Category: Uncategorized

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, April 7, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

President Trump Imposes 10% Universal Tariff and Higher Rates for Nations Based on their Trade Imbalances with the U.S.

Last week ended with the stock market collapsing as MCAA (and everyone else in Washington) was busy comprehending the President’s across-the-board 10% tariffs on almost all imported goods and country-specific reciprocal tariffs for almost every nation on earth. Notably, Canada and Mexico are not covered by the new 10% global tariff or the new reciprocal tariffs but continue to face the tariff regime President Trump previously imposed on our North American neighbors. The President also exempted certain products from his new global and reciprocal tariffs, including: (1) energy and other minerals that are not available in the United States; (2) steel and aluminum articles (which are already tariffed by previous Presidential actions); (3) automobiles and auto parts already subject the recent Section 232 tariffs; (4) copper; (5) pharmaceuticals; (6) semiconductors; (7) lumber articles; (8) all articles that may become subject to future Section 232 tariffs; and (9) bullion.

Additionally, last Wednesday, April 2^nd, President Trump’s previously-announced 25% secondary tariff on any nation that buys oil and gas from Venezuela took effect. The President justified this action as a response to Venezuela sending “tens of thousands of high level, and other criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature” to the U.S.—clearly referring to members of the Tren de Aragua gang that the Administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. 

Moreover, President Trump’s previously announced 25% auto tariffs took effect as scheduled last Thursday, April 3, 2025 and duties on automotive part imports will begin on May 3^rd. Even the beer we’ll be drinking as we watch the Final Four this weekend was hit with new tariffs last week along with the aluminum beer cans in which it comes. The Trump Administration also ended the de minimis exemption from tariffs on goods from China and Hong Kong valued at less than $800.

As noted above, shortly after the President’s press conference last Wednesday announcing the tariffs, the Senate voted 51-48 to pass a resolution against President Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports based on an emergency related to the amount of fentanyl crossing the Canadian border. Four Republicans—Sens. Mitch McConnell (KY), Rand Paul (KY), Susan Collins (ME), and Lisa Murkowski (AK)—joined with Democrats in support of the resolution. The resolution faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House after GOP leadership included provisions in the rule to consider the continuing resolution funding the government language stripping the Senate passed revolution of privileged status and leaving it to the discretion of GOP House leaders whether to bring it up this Congress. Following the vote, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said it was “likely” that Democrats would take aim at the President’s new, more sweeping tariffs announced last week but that a vote will not occur until after the Senate’s two-week Easter recess. Separately, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced legislation requiring the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of the imposition of any tariffs and for Congress to explicitly approve any new tariffs within 60 days. The bill would also allow Congress to end any tariff at any time.

Over the last two weeks, the Administration pushed back on criticism of its tariff policies with a March 26^th fact sheet on “The Staggering Cost of the Illicit Opioid Epidemic in the United States,” justifying President Trump’s tariff plans by asserting that in 2023 fentanyl and other illicit opioids “which typically originate in China and are trafficked through Mexico” cost Americans an estimated $2.7 trillion and “dwarfs even pessimistic estimates of the effects of tariffs, like that of Goldman Sachs, who estimated losses of 0.4 percent of GDP.” More recently, after last Wednesday’s tariffs, the White House issued a fact sheet and a document with statements supporting the latest tariffs that includes a quote from NECA President David Long.

Possible USTR Action that May Impede Supply Chains

In addition to tariffs, the MCAA policy team has been busy with another threat to supply chains. We monitored hearings held by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on March 24^th and 26^th to hear feedback on its proposal to establish new fees on vessels that enter U.S. ports. As proposed, the fees would apply to an estimated 98% of the global commercial shipping fleet because the fees apply to both existing Chinese-built vessels or future vessels in the order books of carriers, and any carrier with at least one order on the books for a vessel made in China. The fees are intended to counter China’s rise as a maritime power and to bolster U.S. shipping. It is estimated the new fees would double the cost of shipping goods to the U.S. 

During the hearings, about 300 companies, trade groups, and individuals submitted comments or spoke in opposition to USTR’s proposal. Opponents of the proposal pointed to a study from the economic analysis firm Trade Partnership Worldwide concluding that USTR’s proposed remedies would have a net negative impact on the U.S. economy, could send exports of oil down as much as 18.6%, and exports of coal down as much as 24.5%. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 22,000 dockworkers on the West Coast, said it supports the rebuilding of the domestic shipbuilding industry while addressing Chinese dominance over the maritime sector but urged USTR to ensure U.S.-bound cargo is not diverted because of these efforts. 

DOE Identifies 16 Sites Across the Country for Data Center and AI Infrastructure Development

On a more positive note, last Thursday, the U.S. Energy Department (DOE) announced plans to co-locate data centers and install new energy infrastructure for artificial intelligence (AI) on 16 DOE-owned lands. In a related request for information (RFI), DOE seeks public feedback to “assess industry interest in developing, operating, and maintaining AI infrastructure on select DOE-owned or managed lands, along with information on potential development approaches, technology solutions, operational models, and economic considerations associated with establishing AI infrastructure on DOE sites. In addition, this RFI seeks input from grid operators that serve DOE sites on opportunities and challenges associated with existing energy infrastructure and potential co-location of data centers with new energy generation. The 16 proposed sites are: (1) the Idaho National Laboratory; (2) the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; (3) the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant; (4) the Argonne National Laboratory; (5) the Brookhaven National Laboratory; (6) the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; (7) the National Energy Technology Laboratory; (8) the National Renewable Energy Laboratory; (9) the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; (10) the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; (11) the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; (12) the Los Alamos National Laboratory; (13) the Sandia National Laboratories; (14) the Savannah River Site; (15) the Pantex Plant; and (16) the Kansas City National Security Campus. DOE’s goal is to commence operations at selected sites by the end of 2027. Comments on the RFI can be submitted by email to aiinfrastructure@hq.doe.gov and are due 30 days after the RFI publishes in the Federal Register this week. MCAA is getting more information about this effort because it could result in work for our contractors.

Notable Trump Nominations 

Last Tuesday, President Trump nominated Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) acting General Counsel Andrew Rogers as head of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division. Trump also nominated attorney Jonathan Berry as Labor Department Solicitor. Rogers previously worked at the Wage and Hour Division during the first Trump Administration and later moved to the EEOC, where he was former chief counsel to Republican commissioner and now acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas. Berry is a former chief counsel to Trump and was principal deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Labor Department during the president’s first term, a role that put him in charge of crafting and approving agency regulations. On March 31^st, President Trump nominated Morgan Lewis Attorney Crystal Carey to be the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel. Carey has worked at Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius LLP for the last eight years and counseled clients in a variety of industries, including transportation, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hotel and hospitality, and others. Before that, Carey worked at the NLRB for over eight years, both as an attorney under the general counsel, and then as a senior counsel for the NLRB during the Obama and first Trump Administrations. On March 25^th, President Trump nominated acting Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Chair Andrea Lucas to another five-year term. Lucas was previously confirmed as an EEOC Commissioner in October 2020 during Trump’s first term. So far in President Trump’s second term, Lucas has played a leading role in implementing the President’s executive order on diversity, equity, and inclusion at the EEOC.

