrogen-powered Pro One vans, which were due to begin serial production in France and Poland this year.

July 15, 2025

• A proposed class of hundreds of thousands of employees sued Constellation Energy Corp., Dominion Energy Inc., and 24 other major nuclear power generation companies. The workers are employed at the 54 commercial nuclear power plants and allege that the companies are conspiring to unlawfully suppress their compensation in violation of federal antitrust law.

July 14, 2025

• House appropriators advanced the Interior and Environment appropriations bill to the full House Appropriations Committee by a vote of 8-5. The bill prioritizes fossil fuel development by providing $13.6 million for offshore oil and gas development at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and includes a $15 million increase for onshore oil and gas development at the Bureau of Land Management. It also blocks the Biden-EPA’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 and its emission regulations on light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles. The text of the bill is available here, a summary of the bill is available here, and a list of earmarks is available here.

Around the Country 

Northeast (ME, NH, CT, MA, RI, VT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, DC) 

• On July 23^rd, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) announced he will run for reelection to New York’s 17^th Congressional District next year rather than launch a bid for governor of New York.

• On July 21^st, the Trump Administration announced the cancellation of $327 million in federal aid to Massachusetts that had been awarded to partially finance the nearly $2 billion Allston Multimodal Project in Boston to remove an elevated viaduct that carries a portion of the turnpike through the Allston and Brighton neighborhoods on the west side of Boston and also involves improvements to nearby rail and traffic lanes in a notoriously congested portion of the Massachusetts turnpike. The cancellation is a result of the President’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that terminates the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program, which was the funding mechanism for this financial assistance to Boston.

• On July 17^th, Senate Republicans overcame an impasse on the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill that includes funding for the FBI, approving the measure by a 19-10 vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee after a fight over President Trump’s plans to change the location for the FBI’s new headquarters. The lawmakers knocked out a previously adopted amendment from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) that would have blocked the Administration from diverting cash from a $1.4 billion construction fund for anything other than building a new FBI headquarters in Maryland. Van Hollen said that he is not budging on his attempt to prevent the President from diverting FBI funding intended to move the agency’s headquarters to Greenbelt, MD. 

• On July 15^th, President Trump and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) attended the first-ever Pennsylvania Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University where CEOs announced billions of dollars in projects. The projects include: (1) Google investing $25 billion in data centers across Pennsylvania and neighboring states over the next two years and signing a 20-year deal with Brookfield to upgrade two hydroelectric power plants in Pennsylvania; (2) First Energy investing $15 billion in Pennsylvania’s electric grid; (3) Westinghouse pledging new nuclear reactor deliveries in Pennsylvania; (4) GE Vernova announcing the expansion of a local factory in Charleroi, PA; and (5) investment giants Blackstone and BlackRock rolling out more plans to build data centers in Pennsylvania. The announcements are part of a larger effort to turn Pittsburgh and the surrounding area into a national tech hub.

• On July 15^th, Goldman Sachs announced it will finance a $270 million affordable housing project to build 385 apartments in Brooklyn. The project, financed by Goldman’s Urban Investment Group, will also include commercial space.

• On July 14^th, Democrat Janelle Stelson, who lost to Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) by barely a percentage point in 2024, said she will run again in Pennsylvania’s 10^th Congressional District. 

West (CA, NV, UT, CO, WY)

• On July 22^nd, former Stockton, CA Mayor Kevin Lincoln (R) announced he will challenge incumbent Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA) in California’s 9^th Congressional District.

• On July 21^st, Perry Meade, a 26-year-old labor organizer with UNITE-HERE Local 11, announced plans to be the second Democrat challenging incumbent Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) in California’s 40^th Congressional District. Also on the 21^st, Katherine Aleman, a public school teacher and chicken farmer, announced a Democratic run to challenge Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) in California’s 41^st Congressional District.

• On July 16^th, the Transportation Department announced it is rescinding $4 billion in federal funding for California’s High-Speed Rail Project. In a letter, acting Federal Railroad Administration Administrator Drew Feeley wrote that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) “breached the commitments” it made in its original agreements, specifically by displaying an “inability to complete” the goals it established. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also issued a statement saying that “after over decade of failures, CHSRA’s mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget. It is time for this boondoggle to die.” Separately, in a social media post, President Trump said, “This project was severely overpriced, overregulated, and never delivered. The railroad we were promised still does not exist and never will.” The following day, July 17^th, California’s High-Speed Rail Authority sued the Trump Transportation Department to reinstate the more than $4 billion in federal grant cuts to the rail program that would connect the Los Angeles area with San Francisco and other cities. The lawsuit claims the cuts resulted from President Trump’s “personal animus” toward California and its rail program rather than a rational analysis and are thus an “abuse of discretion” threatening to “wreak significant economic damage on the Central Valley, the State, and the Nation.” The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Northwest (OR, WA, ID, MT)

• On July 24^th, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced it recovered $155,066 in back wages and fringe benefits for 19 employees of AAA Fire Protection Inc. headquartered in Seattle, WA who were underpaid for their work on a project funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The WHD found that AAA Fire Protection Inc. was contracted to install sprinklers at a newly constructed mixed-use apartment and retail complex in Denver and incorrectly classified 16 employees as apprentices and failed to provide fringe benefits and proper prevailing wages in violation of the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts. AAA Fire Protection also neglected to pay overtime premiums to employees working more than 40 hours in a workweek and failed to keep proper records, both violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

• On July 22^nd, nuclear start-up Oklo, which specializes in small modular reactors (SMRs), announced a partnership with Vertiv Holdings to develop power and cooling systems for artificial intelligence data centers that leverage steam and electricity from on-site SMRs to drive data-center cooling systems that use Vertiv’s thermal management systems. The pilot technology demonstration is planned for Oklo’s first Aurora powerhouse at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, ID.