U.S. Appeals Court Rules President Trump May Remove Independent Agency Heads

On March 28^th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld President Trump’s authority to fire National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox without cause in a 2-1 decision. The Court also ruled that Trump has the authority to remove Board Member Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The decision seems to contradict Supreme Court precedent affirming congressional restrictions on the President’s authority to fire NLRB Commissioners and other heads of independent agencies. Judge Justin Walker, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, explained the court’s decision in terms reflecting the Administration’s unitary executive argument, stating that “[t]he people elected the president to enforce the nation’s laws, and a stay serves that purpose by allowing the people’s chosen officer to control the executive branch.” The D.C. Circuit ruling amounts to a significant expansion of the President’s power over independent agencies. We expect the case to ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Congress

Closer Than Expected Florida Special Elections Lead President Trump to Withdraw Stefanik Nomination as U.N. Ambassador

In special elections in Florida last Tuesday, Republican Jimmy Patronis defeated Democrat Gay Valimont in Florida’s 1^st Congressional District and Republican Randy Fine defeated Democrat Josh Weil in Florida’s 6^th Congressional District. Despite the Republican wins, the final results marked an overperformance for Democrats, given that Trump won each seat by more than 30 points in November and Fine and Patronis saw a 14- and 15-point victory, respectively. The warning signs about a potential Democratic overperformance came weeks before the votes when the Democratic candidates significantly outraised their Republican opponents and polling showed a tight race in Florida’s 6^th District. Republicans grew so worried about the races that on March 27^th, President Trump pulled Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-NY) nomination to be U.N. Ambassador over concerns that a Democrat could similarly overperform and win a potential special election for her seat and further narrow Republicans’ already slim majority. With the election of Patronis and Fine, Republicans currently hold a 220-213 majority in the House. However, the majority is expected to shrink further once special elections in Democratic-heavy seats in Arizona’s 7^th Congressional District (September 23^rd) and Texas’ 18^th Congressional District (TBD) are held later this year.

House Ed & Workforce Chair Letter to DOL Secretary Chavez-DeRemer 

The MCAA policy team has had some mixed result in its engagement with House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) that are reflected in the letter he sent to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. We are pleased the letter reflects the discussions we had with committee staff about the Chairman requesting withdrawal of the MCAA-opposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s proposed rule on “Heat Injury and Illness in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings” and the DOL EBSA’s final rule, “Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act,” that MCAA has been working with NCCMP to have rescinded or materially revised. We are dismayed that the letter requests rescission of MCAA-supported Wage and Hour Division final rules on “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Act Regulations” and “Employee or Independent Contractor Classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act.” During the Easter Recess, we will be following up with the Committee on these issues.

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Project Labor Agreements and Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage

DOJ Launches Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force

As the MCAA policy team continues its outreach to the Trump Administration to lobby in favor of maintaining MCAA-supported, Biden-era rules on PLAs and Davis-Bacon, we learned of a new DOJ task force that may pose a threat to these critical MCAA regulatory wins. On March 27^th, the Department of Justice established the “Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force” to implement President Trump’s executive orders on “unnecessary regulatory burdens” and direct a review of all federal regulations to identify those that “impose undue burdens on small businesses and impede private enterprise and entrepreneurship.” We expect opponents of Davis-Bacon and PLAs are already working to use this forum to go after PLAs and Davis-Bacon and those opposed to the MCAA’s efforts on misclassification are using this forum to advocate for repeal of MCAA-supported Biden-era regulations on Davis-Bacon, PLAs and Independent Contractor Status. The Task Force is led by DOJ’s Antitrust Division—an agency with which MCAA does not usually deal. The Antitrust Division has attorneys, economists, and other staff who will prioritize regulations for removal. We are coordinating with our union and employer allies on a strategy to deal with this task force. 

MCAA Engaging Energy Department Evaluation of “Construction Labor Agreements” DOE’s 17 National Nuclear Labs

Relatedly, the MCAA policy team is engaged on the Department of Energy’s evaluation of PLA language from the facilities maintenance and construction agreements the agency has with its 17 National Nuclear Laboratories. Two weeks ago we learned that DOE planned to remove language on PLAs and raised it with the Trump Administration. After some back and forth we were assured that DOE is now just “initiating a process to assess” the benefits and risks of “removing construction labor agreement provisions from National Laboratory contracts.” DOE formalized this assessment on March 27^thas part of an effort “to ease burdensome permitting rules and regulations” for construction projects at the National Labs. At this point, our early outreach halted any immediate action to rescind PLA provisions in this contract and forced DOE to take a more deliberative approach to evaluating the benefits/risks of the PLA provisions. But it’s clear where DOE wanted to go before we intervened with the Trump Administration. We’re currently coordinating with our allies to present a united front and attempt to convince the Trump Administration of the value of PLAs and get the Administration to press the Energy Secretary to reconsider eliminating PLAs on these contracts. We have already shared with DOE the joint MCAA/UA study from Independent Project Analysis entitled Quantifying the Value of Union Labor in Construction Projects and will see if they really want to conduct meaningful analysis.  

Registered Apprenticeship

President Trump Signs Executive Order Rescinding Biden EO on Apprenticeship

On March 14^th, the Trump Administration signed an Executive Order entitled Additional Rescission of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions that rescinded 18 Biden executive actions. Among them is President Biden’s Executive Order 14119 of March 6, 2024 Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums. This EO directed federal agencies to encourage pre-apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship programs through terms of grants, contracts, and financial assistance awards. Issuance of the EO came as a surprise to the policy team and our union and employer partners as we were led to believe throughout the Trump transition and early days of the Administration that apprenticeship was going to be left out of the initial rush of executive orders to begin Trump’s second term. Notably, after we reached out to high level contacts at the Trump DOL, we were informed that they were also caught off-guard and did not get advance notice before this EO issued. This is yet another example of the frenetic approach to governing that has characterized the first months of the Trump Administration and shows how much policy is being crafted in silos at the White House, without the input of relevant cabinet departments. 