• On July 18^th, Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) highlighted funding for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in the fiscal year 2026 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill that passed the House Appropriations Committee by a vote of 35-27. Simpson said that the bill: (1) provides funding for INL’s infrastructure and operations; (2) provides funding for INL’s Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) project; (3) provides funding for the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) Test Bed at INL; (4) provides funding for a variety of advanced reactor construction and demonstrations; and (5) provides funding for further research and development of advanced Tri-structural Isotropic (TRISO) and High-Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) reactor fuel at INL. 

Midwest (ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, WI, IL, IN, OH, MI)

• On July 23^rd, Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) said he will not run to be Michigan’s next U.S. senator, saying that “after careful consideration…as well as consultation with President Trump, I have decided against a bid for U.S. Senate in Michigan” adding that he looks forward to “announcing [his] future plans later this year.”

• On July 22^nd, a National Labor Relations Board Administrative Law Judge ruled that Chicago-area plumbing company Reliance Plumbing, Sewer, and Drainage must rehire several workers and bargain with the United Association because it violated the NLRA by threatening workers supporting unionization, unilaterally altering their schedules, and committing numerous other unfair labor practices at its facility in Northbrook, Illinois. Workers began organizing at the facility in August 2023 when management proposed changing the way it paid them from hourly to per job.

• On July 22^nd, President Trump endorsed Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) for reelection next year despite previously calling Rounds a “jerk” and vowing not to support him in the future.

• On July 15^th, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is committed to building several massive data centers and the first data center expected to come online next year in Ohio.

Southeast (WV, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY, AR, LA, MO)

• On July 24^th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $500,000 to the city of Springfield, MO to fund their Brownfields Assessment Grant. The funding will be used to inventory brownfield sites, conduct 20 environmental site assessments, and develop four cleanup plans and two area-wide plans, including at a 24,000-square-foot foundry complex, a 5.62-acre rail yard, and a 0.96-acre site previously used for auto sales, repair, and salvage.

• On July 24^th, it was revealed that Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whately is expected to launch a bid for retiring Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) Senate seat with President Trump’s endorsement after Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump passed on entering the race. This followed reports onJuly 23^rd that former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is expected to announce his campaign for U.S. Senate as early as this week following incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) retirement. 

• On July 22^nd, the Pipeline Safety and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced that it has entered into a 20-year lease agreement with McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana to become the site of PHMSA’s National Center of Excellence for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Safety. The Center will facilitate research and development, training, and regulatory coordination between federal agencies to advance LNG safety and innovation and will facilitate collaboration among LNG sector stakeholders. The lease will commence on August 1, 2025. Additional information on the Center is available here.

• On July 21^st, GOP Rep. Mike Collins (GA) inched closer to running against incumbent Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff (D)  in 2026, posting a video on X (formerly Twitter) indicating plans to enter the race. 

• On July 17^th, Kentucky State Sen. Ralph Alvarado (R) announced a bid for Kentucky’s 6^th Congressional District currently represented by Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), who is running for Senate to replace retiring Sen. McConnell (R-KY). 

• On July 16^th, Hallie Shoffner, a sixth-generation farmer from northeast Arkansas, announced a Democratic U.S. Senate bid against incumbent Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).

• On July 15^th, British aerospace and defense company Rolls-Royce announced it is investing $75 million to expand its engine manufacturing facility in Aiken, South Carolina. The investment will boost output of mtu Series 4000 diesel engines, which are used in backup power systems for data centers and other critical infrastructure. 

• On July 14^th, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) said he may “take a look” at running for president in 2028, explaining that his goal would be to “heal the country.”

Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)

• On July 23^rd, Chevron Corp. cut 575 jobs in the Houston area on the same day it completed the $53 billion takeover of Hess Corp.

• On July 22^nd, Texas-based utility firm CPS Energy announced that it entered into an agreement with Seattle energy company Modern Hydrogen on a new project to increase electricity grid resilience and enable cleaner power generation from natural gas. The project involves CPS testing Modern Hydrogen’s technology that breaks down the hydrocarbons in natural gas to produce hydrogen and solid carbon and then stores and reuses the solid carbon in products like asphalt for infrastructure projects.

• On July 18^th, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report changed its rating of the 2026 Texas Senate race from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican” as the contentious GOP primary between Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) rages on. The ratings change comes as polls consistently show Paxton leading Cornyn in the Republican primary. However, in hypothetical general election polling, Paxton appears more vulnerable against likely Democrats than Cornyn does.

• On July 17^th, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced that it is accelerating expansion of its “gigafab facility” in Phoenix, Arizona to meet soaring U.S. demand from clients in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. The company is also moving forward by “several quarters” the initiation of production at some of the facilities being built.

• On July 15^th, Adelita Grijalva won the special Democratic primary for Arizona’s 7^th Congressional District and is favored to win the September 23, 2025 special general election for the seat previously occupied by her father, the late Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).

• On July 14^th, Ivanhoe Electric said that it is quickly advancing plans to build the nation’s first large copper mine in over a decade in Arizona on 6,000 acres of private land to meet the growing demand for copper. The announcement comes as copper prices reach an all-time high following President Trump’s announcement that he intends to impose 50% tariffs on imported copper. Construction on the Santa Cruz copper mine near Tucson is expected to begin next year.

The Mechanical Contractors Association of America’s Government Affairs Committee held a webinar, July 24, to help members understand the implications of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The session focused on the requirements and potential consequences of the executive order for businesses in the construction industry, with an emphasis on maintaining compliance while preserving existing and potential federal contract work.