DOL Rescinds Biden-Era Directive that Allowed Grantees to Provide Job Training Services to Non-Citizens 

As the MCAA policy team continues outreach to the Trump Labor Department (DOL) on registered apprenticeship issues like opposing the resurrection of concepts included in the Biden-era proposed rule on National Apprenticeship System Enhancements and the potential resurrection of Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs from Trump’s first term, we learned that DOL on March 27^th issued “Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 10-23, Change 1” rescinding the Biden-era DOL’s February 2024 TEGL No. 10-23 directing DOL grant recipients providing workforce training and readiness to reduce to the greatest degree possible “unnecessary administrative barriers to serving customers seeking employment and training services.” The Biden-era TEGL allowed DOL grant recipients to train undocumented immigrants. To this end, the now rescinded Biden-era TEGL removed several items from job training applications, including: (1) Social Security Numbers; (2) work authorizations; and (3) Selective Service registrations. The rescinded Biden-era TEGL also directed grantees to aid public workforce system participants in obtaining drivers licenses and other documents that facilitate employment regardless of their status.

Independent Contractors and Misclassification of Workers 

Ed & Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Subcommittee

On March 25^th, the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing entitled, “The Future of Wage Laws: Assessing the FLSA’s Effectiveness, Challenges, and Opportunities.” Leading up to the hearing, the MCAA policy team worked with Democrats on the Subcommittee to press our concerns on misclassification but only Subcommittee Ranking Member Ilhan Omar (D-MN) really engaged during the hearing. She focused on the importance of more staff at the Wage and Hour Division to police misclassification and criticized the Trump Administration’s efforts to cut Wage and Hour staff at the Labor Department. Omar also emphasized the need to strengthen the Fair Labor Standards Act to tackle wage theft. However, in a sign of where Republicans plan to go on independent contractor issues, Subcommittee Chair Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA) assailed the Biden-era MCAA-supported independent contractor rule, calling it “an unworkable, ABC-style worker classification test…that limits the ability of independent contractors to earn a living.” Mackenzie’s comments reinforced the importance of the policy team’s ongoing outreach to members on both sides of the aisle in Congress to educate them on the prevalence of misclassification in the construction industry and the ways in which misclassification harms honest employers, workers, and taxpayers.

Decarbonization

Working with Sen. Cruz’s Office to Pass CRA on Gas-Fired Water Heaters 

Last week, the MCAA continued its ongoing work with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to pass a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution rescinding the Biden-era Energy Department’s rule mandating increased energy efficiency standards for natural gas-fired tankless water heaters. As noted in our March 7^th report, the MCAA successfully lobbied the House to pass this legislation on February 27^th by a vote of 221-198. A vote in the Senate was delayed this week after Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) occupied the Senate floor for a 25+ hour speech opposing the Trump agenda, which caused a number of floor priorities to be pushed back by at least a day. In our discussions with Sen. Cruz’s staff, we were informed that leadership assured them that a vote on the CRA would come before the two-week Easter recess and MCAA is continuing to rally support for it.

Relatedly, the Senate last Thursday voted 53-42 to pass a CRA resolution (H.J. Res 24) to nullify the Biden-era rule establishing energy efficiency standards for walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers. The House already passed this CRA on March 27^th in a 203-182 vote and the bill is on its way to President Trump for his signature. Also on March 27^th, the House voted 214-193 to pass a separate CRA to undo energy efficiency standards for commercial refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers. That resolution is pending in the Senate. 

Energy Department Postpones Effective Dates for Three Home Appliance Rules

Following outreach from the MCAA, the Trump Energy Department on March 24^th announced several actions pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on “Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation.” First, the Department has indefinitely postponed the effective dates for three home appliance rules: (1) Test Procedures for Central Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps; (2) Efficiency Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Freezers; and (3) Efficiency Standards for Gas Instantaneous Water Heaters. Additionally, DOE announced the cancellation of conservation standards on dehumidifiers, electric motors, ceiling fans, and external power supplies.

SEC Votes to End Defense of Rules Requiring Disclosure of Climate-Related Risks and GHG Emissions

In another positive development on the decarbonization front, on March 27th, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to end its defense of regulations requiring the disclosure of climate-related risks and greenhouse gas emissions by SEC registrants in registration statements and annual reports that were set to go into effect in 2026. Specifically, the rules required companies to disclose their greenhouse-gas emissions, including direct emissions such as burning fuel for a company’s operations. This move was something the MCAA policy team had encouraged during the Trump transition following the November elections given the negative impact these regulations would have on companies in the oil and gas industry. We were assured at that time that the SEC would take this action once the Trump Administration got its team in place and we are pleased to see them follow through here. 

USDA Releases Billions in Previously Obligated Clean Energy Funding

On March 26^th, the Agriculture Department (USDA) announced that it will release nearly $3.4 billion in previously obligated funding under the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program funding rural energy cooperatives; the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program funding solar, hydropower, geothermal, or biomass projects; and the Rural Energy for All Program (REAP) to help agricultural businesses purchase and install clean energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements. These investments include $3.2 billion for the New ERA Program, $134 million for the PACE Program, and $28 million for REAP. According to USDA, however, rural electric providers and small business recipients will have “to refocus their projects on expanding American energy production while eliminating Biden-era DEIA and climate mandates embedded in previous proposals.” They will also have to “shift away from the Green New Deal and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act and toward practical energy investments that prioritize the needs of rural communities” consistent with President Trump’s January 20, 2025 Executive Order entitled, “Unleashing American Energy.” The USDA Rural Development office is individually contacting awardees about these changes.

DOE Reissues $900 Million Solicitation for Deployment of Small Modular Reactors to Support Electricity Demand Growth

Another piece of good news is that on March 24^th, the Trump Energy Department announced the reissuance of a $900 million solicitation for deployment of small modular reactors to support electricity demand growth. DOE is offering funding to de-risk the deployment of Generation III+ light-water small modular reactors (Gen III+ SMR) through two tiers: (1) the ”First Mover Team Support” will provide up to $800 million to support up to two first mover teams of utility, reactor vendor, constructor, and end-users/off-takers committed to deploying a first plant while facilitating a multi-reactor, Gen III+ SMR orderbook; and (2) the “Fast Follower Deployment Support” will provide $100 million to address key gaps that have hindered the domestic nuclear industry in areas such as design, licensing, supply chain, and site preparation. Applications are due on April 23, 2025 by 5pm ET. As MCAA continues to meet with the new Administration and members of Congress we continue to sense deep, bipartisan support for nuclear energy.

Federal Contracting 

MCAA Joins Joint Letter to House T&I on WIFIA Subcontractor Bill

As part of the MCAA’s efforts to enact the “Water Infrastructure Subcontractor and Taxpayer Protection Act” (H.R. 1285), we coordinated last week with the broader Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) coalition to draft a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to request a markup of this bill. This bill requires prime contractors on federally financed water infrastructure projects to hold surety bonds, ensuring local sponsors and subcontractors are compensated if a contractor defaults before project completion. The letter is expected to go up to the Hill this week and we will keep you updated as the bill makes its way through the legislative process.