Gregory Ossi, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, led the discussion. Ossi advises employers on labor law and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)-related litigation matters in the energy production, mining, government contracting, hospitality, manufacturing, and construction industries. He counsels on issues including collective bargaining, mergers and acquisitions, union organizing, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and retiree healthcare with an emphasis on multi-employer pension withdrawal liability.

Ossi also has experience negotiating Project Labor Agreements as well as retirement and healthcare plans pursuant to collective bargaining agreements. He has litigated labor and ERISA cases in federal courts in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, Kentucky and Virginia.

The Mechanical Contractors Association of America’s Government Affairs Committee will hold a webinar July 24 at 2 p.m. Eastern time to help members understand the implications of President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

The session will focus on the requirements and potential consequences of the executive order for businesses in the construction industry, with an emphasis on maintaining compliance while preserving existing and potential federal contract work.

Gregory Ossi, partner at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, will lead the discussion. Ossi advises employers on labor law and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)-related litigation matters in the energy production, mining, government contracting, hospitality, manufacturing, and construction industries. He counsels on issues including collective bargaining, mergers and acquisitions, union organizing, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, and retiree healthcare with an emphasis on multi-employer pension withdrawal liability.

Ossi also has experience negotiating Project Labor Agreements as well as retirement and healthcare plans pursuant to collective bargaining agreements. He has litigated labor and ERISA cases in federal courts in the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas, Kentucky and Virginia.

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, July 14, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

MCAA Issues and Interests

Budget Reconciliation

Reconciliation Bill Signed into Law with MCAA Priorities

On July 4^th, President Trump signed the GOP reconciliation bill, known as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1), into law. The MCAA spent months ensuring this seminal legislation retained the tax regime of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) with some improvements. MCAA also significantly mitigated cuts to Inflation Reduction Act clean energy tax credits that were identified as most important to the MCAA after the House initially proposed the rapid elimination of them. We also succeeded in preventing Congress from paying for this legislation with offsets that would have been disastrous for our industry. 

On the tax front, MCAA lobbied with an array of organizations to maintain the corporate and individual tax rates from the TCJA. We also secured improvements, such as permanently extending the Section 199A 20% passthrough deduction, permanently extending the Section 168 100% bonus depreciation for new and used equipment and machinery, and increasing the limitation amount for the Section 179 immediate expensing of qualified property from $1 million to $2.5 million (which will be reduced by the amount that the cost of the qualifying property exceeds $4 million). 

MCAA’s greatest contribution to the bill, however, was our successful advocacy to extend the life of Inflation Reduction Act clean energy tax credits that the Government Affairs Committee identified as priorities for our industry. This became an intense fight after the House initially proposed drastically accelerated phaseouts. 

The first iteration of the reconciliation bill as released by the House Budget Committee would have: (1) accelerated the phaseout for the Section 45Y “Clean Electricity Production Credit,” the Section 48E “Clean Electricity Investment Credit,” and Section 45U “Zero-Emission Nuclear Power Production Credit” based on the date a facility is placed into service, reducing the credits by 20% starting in 2029 before eliminating them completely by 2031; (2) terminated the Section 45X “Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit” on December 31, 2031; (3) terminated the Section 45V “Credit for Production of Clean Hydrogen” on January 1, 2026; and (4) repealed the transferability of the Section 45Q “Carbon Oxide Sequestration Credit” for projects that begin construction after two years of enactment of the reconciliation bill. 

Following release of the House Budget Committee reconciliation text, MCAA worked with lawmakers to improve provisions in the bill related to nuclear energy in two important ways before the House Rules Committee released the bill text on which the House would vote. First, the revised Rules Committee bill text that the House sent to the Senate eliminated the Budget Committee’s phaseouts of the Section 45Y and 48E credits as they applied to nuclear power. We also succeeded in persuading the Rules Committee to exempt nuclear power from a requirement disallowing these tax credits to facilities beginning construction more than 60 days after the bill’s date of enactment or placed into service after December 31, 2028. Instead, the Rules Committee text allowed advanced nuclear projects to get these credits if they begin construction by December 31, 2028. Additionally, we successfully advocated for changes that eliminated the phaseouts for the Section 45U Nuclear Power Production credit, allowing project sponsors to claim the full credit until December 31, 2031. 

Even before the bill passed the House, MCAA was lobbying the Senate for additional changes to our clean energy tax credit priorities that it was clear we would not get fixed in the House. MCAA secured several important improvements in the Senate bill that was ultimately signed into law over the language the House sent to the Senate. These included: (1) extending the Section 45Y and 48E credits through 2035, with phaseouts allowing for 75% of the credits for facilities that begin construction in 2034 and 50% for facilities that begin construction in 2035, before terminating for facilities that begin construction after 2035; (2) extending the full Section 45U credit for an additional year from December 31, 2031 to December 31, 2032; (3) extending the Section 45X credit for two additional years from December 31, 2031 to December 31, 2033, with a gradual phaseout of 25% each year beginning in 2031 before being fully eliminated at the end of 2033; (4) extending the Section 45V credit for two years from January 1, 2026 to January 1, 2028; and (5) securing the elimination of the transferability restrictions on the Section 45Q credit. We also helped to secure provisions in the Senate bill to increase the CHIPS and Science Act’s advanced manufacturing investment credit from 25% to 30% to incentivize chipmakers to spend more on new chip facilities in the U.S.

Throughout this process, the MCAA policy team also successfully fended off efforts to include problematic offsets in the bill, including a cap on the deductibility of employer-provided health insurance. Other problematic offsets the MCAA team helped keep out of the bill were changes to the tax treatment of municipal bonds, and a cap on the corporate state and local tax deduction. Now that H.R. 1 has been signed into law, the MCAA policy team is working with the Trump Administration on implementation of the provisions we lobbied for in the bill. 

Registered Apprenticeship

DOL Publishes Proposed Rule Rescinding Regulations Covering the EEO Obligations of Sponsors of Registered Apprenticeship Programs

As the policy team advocated on the reconciliation bill, we were also busy digesting and distilling for MCAA  a long-anticipated proposed rule from the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) on July 2^nd that effectively rescinds the current regulations governing the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) obligations of sponsors of registered apprenticeship programs. We have known this proposed rule was coming since our engagement with the Department of Labor (DOL) in the first quarter about its plans to implement the President’s executive orders on DEI [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] and what that might mean for registered apprenticeship.

In general, the proposed rule is what we expected. It reduces an apprenticeship program sponsor’s EEO obligations to complying with “all applicable federal and state laws governing nondiscrimination in the workplace.” The proposed rule states that for EEO, it is “not necessary” for DOL to have “a separate oversight, investigative, and enforcement framework specific to registered apprenticeship.” The proposal eliminates the requirements for apprenticeship programs with five or more apprentices to prepare Affirmative Action Plans. It also eliminates the standards on nondiscriminatory methods for selection of apprentices, making it so that registered apprenticeship programs do not have to undertake any selection procedures for apprentices beyond those used to hire regular employees. Under the proposed rule, the DOL will only deregister an apprenticeship program for EEO violations “if a competent enforcement agency or court issues a final determination of unlawful discrimination” against it. Finally, to ensure uniformity across states, the proposed rule mandates that within one year of the effective date of a final rule, all State Apprenticeship Agencies seeking to obtain or maintain recognition to certify registered apprenticeship under current 29 CFR Part 29 must “ensure that their apprenticeship laws, regulations, policies, and procedures exclusively pertaining to nondiscrimination and equality of opportunity for apprentices conform only to the requirements” of this proposed rule. They will no longer be able to impose requirements above the floor DOL is setting in this rulemaking.

The MCAA policy team sent a detailed memorandum on the proposed rule to MCAA leadership the day it issued and that was included in government affairs team’s weekly regulatory report submitted last week. Comments on the proposed rule are due September 2, 2025.

DOL Issues Guidance to Restrict Undocumented Immigrants from Accessing Federal Workforce Development Programs funded by WIOA

As we continue engaging with the Labor Department on regulatory issues, including registered apprenticeship, we learned that last Thursday, as part of Trump Administration-wide efforts across federal agencies to prevent undocumented immigrants from getting taxpayer funded benefits, the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration issued new guidance to ensure undocumented immigrants are not allowed to access federal workforce development and training programs. This includes programs funded under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and allotments of WIOA funds received by state and local workforce boards. This extends to Title I Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth programs (including statewide employment and training services funded by governors’ reserves), WIOA National Dislocated Worker Grants, Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service, Reentry Employment Opportunities and other programs authorized under Section 169 of WIOA, YouthBuild, and other, similar programs. Under this new guidance, all grantees funded through WIOA and related programs must verify an individual’s valid work authorization before providing participant-level services. The guidance also directs the public workforce development system to update all policies and procedures to verify work authorization and maintain proper documentation in participant case files. 

DOL Announces Nearly $84 Million to Expand Registered Apprenticeships

As part of the Administration’s effort to reach its goal of 1 million active participants in registered apprenticeship programs, on June 30^th DOL awarded nearly $84 million in State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula Grant Funding to 50 states and territories to support the implementation of President Trump’s Executive Orders related to enhancing and expanding the National Apprenticeship to advance President Trump’s Executive Actions on “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future,” “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth,” “Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance,” and “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.” States can use this funding to advance “the expansion of Registered Apprenticeships in both traditional and emerging industries.” MCAA affiliates may wish to confer with their relevant state apprenticeship authority to ascertain how they intend to use their allotment of these funds.

DOL Announces $5 Million WANTO Grant Funding to Attract and Retain Women in Registered Apprenticeship Programs in Construction

Relatedly, last Wednesday, Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer announced a $5 million funding opportunity for up to 14 Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grants administered jointly through DOL’s Women’s Bureau and Employment and Training Administration to attract and retain more women in registered apprenticeship programs and high-growth industries like construction, manufacturing, and cybersecurity. Grant awards will total between $350,000 and $750,000 each. Applications are due by August 8, 2025 and can be submitted through Grants.gov here. 

This grant announcement is notable for a couple of reasons. First, the President’s fiscal year 2026 budget request calls for the elimination of the DOL Women’s Bureau. Second, the grant announcement comes as the Trump Administration is engaged in litigation with WANTO grantee Chicago Women in Trades in a lawsuit over whether the Administration can freeze the organization’s existing WANTO grant focused on bringing Black and Latina women into the trades because their focus on minorities violates President Trump’s January 20, 2025 executive order calling for the termination of “DEI” and “equity-related” efforts in federal programs, including grants. 