President Signs EO Establishing Office to Administer CHIPS Monies Amid Commerce Secretary’s Freeze on Previously Announced CHIPS Act Awards

On March 31^st, President Trump signed an executive order establishing an office within the Commerce Department called the United States Investment Accelerator to facilitate and speed up investments of more than $1 billion in the U.S. and administer federal funds from the CHIPS and Science Act. This new office is intended to encourage companies to make large investments in the U.S., with an eye toward reducing regulations, speeding up permitting, increasing access to national resources, and facilitating collaboration across national laboratories and state governments. The Investment Accelerator will also be responsible for administering the CHIPS Program Office, where President Trump expects it to negotiate “much better CHIPS Act deals than the previous Administration.” 

The Accelerator comes as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick continues to withhold funds from CHIPS Act awards to push companies to substantially expand their U.S. projects, like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. recently did when it announced it will invest another $100 billion in U.S. plants on top of a previous $65 billion pledge. Lutnick’s goal is to generate tens of billions of dollars in additional semiconductor investment commitments without increasing the size of federal grants. The MCAA policy team has been advocating for Commerce to release the funds for CHIPS Act projects on which MCAA members have been engaged and provide certainty to businesses developing these facilities. 

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

April 3, 2025

• The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released several documents in connection with the operation of ERISA’s Section 101(f) annual funding notice requirements for multiemployer and single employer pension plans following enactment of section 343 of SECURE 2.0 modifying these notice requirements. Section 101(f) of ERISA generally requires the administrators of defined benefit plans (both multiemployer and single-employer) to furnish an annual funding notice to participants, beneficiaries, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and certain other persons. EBSA also issued model funding notices for both multiemployer plans and single-employer plans that may be used to satisfy the mandatory disclosure requirements of ERISA section 101(f) as amended by section 343 of SECURE 2.0. Additionally, EBSA has released Field Bulletin 2025-02 providing a Q&A format regarding the methodology for measuring the value of assets, liabilities, and funding level. 

• Federal contractor organizations are warning that President Trump’s executive order requiring agencies to build a centralized payment system for all contracts and grants may lead to higher costs for agencies due to interest charges on late payments to government contractors under the Prompt Payment Act. The interest rate under the law for the first six months of 2025 is 4.625%.  

April 2, 2025

• The Trump Energy Department (DOE) announced the rescission of a Biden-era April 2023 policy statement requiring authorized liquefied natural gas exporters to meet stringent criteria before DOE approved extensions of export authorizations, including that the associated export project be under construction, and the authorization holder needed to demonstrate that extenuating circumstances outside its control prevented the commencement of exports within seven years.

April 1, 2025

• House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) and House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) announced a review of the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) decision contradicting the Trump Environmental Protection Agency’s determination that Biden-era waivers from the Clean Air Act granted to California for its “electric vehicle mandate” should be considered as rules for purposes of the Congressional Review Act. On March 6^th, the GAO published its “observations” that the preemption waivers for California were “not a rule for purposes of the CRA because it was an order under the Administrative Procedure Act.”

March 31, 2025 

• U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen blocked the Trump Administration from curtailing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants living in the U.S. Chen said that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to curtail TPS protections was an unprecedented, legally flawed move that appeared to be rooted in racial discrimination by both Noem and President Donald Trump. 

• Brookfield Asset Management is putting the final touches on a deal to acquire Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel transportation system, for more than $9 billion including debt. Colonial’s pipeline system stretches over 5,500 miles from Houston, Texas to New York’s harbor. It moves more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily, including gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and heating oil. 

March 30, 2025

• President Trump made clear he is serious about possibly of seeking a third term during an NBC interview. Trump said, “There are methods which you could do it. A lot people want me to do it. But I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”

March 27, 2025

• The Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a portal to allow companies to request exemptions from Clean Air Act (CAA) rules setting limits on pollution from industries including coal plants, iron and steel manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, copper smelting, and sterilizers. The exemptions would be based on the President’s power under the CAA to exempt companies from complying with regulations if he determines that the rules are based on technology that is not yet feasible. 

• The Congressional Budget Office released its long-term budget and economic outlook report (from 2025 to 2055) that projected publicly-held debt to reach 156% of gross domestic product in 2055. That’s down from the agency’s March 2024 long-term budget projection, which said publicly held debt would be equal to a record 166% of American economic activity by 2054. The report projected that tax revenue will come in slightly higher than expected and the U.S. economy will see a slightly lower growth rate due to lower-than-anticipated growth in private investment and consumer spending, as well as slower labor force growth in the final decade of the 30-year outlook.  

• The Wall Street Journal reported that health insurers got paid at least $4.3 billion in duplicative payments by state and federal governments to cover low-income Medicaid recipients over three years who were enrolled—and paid for—in other states. The patients were signed up for Medicaid in two states at once, in many cases following a move from one state to the other. Most were getting all their healthcare services through one insurer in one state, even though Medicaid was paying insurers in both states to cover them.

• Roll Call published a rundown of the Democratic House candidates who lost in 2024 and are or may be seeking a rematch next year as Democrats look for “candidates who ‘rose above the brand [and] overperformed’ compared with Vice President Kamala Harris in her race against Donald Trump.” Featured Democratic candidates include Pennsylvania’s Janelle Stelson, Wisconsin’s Rebecca Cooke, and Arizona’s Marlene Galán-Woods.

• EMILY’s List, a PAC that works to elect Democratic female candidates supportive of abortion rights, released a list of 46 House Republicans the PAC is targeting in the 2026 midterm elections.

March 25, 2025

• President Trump signed an executive order (EO) on “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” that imposes “voter citizenship verification and bans foreign nationals from interfering in U.S. elections.” Specifically, the EO requires: (1) the Election Assistance Commission to require documentary, government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship on voter registration forms; (2) giving states access to Department of Homeland Security, Social Security, and State Department databases to verify eligibility and citizenship of individuals registered to vote; and (3) conditioning federal election-related funds on states complying with “integrity measures set forth by Federal law,” including that states use the national mail voter registration form that will now require proof of citizenship. The EO further directs that DOJ “take appropriate action against states that count ballots received after Election Day in Federal elections,” with federal election funding conditioned on compliance. On March 31^st, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Governors Association, and Senate and House Democratic leaders filed a lawsuit against the EO in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking the court to block the order and declare it illegal. 

• The American Society of Civil Engineers issued its once-every-four-years report card on the upkeep of America’s infrastructure, giving the country a “C” grade, up slightly from previous reports, largely due to infrastructure investments made during the Biden Administration. The report, which examines everything from roads and dams to drinking water and railroads, also warned that federal funding must be sustained or increased to avoid further deterioration and escalating costs.

Around the Country 

Northeast 

• On April 3^rd, Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) announced a Democratic primary run for retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) U.S. Senate seat. 

• On April 2^nd, the owners of the former Homer City Generating Plant, which was once Pennsylvania’s biggest-coal fired power plant, said they will turn the site into a $10 billion natural gas-powered data center campus designed to capitalize on the fast-growing energy demands of Big Tech companies to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing applications. The project will use infrastructure left on site from the old coal plant and seven gas-fired turbines built by GE Vernova Inc., with first deliveries from GE Vernova expected to begin next year.

• On March 31^st, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a public hearing on May 7, 2025 regarding an updated draft of the general permit for all small and regulated “Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems” (MS4s) located in Massachusetts. The new draft permit includes new requirements to begin implementing plans developed under a 2016 permit to install controls to treat stormwater runoff on permittee-owned property, begin upgrading catch basins to better control solids in stormwater runoff, develop street design standards that feature nature-based solutions, develop an integrated system to track MS4 assets and maintenance, and expand public engagement. The hearing on the updated draft permit will be held virtually on May 7, 2025 at 7pm ET and those who wish to participate must register here in advance of the meeting.

• On March 25^th, a new poll found that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who is up for re-election in 2026, has a negative approval rating with just 24% of Mainers saying they approved of her and 61% saying they disapproved. The poll’s crosstabs also show she is being pinched on both sides—she’s upside down with Kamala Harris voters at 17/71 and with Donald Trump voters at 30/52.

West

• On April 2^nd, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it is seeking public comment on a petition to reopen and modify a 2022 final consent order involving Verdun Oil Company II LLC’s (Verdun) acquisition of EP Energy LLC (EP), which settled charges that the acquisition would harm competition for the sale of Uinta Basin waxy crude oil to Salt Lake City, Utah refiners. The FTC notes that according to the petition filed by Verdun and EP, there have been significant changes since the FTC order was entered that now justify removing the requirement that Verdun, XCL Resources Holdings, LLC, and their parent entities, EnCap Energy Capital Fund XI, L.P. and EnCap Investments L.P. obtain prior approval from the Commission before engaging in certain acquisition transactions across several counties in Utah.

• On April 1^st, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the March 27^th arrest of the general manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings in El Cajon, CA and three employees on harboring charges stemming from a search warrant served on the company. The manager was charged with conspiracy to harbor aliens for employing undocumented workers and allowing them to live in the company’s warehouse, while the employees were charged with using false documents to work in the U.S.

• On March 16^th, Interior Secretary Burgum and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Turner wrote in the Wall Street Journal about a newly formed task force to be led by these two secretaries to identify federal land that would be suitable for building affordable housing. The task force is an initial step towards fulfilling President Trump’s pledge to unlock vast swaths of federal land to address America’s housing shortage by transferring or leasing the land to local governments. It seems the effort would focus on western states—such as Nevada, Utah, California, and Arizona—where the Bureau of Land Management controls large amounts of land. On March 17^th, the Wall Street Journal published a more detailed article on what the Trump Administration is envisioning, including how the Administration would, on a “case-by-case” basis, transfer or lease suitable land to public-housing authorities, nonprofits, and local governments or sell it to private developers.  

Northwest 

• On March 31^st, the Trump Energy Department (DOE) announced that the Idaho National Laboratory has debuted a new molten salt test loop that will support the development of advanced reactors using molten salts. Molten salt reactors use molten salt as a coolant, and in some instances as a liquid fuel, offering enhanced safety features and the ability to operate at high temperatures to generate reliable and secure electricity, as well as process heat which can be used by industry. The new molten salt flow loop will inform the development of molten salt reactors, such as the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment, one of several advanced reactor designs being supported by DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

Midwest 

• On April 3^rd, Dan Osborn, the independent U.S. Senate candidate who nearly toppled Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) last year, announced he is preparing to challenge Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) in 2026.

• On April 2^nd, State Sen. Mallory McMorrow announced a run in the Democratic primary for retiring Sen. Gary Peters’ (D-MI) U.S. Senate seat. 

• On March 24^th, progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh announced a primary challenge to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) in Illinois’ 9^th Congressional District which includes the northern suburbs of Chicago.  

• On March 17^th, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced the release of a second loan disbursement of $56,787,300 to Holtec for the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. This is part of a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to Holtec for the Palisades project, which will provide 800MW of affordable, reliable baseload power in Michigan. The loan is a first of its kind effort by the DOE to restart an American nuclear power plant. The restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant is projected to create or retain up to 600 quality jobs in Michigan.

Southeast

• On March 27^th, the Trump Interior Department announced the disbursement of $353.6 million in energy revenues from offshore oil and gas production to the state and local governments of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas to support infrastructure projects and coastal restoration and protection projects. The revenue-sharing model for Gulf states to receive a portion of the funds generated from leasing in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf was established by federal regulations in 2017. A full list of the disbursements is available here.

• On March 26^th, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded a $951 million contract to Bollinger Shipyards in Mississippi for the design and construction of the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program. The PSC program aims to construct four or five heavy icebreakers by 2030—the first new, American-made heavy icebreakers in nearly 50 years.

• On March 24^th, President Trump lauded an announcement from South Korean automaker Hyundai that it will invest $20 billion in the United States, including a new steel plant in Louisiana. Trump praised the commitment as evidence of the positive impact of his tariff policies.

• On March 21^st, the Maritime Administration issued a license authorizing Delfin LNG, LLC, to own, operate, construct, and eventually decommission a deepwater port off the coast of Louisiana to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. The Delfin LNG, LLC deepwater port facility will transport LNG to the global market from U.S. federal waters, approximately 37.4 to 40.8 nautical miles off the coast of Cameron Parish, Louisiana. This deepwater port project will be the first offshore LNG export project in the U.S. and is being issued in accordance with President Trump’s EO “Unleashing American Energy,” signed on January 20, 2025.

• On March 19^th, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright approved a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export authorization for the proposed Venture Global CP2 LNG export project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Once constructed, CP2, owned by Venture Global, will be able to export up to 3.96 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of LNG. The issuance of the export authorization marks the fifth LNG-related approval from DOE since President Trump took office, following an export approval to Commonwealth LNG on February 14, an order on rehearing removing barriers for the use of LNG as bunkering fuel announced on February 28, an approval providing the Golden Pass LNG terminal more time to commence exports issued March 5, and approval granting the Delfin LNG project additional time to commence exports issued on March 10.