Tariffs

President Trump Announces Copper Tariffs as He Sets New August 1 Deadline for Imposition of Reciprocal Tariffs

Last Tuesday, copper prices hit a record high as President Trump said he will impose a 50% tariff on copper imports. MCAA health plans should also be aware that the President also said he will soon announce tariffs “at a very, very high rate, like 200%,” on pharmaceutical imports. This announcement followed a Monday executive order formally delaying until August 1, 2025, the previously-delayed implementation of his “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariff rates that were set to expire on July 9^th. The order was accompanied by letters to various countries informing them of the tariff rates that will now take effect on August 1. In social media posts overnight last Monday and during the day last Tuesday, President Trump insisted that there will be “no extensions” of this latest August 1 deadline. Notably, the new August 1^st deadline falls between the July 21^st deadline the Trump Administration set for the U.S. and Canada to conclude a trade deal and the August 12^th deadline when the Administration’s 90-day trade truce with China expires. As of the end of last week, President Trump was threatening to impose 35% tariffs on Canada effective August 1^st if a trade deal is not reached. This threat seems to include an implicit delay of the July 21^st deadline for the U.S. and Canada to conclude a trade deal. These developments come as the Trump Administration is reportedly closing in on a trade deal with the European Union (EU) that would entail a modest 10% baseline tariff on all EU goods, with some exceptions for sensitive sectors such as aircraft and spirits.

Project Labor Agreements and Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage

As noted above, with reconciliation in the rear-view mirror, the MCAA policy team has turned to the fiscal year 2026 funding deliberations with a focus on our annual goal of defeating all efforts to introduce anti-Davis-Bacon and anti-project labor agreement (PLA) provisions into the annual appropriations bills. This is a time consuming process that involves proactive outreach to lawmakers to try to identify these provisions in time to advocate against them, because, as we have seen in the past, anti-Davis-Bacon and PLA lawmakers usually keep their plans close to the chest and spring their amendments without notice during committee markups of the appropriations bills.

Independent Contractors and Misclassification of Workers 

House Education and the Workforce Could Markup Misclassification Bills Ahead of August Recess

As the MCAA policy team continues engaging policymakers on misclassification in the construction industry, we are anticipating that the House Education and the Workforce Committee could hold a markup before the upcoming August recess on two misclassification bills from Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA). The first bill, the Modern Worker Empowerment Act (H.R. 1319) would redefine the employment tests under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the National Labor Relations Act to a very narrow “significant control” test. 

The second bill, the Modern Worker Security Act (H.R. 1320) prohibits federal agencies and courts, when determining employment status under federal law, from taking into consideration whether an employer voluntarily provides a worker a “portable benefit.” “Portable benefits” include any of the usual list of benefits traditionally associated with employment as well as “skills training, professional development…income security, and short-term saving.” The benefit would be “portable” if provided in “a manner that allows the individual to maintain the benefits without regard to whether the [worker] continues to perform work for [the putative employer].”

Senate companions to these bills were also introduced last week, but we currently believe that the House versions will move first.

Decarbonization

MCAA Recognized for Work to Pass Law Rescinding Biden-era Rule on Gas-fired Instantaneous Water Heaters

As you know, the MCAA had a leading role in enacting a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (H.J. Res. 20) from Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL) that nullified a Biden-era Energy Department final rule on “Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-fired Instantaneous Water Heaters.” This rule had established more stringent standards on energy used by consumer gas-fired instantaneous water heaters that had potential to drastically increase prices and essentially eliminate non-condensing tankless water heaters from the market. In recognition of MCAA’s effective lobbying that helped to enacting this CRA into law, Rep. Palmer signed a redline presentation of the signature page of the public law version of the measure as signed by President Trump. This redline was given to the MCAA lobbying team and has been presented to MCAA CEO Tim Brink as a memento of the MCAA’s effective advocacy on this important decarbonization priority. 

Energy Department Grid Reliability Study Makes Case for More Oil, Natural Gas, Coal, and Nuclear Power Generation 

Last Monday, the Energy Department (DOE) released its “Report on Evaluating U.S. Grid Reliability and Security,” fulfilling the directive established in President Trump’s April 8, 2025 Executive Order on “Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Grid.” This Executive Order requires the Secretary of Energy to develop a uniform methodology for analyzing current and anticipated reserve margins for all regions of the bulk power system regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The report reveals that existing generation requirements and delays in adding new firm capacity will lead to a surge in power outages and a growing mismatch between electricity demand and supply, particularly from artificial intelligence (AI)-driven data center growth. The report makes clear that the Administration can be expected to continue acting to prevent the closure of baseload, dispatchable power, such as from coal, oil and gas, and nuclear, because of the need for these generation sources to maintain the grid. A fact sheet on the report is available here.

EPA Intends to Update 2024 Effluent Limitations Guidelines for Steam Electric Power Generating Units

As we continue to engage the Trump Administration on decarbonization issues, we wanted you to be aware that on June 30^th, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency’s intent to revise the Biden-era 2024 Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs) for Steam Electric Power Generating Units. The EPA says this initial rulemaking will propose extending compliance deadlines for many of the zero-discharge requirements in the 2024 Rule and the deadline for facilities to decide whether to submit a Notice of Planned Participation. The forthcoming rulemaking will also seek additional information on zero-discharge technologies, including cost and performance data, to help EPA determine whether to move forward with a second rulemaking to address zero-discharge technologies and other flexibilities and alternatives to compliance with the Biden-era 2024 rule.

Permitting Reform

As part of the Trump Administration’s broader effort to expedite energy infrastructure for oil, gas, nuclear that are part of its energy dominance strategy, several agencies announced updates to permitting regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Of interest to the MCAA, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new interim final rule and revised National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance to fix “the broken permitting process” and “deliver on President Trump’s pledge to unleash American energy dominance and accelerate critical energy infrastructure” as “part of a government-wide effort to restore common sense to permitting.” Major changes to DOE NEPA permitting include: (1) reducing the time for environmental assessments from three years to two years; (2) ensuring designation of a “lead agency” empowered to clarify permitting and review responsibilities of all parties, require coordination amongst the agencies, and ensure agencies develop a single environmental document; (3) implementing strict deadlines and page limits for review; (4) limiting review to considering only verified scientific studies that already exist; and (5) applying the recent Supreme Court decision in Seven County, which limits requirements for agencies to analyze upstream and downstream greenhouse gas effects and “curtails radical climate change analysis associated with activities outside agency jurisdiction.” DOE is also excluding from NEPA review authorizations to export natural gas to free-trade agreement countries. 