Southwest

• On April 3^rd, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said House Democrats would likely pursue a lawsuit over Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) delay in calling a special election to fill the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s (D-TX) seat in Texas’s 18^th Congressional District.

• On March 31^st, Pima County, Arizona Supervisor Adelita Grijalva, the daughter of the late Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), announced her candidacy for her father’s former seat in Arizona’s 7^th Congressional District. Grijalva framed herself as a “progressive champion” who will stand up to President Trump and fight for working families. 

• On March 31^st, it was revealed that Dow wants to use next-generation nuclear reactors for clean power and steam at a manufacturing complex in Seadrift, Texas instead of natural gas. Dow subsidiary Long Mott Energy applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a construction permit. It said the project with X-energy, an advanced nuclear reactor and fuel company, would nearly eliminate the emissions associated with power and steam generation at the plant, avoiding roughly 500,000 metric tons of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions annually. 

Alaska and Hawaii

• On March 26^th, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Alaska ruled that the Biden Administration lacked the authority to cancel oil and gas leases that had been issued for development within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. In her ruling, Gleason said the Biden Administration needed a court order to cancel the leases.

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

Trump Administration

Trump Delivers Joint Address to Congress

Last Tuesday, President Trump delivered a joint address to Congress announcing the establishment of a new White House office on shipbuilding to increase U.S. production of commercial and military vessels. In following up on this announcement, MCAA learned that White House staff have already prepared a draft executive order creating this new office and directing 18 separate actions to bolster U.S. shipbuilding. These range from raising revenue for U.S. industry from fees on Chinese-built ships and cranes entering the U.S. to raising wages for nuclear-shipyard workers and instructing Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to review government procurement processes for ships, including the Navy’s procurement process. President Trump also announced that he is planning to establish a “gigantic” natural gas pipeline in Alaska, saying that “Japan, South Korea, and other nations” want to be a partner in the pipeline. Under “Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage,” we also discuss the President’s call for repeal of the CHIPS and Science Act during his speech and the MCAA policy team’s related outreach on the law to members of Congress. 

Trump Postpones Some Tariffs on Canada and Mexico Until April 2, 2025 

On March 6^th, President Trump said that he would allow both Mexico and Canada to avoid the 25% tariffs that he put into effect last Tuesday on exports covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement for one month—until April 2, 2025. April 2^nd is also the date that President Trump’s global reciprocal tariffs are supposed to take effect. Last Tuesday, President Trump also raised tariffs on China an additional 10% to a new total of 20%. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended Trump’s tariffs, saying that “access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream.” Instead, Bessent argued that the “American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security.” The broad, temporary exemptions for Canada and Mexico come after some congressional Republicans questioned the wisdom of President Trump’s tariffs, including Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who said that he doubts that new tariffs are an effective way to address concerns about fentanyl entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) also said he was “uneasy” about the tariffs. House and Senate Republican leadership appeared split on the new tariffs as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he hoped the tariffs are temporary, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the president is giving countries “a dose of their own medicine.” Congressional Democrats responded to the imposition of Trump’s tariffs by introducing resolutions last Thursday to terminate Trump’s use of authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The IEEPA allows Congress to introduce a privileged resolution to terminate the President’s use of authorities under the law, which must be brought to the House for a floor vote within 15 days. This vote will be an interesting test of Trump’s ability to enforce discipline with a growing number of GOP members of Congress anxious about the ongoing tariff whiplash. 

Relatedly, on March 1^st, President Trump signed an executive order requiring the Secretary of Commerce to initiate an investigation to determine the effects imports of timber, lumber, and their derivative products have on U.S. national security, along with a separate executive order to stimulate domestic lumber production. These executive orders followed a Trump directive to the Commerce Department on February 25^th to initiate a Section 232 investigation of copper under the Trade Expansion Act to determine the need for new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild copper production critical to the power grid, electric vehicles, military hardware, and many consumer goods. 

Judge Rules Trump Illegally Removed NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox and Orders Her Reinstated

On March 6^th, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C. ruled that President Trump’s firing of Biden-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox was unlawful and ordered that she be allowed to continue her unexpired term. Howell said that the President’s firing of Wilcox violated federal law that allows for NLRB board members to be removed “only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” Howell also noted in her ruling that “the President seems intent on pushing the bounds of his office and exercising his power in a manner violative of clear statutory law to test how much the courts will accept the notion of a presidency that is supreme.” This is one of many cases currently in litigation that may provide the Administration an opportunity to seek reconsideration of Supreme Court precedents allowing Congress to limit the President’s ability to terminate leaders at independent federal agencies like the NLRB. 

Federal Judges Halt Several Trump Orders Related to Federal Funding Freeze, DEI Initiatives, and Immigration

Over the last two weeks, President Trump’s litany of executive actions faced legal complications. Multiple federal judges indefinitely blocked Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans. And last week by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court declined a Trump Administration request for an emergency stay of an order requiring the Administration to unfreeze USAID funds for the narrow purpose of paying contractors for work already performed pursuant to programs authorized by Congress. On February 24^th, a federal judge blocked the Trump Administration from conducting immigration raids at Quaker, Baptist, and Sikh places of worship based on First Amendment concerns. On February 25^th, a separate federal judge blocked the Administration’s suspension of U.S. refugee programs, reasoning that President Trump’s actions amount to an “effective nullification of congressional will” in setting up the nation’s refugee admissions program. And on February 21^st U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore blocked President Trump’s bid to halt federal funding for programs that incorporate “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives, because the judge found the policy likely violates the First Amendment by penalizing private organizations based on their viewpoints and being impermissibly vague by prohibiting an undefined range of conduct referred to as “illegal DEI.” This ruling led the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration on February 27^th to issue a cancellation of its recent Training and Employment Notice (TEN) No. 21-24, which directed all recipients of federal financial assistance awards to cease all activities related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” under their federal awards in accordance with executive orders issued by President Trump.

Congress

Senate to Hold Confirmation Vote Next Week on Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s MCAA-Supported Nomination to Be Labor Secretary 

The Senate last Thursday voted 66-30 to close debate on former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s MCAA-supported nomination to be the next Labor Secretary. Chavez-DeRemer picked up the support of 15 Democrats, while Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to oppose ending debate on her nomination. The strong, bipartisan vote paves the way for her to be confirmed as Labor Secretary when the Senate reconvenes this week. Also last Thursday, the Senate HELP Committee voted 12-11 along party lines to advance the nomination of Keith Sonderling to be Deputy Labor Secretary. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has not yet announced when the full Senate will consider Sonderling’s nomination. Additionally, over the past two weeks, the Senate also confirmed additional Trump nominees of interest to MCAA, including: (1) U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer; (2) Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and (3) Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

House T&I Committee Announces Subcommittee Vice Chairs

On February 26^th, House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO) announced the subcommittee vice chairs for the 119th Congress: (1) Rep. Nick Begich (R-AK) will serve as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials; (2) Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) will serve as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment; (3) Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) will serve as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit; (4) Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) will serve as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management; (5) Rep. Tony Wied (R-WI) will serve as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Aviation; and (6) Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) will serve as vice chair of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Project Labor Agreements

Working to Defend MCAA-Supported PLA Rule

MCAA continues to urge the Trump Administration to defend the MCAA-supported project labor agreement (PLA) executive order issued by President Biden and its related procurement rules in the U.S. Court of Claims following a lawsuit engineered by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) to undermine this rulemaking creating a presumption that federal contracting officers should use PLAs on federal construction projects expected to cost $35 million or more. Accordingly, we were pleased that the Trump Justice Department (DOJ) on February 24^th filed a motion in the Court of Claims in MVL USA Inc. v. U.S. urging the court not to take the “unprecedented step” of rescinding President Biden’s 2022 executive order (EO) on PLAs and the regulations implementing it. DOJ argued that the Court of Claims doesn’t have the authority to rescind the regulations or the EO under its bid protest jurisdiction. DOJ further argued that challenges to the validity of a regulation governing federal procurement generally must take place in federal district court under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that the pending contractors’ bid protests should be dismissed for mootness because agencies have already cancelled four of the contract solicitations at issue and amended the others to remove the challenged PLA requirements. We are awaiting a decision from the court, but so far, the Administration has kept its pledge to defend the PLA executive order.

Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage

Trump Calls for Congress to Repeal the CHIPS Act

Given the inclusion of Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements the MCAA fought to secure in the CHIPS and Science Act, the policy team has been discussing with lawmakers President Trump’s remarks to a joint session of Congress last Tuesday calling the CHIPS and Science Act “horrible” and urging Congress to repeal the law and use any unspent funds to reduce the deficit. Citing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s announcement last Monday of plans to spend $100 billion to build chip plants in the U.S., Trump argued the financial incentives in the CHIPS Act are unnecessary because companies are committing to build microchip plants in the U.S. to avoid his tariffs. MCAA quickly rallied against President Trump’s call to repeal the CHIPS Act. We were pleased that a critical mass of Republican senators made clear that they view the money allocated to bolster chip production in the U.S. as a critical national security priority and have no interest in an outright repeal of the law. It also came to light that most of the CHIPS Act money has already been spent. While there may be an appetite to make adjustments to the program and how it is administered, we are not currently concerned that we will have a fight over a full repeal of the law. 

Highlighting Importance of Davis-Bacon as Trump Administration Attempts to Downsize Federal Office Space

As the MCAA policy team continues to advocate against the rescission of the MCAA-supported final rule modernizing Davis-Bacon prevailing wage, we are also busy engaging on the Trump Administration’s plans to shrink the federal government’s real estate footprint. Reducing the federal government’s real estate footprint by selling federal buildings and terminating federal leases covered by Davis-Bacon would diminish the volume of federal prevailing wage work in many markets. 

These concerns spiked last Tuesday when the Trump General Services Administration (GSA) designated 443 “non-core” federal properties for “disposition” across 47 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico that represent almost 80 million rentable square feet—12 times the size of the Pentagon. The GSA estimates that selling these properties could save more than $430 million in operating costs. Last Wednesday, however, the GSA removed the list of federal properties it was potentially looking to sell and a page featuring the previous “non-core” property list now says the list will be “coming soon. The GSA did not say why it removed the list from its website. Tuesday’s announcement followed the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) elimination of nearly 750 federal leases with additional terminations expected. DOGE is focused on exercising early terminations on more of the approximately 3,000 federal leases that are currently in their “soft term” phase—meaning they can be terminated without penalty or buyout. These developments followed a directive from the Trump Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget on February 26^th for federal agencies “to undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs)” and to develop Phase 1 “Agency Reorganization plans” by no later than March 13, 2025. These agency RIF and reorganization plans must result in a “reduced federal real property footprint” for each agency and a “reduced agency topline” for each agency.

The Trump Administration is developing these plans at a time when commercial real estate in many markets is still reeling from high interest rates and the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, a new analysis on February 25^th found that the Trump Administration’s plans to terminate federal leases and sell government buildings threatens to weaken the recovery of the U.S. office market, particularly in Washington, D.C., and other cities with a significant federal government presence, including the Los Angeles; New York; Atlanta; Hagerstown, MD; and Martinsburg, WV areas. The Administration’s plans to shrink the federal real estate footprint were also mentioned at the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP) panel we participated in last week as a notable concern for construction industry multiemployer pension plans because of the reduction in union work hours it could cause.

Registered Apprenticeship

House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee Holds Hearing on WIOA 

Last week, the MCAA policy team engaged lawmakers ahead of a House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development hearing entitled, “Strengthening WIOA & Improving Outcomes for America’s Workforce.” Leading up to the hearing, we were reemphasizing points we have consistently pressed on the importance of reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), especially given the collapse of a bipartisan deal to include the MCAA-supported A Stronger Workforce for America Act to reauthorize WIOA in an omnibus spending package at the end of last Congress. We were pleased that our outreach bore fruit, as both Subcommittee Chair Burgess Owens (R-UT) and Subcommittee Ranking Member Alma Adams (D-NC) expressed support for the Stronger Workforce for America Act and said they hoped to get the legislation “back on track this Congress.” We are continuing to have conversations with lawmakers on the importance of reauthorizing WIOA to maintain momentum from this hearing.

Pension Reform

DC Conference on the Impending Retirement Crisis

This Wednesday, BlackRock and the Bipartisan Policy Center are hosting a summit in Washington, D.C. to discuss ways to avoid “an impending crisis” when it comes to retirement. The summit aims to develop legislative plans to improve retirement planning for Americans. From the early outreach we have done, it is expected to primarily focus on improving the defined contribution system and getting more people into retirement savings programs. The MCAA team is in touch with the Bipartisan Policy Center and will monitor these discussions for any issues related to multiemployer plans. The event sponsors seemed cool to making any multiemployer reforms a focus of their summit.

House Ed and Workforce Renews Investigation into SFA Overpayments

As we continue to educate new and returning lawmakers on the MCAA’s pension reform priorities, we wanted to be sure you were aware that on February 20^th, House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chair Rick Allen (R-GA) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking an update from the Department of Justice (DOJ) about its recovery of taxpayer funds erroneously paid to deceased beneficiaries under the Special Financial Assistance program signed into law by President Biden to save the most endangered defined benefit multiemployer plans. Chair Walberg has launched an investigation and is “seeking information about the steps DOJ is taking to ensure that taxpayer money is recovered after the Biden-Harris Administration made improper payments to multiemployer pension plans.” The letter notes that last Congress, the Committee under Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent similar requests to former Attorney General Merrick Garland in August and December 2024 but never received a response.