Separately, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced that his department is updating and partially rescinding parts of its regulations on implementation of NEPA to expedite infrastructure development permitting and to reduce the costs of permitting projects. Finally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted unanimously to revise its regulations on the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and issued a staff manual outlining the revised procedures to speed FERC permitting of energy projects.

Federal Contracting

DOL Publishes Rules to Implement President Trump’s EO “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”

On July 1^st, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued two new rulemakings as part of its implementation of President Trump’s January 21, 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14173 on “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” of which MCAA members who are government contractors should be aware. The first proposed rule from DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) implements EO 14173’s repeal of the Lyndon Johnson-era Executive Order 11246 “Equal Employment Opportunity,” by rescinding the regulations that implemented the obligations for federal contractors and subcontractors to avoid discrimination by, among other things, taking affirmative action to ensure that job applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. OFCCP already ceased enforcing these regulations after President Trump rescinded EO 11246. Comments on the proposed rule are due September 2, 2025 and can be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal using Docket No. OFCCP-2025-0001. 

The second proposed rule from DOL implements President Trump’s EO 14713 by removing regulations implementing the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that require direct and indirect recipients of financial assistance under Title I of WIOA to engage in affirmative outreach to groups based on race, sex, national origin, and other characteristics not required by statute. Comments on this proposed rule are due by July 31, 2025 and can be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal here using RIN 1291-AA47. 

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

July 10, 2025

• The Trump Administration ratcheted up its campaign to pressure Federal Reserve Chair Powell to lower interest rates, with White House OMB Director Russell Vought accusing Powell of “grossly” mismanaging the Fed and misleading Congress about a pricey renovation to the Federal Reserve’s headquarters. The letter raises the specter that Trump is building a case to remove Powell for cause. The letter comes as President Trump again railed against “Too Late” Powell for not lowering the Federal Reserve’s benchmark rate. Taking to Truth Social, Trump said, “Tech Stocks, Industrial Stocks, & NASDAQ HIT ALL-TIME RECORD HIGHS! CRYPTO, ‘Through the Roof.’ NVIDIA IS UP 47% SINCE TRUMP TARIFFS. USA is taking in Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs. Country is now ‘back.’ A great credit! Fed should rapidly lower rate to reflect this strength. USA should be at the ‘top of the list.’ no INFLATION!!! ‘Too Late’ DEMEANS THE GREAT CREDIT OF THE USA.” 

• CNBC released its latest list of the top states for business. At the top of the list is North Carolina, followed by Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Ohio rounding out the top 5.  Massachusetts had the most improved ranking, jumping 18 spots to number 20.  The five states at the bottom of the list were Louisiana, Rhode Island, Montana, Hawaii, and Alaska ranked last.  

July 9, 2025

• The Senate voted 54-43 to confirm Preston Wells Griffith III to serve as Undersecretary of the Department of Energy, with Sen. Angus King (I-ME) joining all Republicans in voting for confirmation. Also on Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee unanimously advanced to the full Senate David Wright’s nomination to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

• The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced a confirmation hearing on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 10am to consider the nominations of Crystal Carey—a management-side labor lawyer at Morgan Lewis—to be General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board and Brittany Panuccio to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

• The House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections announced a hearing on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 at 10:15 am entitled, “Safe Workplaces, Stronger Partnerships: The Future of OSHA Compliance Assistance.” The hearing will focus on encouraging employers to voluntarily comply with health and safety standards instead of focusing on enforcement actions by OSHA to ensure compliance. The witnesses for the hearing are not yet available.

• The Transportation Department (DOT) announced that it sent letters to all DOT funding recipients saying that the Trump Administration is releasing them of “their obligations to comply with” diversity, equity, and inclusion, climate change, and other commitments that the Biden Administration required as conditions of their awards. This includes “all orders, directives, rules, regulations, notices, guidance documents, funding agreements, programs, and policy statements, or portions thereof, which were authorized, adopted, or approved between noon on January 20, 2021 and noon on January 20, 2025, and which reference or relate in any way to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, racial equity, gender identity, diversity equity and inclusion goals, environmental justice, or the Justice 40 Initiative.

July 8, 2025

• GOP-aligned super PAC The Senate Leadership Fund announced it brought in $85 million during the first half of 2025—more than doubling its previous record for the first half of an off-year. The group has $83 million in cash on hand and is planning to begin running ads well before the traditional blast after Labor Day of an election year. The group has already started spending in Georgia, North Carolina, Maine, Alaska and Nebraska. It also says it is preparing an ad buy in Texas for Senator Cornyn. The announcement comes as House GOP-aligned super PACs are spending millions trying to figure out how to get Trump voters who tend not to vote when President Trump is not on the ballot to turn out and support Republican Congressional candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. They view going on the offense to sell the recently enacted reconciliation bill as key to this effort.

• The advocacy group Protect Our Jobs has started airing ads attacking vulnerable House Republicans, like Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), for supporting the reconciliation bill and specifically targeting GOP members over the bill’s cuts to clean energy tax credits. 

July 7, 2025 

• The Interior Department (DOI) proposed updates to Bureau of Land Management oil and gas regulations that would allow commingling (e.g., combining production from multiple leases) when leases have different mineral ownership, royalty rates, and revenue distribution. Currently, commingling leases can only happen when these conditions are identical. DOI explains that these updates could result in as much as $1.8 billion in industry savings annually.

• The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced that its first national ad buy of the 2026 election cycles will target 35 House Republicans and focus on the impact of the reconciliation bill on Medicaid and rural hospitals. 

July 5, 2025

• Elon Musk announced that he will form a new, third political party in the U.S. called the America Party, but neither Musk nor his advisers have filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to establish the new party. The name of the party is similar to the political action committee Musk helped launch, America PAC, which spent close to $300 million in 2024 helping to elect President Trump and other Republicans. President Trump criticized Musk’s plans to create a third party as “ridiculous,” and characterized the tech billionaire as having gone “completely off the rails.”

July 2, 2025

• MCAA-affiliated health plans should be aware that the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the establishment of a joint DOJ-HHS False Claims Act Working Group. Membership in the Working Group will include leadership from the HHS Office of General Counsel, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Center for Program Integrity, the Office of Counsel to the HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), and DOJ’s Civil Division, with designees representing U.S. Attorneys’ Offices. The group will be jointly led by the HHS General Counsel, Chief Counsel to HHS-OIG, and the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Commercial Litigation Branch. As part of the Working Group’s coordination work, HHS shall make referrals to DOJ of potential violations of the FCA that reflect the Working Group priorities: (1) Medicare Advantage; (2) drug, device or biologics pricing; (3) barriers to patient care;  (4) kickbacks related to drugs, medical devices, durable medical equipment; (5) materially defective medical devices; and (6) manipulation of electronic health record systems to drive inappropriate utilization of Medicare-covered products and services.

July 1, 2025

• The White House sent several nominees to the Senate, including: (1) Rosario Palmieri to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy; and (2) Lee Beaman, Mitch Graves, Jeff Hagood, and Randall Jones to be members of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority.

June 30, 2025

• The White House published a presidential memorandum to spur energy development. It orders the Departments of Energy, Treasury, Defense, Interior, Agriculture, Transportation, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration, to speed energy development by sharing “information with one another and the White House when providing funding to energy infrastructure and critical mineral and material projects.” The agencies are also directed to, within six months, develop a common application for federal funding opportunities related to energy infrastructure or critical mineral or material-related projects “that enables applicants to apply simultaneously to multiple federal government funding programs using one common application. The common application shall include any legal terms, including consents, necessary to facilitate the information sharing requirements” mandated by the memorandum. A fact sheet on this presidential memorandum is available here.

• A bipartisan group of 21 lawmakers wrote to the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with a series of policy changes designed to speed up and reduce the cost of transportation projects that they wanted included in the next surface transportation bill—including the construction of more multifamily housing near transit projects. The letter highlights that currently, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a project “takes an average of 1,793 days to complete” and that “25% of projects take over six years to get through the [environmental review] process.” The letter also explains that in “the 1970s, the average EIS was just a few pages long. Today, the average EIS is a staggering 1,703 pages.” The lawmakers say its proposals “will limit unnecessary process, reform overly burdensome environmental review, cut excessive red tape, and remove barriers to housing construction” near transportation projects.  

Around the Country

Northeast (ME, NH, CT, MA, RI, VT, NY, NJ, PA, DE, DC)

• On July 10^th, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 15-14 in favor of an amendment from Sen. Van Hollen (D-MD) to the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill that would block President Trump from using any appropriated funds to build a new FBI headquarters anywhere other than the Greenbelt, MD location selected by the General Services Administration in 2023. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined with the Committee’s Democrats in favor of the amendment. This followed a July 1^st announcement from the General Services Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that they selected the Ronald Reagan Building complex in Washington, D.C. as the next FBI headquarters in lieu of the Greenbelt, MD site announced in 2023.

• On July 9^th, Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) announced he will run for re-election and not seek the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania, despite having President Trump’s recent promise of support if he were to run. 

• On July 7^th, it was reported that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is teaming with Related Cos. to build a 1,200-foot Manhattan skyscraper one block from Central Park, which the developer and the Saudis purchased last year for more than $600 million. Related Cos. initially planned a mixed-use project at the site with residential, retail, and a hotel. But more recently the developer said it has been considering an office building instead to take advantage of the strong demand among businesses for top-quality space in the city. The project is the latest sign that foreign investors are flocking back to New York’s rapidly recovering real-estate market. 

• On June 30^th, Rep. Dwight Evans (D-PA) announced he will not seek re-election to Pennsylvania’s 2^nd Congressional District in 2026.

West (CA, NV, UT, CO, WY)

• On July 10^th, it was reported that as California attempts to respond to provisions curtailing clean energy in the GOP reconciliation bill, officials are considering slashing environmental permitting further to keep clean energy projects in the state on track. Clean energy groups say it will be impossible for the state to replace clean energy incentives slashed by Congress and are instead pushing state lawmakers to cut red tape and allow projects to get shovels in the ground faster.

• On July 7^th, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) partially approved a petition to modify a 2022 final consent order involving the acquisition of EP Energy, LLC (EP Energy) by a subsidiary of EnCap Capital Fund XI, LP and EnCap Investments LP (together, EnCap). The 2022 consent order settled charges that the acquisition would harm competition for the sale of Uinta Basin waxy crude oil to Salt Lake City, Utah-area refiners. The consent order required the divestiture of EP Energy’s entire business and assets in Utah and required EnCap and its subsidiaries Verdun Oil Company II LLC (Verdun) and XCL Resources Holdings, LLC (XCL) to obtain prior approval from the FTC before engaging in certain acquisitions in the seven Utah counties comprising the Uinta Basin. The FTC’s new order modifying the petition removes the prior-approval requirement for any reentry into the market by EnCap, Verdun, or XCL, as requested by the parties, and replaces the prior-approval requirement with a prior-notice requirement for any subsequent transaction involving oil- or gas-producing assets in the Uinta Basin area.

• On July 2^nd, a new poll from the University of California, Irvine found that, by a 2-1 margin, Californians say their state is on the “wrong track,” and former Vice President Harris led the pack of identified candidates for California governor with 24%. Harris was well ahead of the second place candidate, Rick Caruso, who has 9%. But 41% of those polled said they are “not sure yet” who they want. 

Northwest (OR, WA, ID, MT)

• On July 11^th, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) confirmed he will run for a fourth term next year after some speculation that he may retire.

• On July 1^st, the White House issued a presidential permit to Junction Pipeline Company, LLC to construct, connect, operate, and maintain pipeline border facilities at the international border of the U.S. and Canada at Toole County, Montana, for the import of crude oil and petroleum products including, but not limited to, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas liquids, jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel (but not including natural gas subject to section 3 of the Natural Gas Act).

Midwest (ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, WI, IL, IN, OH, MI)

• On July 10^th, Michigan State University professor Josh Cowen announced a Democratic bid in Michigan’s 7^th Congressional District represented by incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett (R).  

• On July 9^th, defense contractor Anduril Industries was awarded a $310 million grant from Ohio’s job creation office as the company prepares to build a massive advanced manufacturing facility near Columbus, Ohio. The grant is conditioned on Anduril creating 4,008 new jobs and more than $530 million in new payroll and making at least $910.5 million in capital investment within the next 10 years to receive the funds. The company must then maintain those commitments over the ensuing two decades under the plan.

• On July 8^th, a new lawsuit was filed seeking to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional district boundary lines, less than two weeks after the state Supreme Court declined to hear a pair of lawsuits seeking redistricting before the 2026 election. The Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy argue in the lawsuit that Wisconsin’s congressional maps are unconstitutional because they are an anti-competitive gerrymander. The lawsuit notes that the median margin of victory for candidates in the eight districts since the maps were enacted is close to 30%.

• On July 8^th, Independent candidate Dan Osborn announced a run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE). Osborn gained name recognition in the state after he came within single digits of defeating Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) in 2024.

• On July 7^th, it was revealed that former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) is quietly exploring a comeback bid in Illinois’ 2^nd Congressional District after more than a decade out of office—including a two-year prison term.

• On July 2^nd, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed a pair of bipartisan bills designed to bolster nuclear power in Wisconsin. One bill orders a $2 million study to find the best locations for a nuclear fusion plant in the state. The other creates a new board to advance nuclear power and fusion technology in the state and host a summit in 2028. 

• On June 30^th, Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) announced he would run for governor of South Dakota instead of running for re-election to South Dakota’s at-large Congressional District.

• On June 30^th, President Trump signed a presidential permit authorizing South Bow LP to operate and maintain pipeline border facilities at the international border of the U.S. and Canada at Cavalier County, North Dakota for the transport between the U.S. and Canada of “all hydrocarbons and petroleum products of every description, refined or unrefined (inclusive of, but not limited to, crude oil, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, natural gas liquids, jet fuel, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel), but not including natural gas subject to section 3 of the Natural Gas Act.” Trump also signed a separate presidential permit authorizing Steel Reef US Pipelines LLC to operate and maintain existing pipeline border facilities at the international border of the U.S. and Canada at Burke County, North Dakota for the export of natural gas liquids from the U.S. to Canada.

Southeast (WV, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, TN, KY, AR, LA, MO)

• On July 10^th, the Energy Department announced that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) accepted a construction permit application for review from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build one of the nation’s first small modular reactors (SMR) at its Clinch River Site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. TVA is the first utility applying to build GE Vernova Hitachi’s BWRX-300 design in the United States and the project could pave the way for other utilities looking to deploy the same technology. The next step is a full safety review of the reactor design before it is cleared for construction.

• On July 7^th, it was revealed that Rep. Don Davis (D-NC) is exploring a run for the North Carolina U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC). 

• On July 1^st, it was revealed that former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is leaning towards a U.S. Senate run in North Carolina following Sen. Thom Tillis’ (R-NC) retirement announcement on June 29^th.

• On June 30^th, Google announced a deal to buy 200 megawatts of fusion power to meet the growing demands of artificial intelligence (AI) from Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which is building its first commercial plant in Virginia to bring 400 megawatts of power online starting in the early 2030s. 

• On June 30^th, Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) announced his official resignation from Congress, which will take effect on July 20, 2025. Green is returning to the private sector to start his own business but did not provide additional details. Republicans are lining up to succeed Green, with state Rep. Jody Barrett, state Rep. Jay Reedy, Montgomery County Commissioner Jason Knight, Army veteran John Thorpe, and former state General Services Commissioner Matt Van Epps all announcing their campaigns for the Republican primary. 

Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)

• This week’s Democratic primary for the special election to fill the seat of the late-Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) features five Democrats who “appear to encapsulate the generational and ideological schisms that have split the party since its sweeping losses in 2024,” including a former state legislator and a 25-year-old social media influencer and activist.

• On July 10^th, Texas Gov. Abbott (R) directed state lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional districts during a special legislative session later this month in an effort to help House Republicans maintain the majority next year. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) blasted the move, saying Abbott is “conspiring with Donald Trump and House Republicans to try to rig the election and disenfranchise millions of voters.”

• On July 2^nd, former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) announced a Democratic U.S. Senate run against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). In 2024, Allred challenged Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), losing by about 8 points.