Decarbonization

There were several decarbonization developments of note over the last two weeks on which the MCAA has been engaged:

MCAA Successfully Advocates for CRA Resolution to Eliminate EPA Methane Fee Final Rule

The MCAA policy team lobbied several congressional offices in support of a Congressional Review Act resolution (H.J. Res. 35) to disapprove of a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency final rule that established a new fee on methane emissions from oil and gas producers. At the request of the resolution’s sponsors, on February 25^th, the MCAA wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and urged both party leaders to support quick passage of the resolution. The following day, the House passed the resolution by a vote of 220-206. Building on this momentum, MCAA pressed to have it passed in the Senate on February 27^th by a vote of 52-47. The resolution now heads to the President, who is expected to sign it into law.

House Passes MCAA-Supported CRA on Gas-Fired Tankless Water Heaters

On February 27^th, the House voted 221-198 to pass MCAA-advocated H.J. Res. 20, a Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying the Biden Energy Department’s rule mandating increased energy efficiency standards for natural gas-fired tankless water heaters. The MCAA was deeply involved in lobbying lawmakers to pass this CRA, doing considerable education on the flaws in the economic analysis justifying this radical decarbonization measure. With House passage secured, the MCAA policy team is continuing our work with the lead sponsor of the Senate version of this resolution, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), to advance this bill in the Senate and send it to President Trump’s desk.

Congress Passes CRA to Nullify Rule Limiting Offshore Drilling in Outer Continental Shelf

On February 25^th, the Senate voted 54-44 to approve another MCAA-supported Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S. J. Res. 11) that vacates an August 2024 Bureau of Ocean Energy Management rule that limited offshore drilling near archeological sites in the Outer Continental Shelf. Three Democrats—Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (NV), Jacky Rosen (NV), and John Hickenlooper (CO)—joined with all Senate Republicans in support of the CRA resolution. The House last Thursday followed the Senate and voted 221-202 to pass the resolution, with nine Democrats joining all but one Republican (Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick [PA]) in support of the resolution. It now heads to President Trump for his signature. 

House Passes CRA to Nullify DOE Reporting Rule for Manufacturers of Consumer Products and Consumer Equipment

On March 5^th, the House voted 222-203 to pass H.J. Res. 42, a Congressional Review Act resolution nullifying the Energy Department’s (DOE) October 2024 rule relating to “Energy Conservation Program for Appliance Standards: Certification Requirements, Labeling Requirements, and Enforcement Provisions for Certain Consumer Products and Commercial Equipment.” The final rule revised DOE’s certification, labeling, and enforcement regulations for certain covered consumer, commercial and industrial products and equipment to align with amendments made to the energy conservation standards for such products and equipment by separate DOE regulations since 2022. The resolution now heads to the Senate for consideration. 

EPA Asks White House to Reverse Obama-Era Endangerment Finding Underpinning Regulation of Greenhouse Gases under the Clean Air Act 

On February 26^th, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin took unexpectedly bold action by asking the White House to approve reversal of the Obama-era EPA endangerment finding in 2009 that gave the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act based on the threat they pose to public health and welfare. Reversing the 2009 endangerment finding would eliminate the legal justification for EPA regulation of six greenhouse gases—hydrofluorocarbons, methane, perfluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, and carbon dioxide—under the Clean Air Act and relieve EPA of having to regulate climate pollution from power plants, oil and gas infrastructure, and vehicles. It would also impede efforts by future presidential administrations to issue regulations under the Clean Air Act targeting greenhouse gases.

Energy Department Touts Benefits of Nuclear Power as Holtec International Plans 10GW Fleet of Small Modular Reactors in Michigan

On February 26^th, during a tour of Sandia National Nuclear Laboratories, Trump Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that it is the policy of the Trump Administration for the U.S. be out in front when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), and that this requires having reliable and affordable sources of electricity to meet the growing demands of the technology sector. Wright’s comments come as many states are looking to nuclear energy to power the growing number of planned data centers necessary to support tech companies’ AI plans. Relatedly, on February 25^th, Holtec International, the owner of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, signed a strategic agreement with Hyundai Engineering and Construction to build a 10-gigawatt fleet of small modular reactors in North America, starting with two units at the Palisades site. Holtec is aiming to bring the original Palisades reactor back online in October subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It would be the first restart of a closed nuclear plant in U.S. history.

Federal Contracting 

Trump Signs EO Implementing DOGE Cost Efficiency Initiative 

On February 26^th, President Trump signed an executive order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Cost Efficiency Initiative,” directing federal agencies to build a centralized system to seamlessly record every payment issued by the agency for covered contracts and grants, along with a brief justification submitted by the federal employee who approved each payment, and to generally make the payment justifications publicly available. The order further directs agencies to review all existing covered contracts and grants and determine whether to terminate or modify them “to reduce overall federal spending or reallocate spending to promote efficiency and advance the policies” of the Administration. For purposes of the EO, “covered contracts and grants” are defined as discretionary spending through contracts, grants, loans, and related instruments, but excludes: (1) direct assistance to individuals; (2) expenditures related to immigration enforcement, law enforcement, the military, public safety, and the intelligence community; and (3) other critical, acute, or emergency spending, as determined by the relevant agency head. Finally, the EO directs the General Services Administration to submit a plan within 60 days for the disposition of government-owned real property which has been deemed no longer necessary.

DOL Orders OFCCP to Reduce Workforce by 90%

According to a memo issued on February 27^th, the Department of Labor is preparing to cut the workforce of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) by 90%. According to the memo, OFCCP will shrink from 55 offices to four, and reduce its 479 employees to 50. The reduction comes after President Trump signed an executive order on January 21, 2025, that revoked former President Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 Executive Order 11246 that established most of OFCCP’s responsibilities to police federal contractors for anti-discrimination violations and affirmative action compliance. Under the plan outlined in the memo, OFCCP would “focus its mission” on enforcement of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities by federal contractors and subcontractors and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA). OFCCP would maintain a “limited field presence” for Section 503 and VEVRAA reviews. 

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

March 6, 2025

• The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced the 26 most vulnerable members of the House Democratic caucus for its 2026 “Frontline Program”. The list includes: (1) Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-OR); (2) Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA); (3) Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA); (4) Rep. Adam Gray (D-CA); (5) Rep. George Whitesides (D-CA); (6) Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA); (7) Rep. Dave Min (D-CA); (8) Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT); (9) Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-IN); (10) Rep. Jared Golden (R-ME); (11) Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI); (12) Rep. Don Davis (D-NC); (13) Rep. Nellie Pou (D-NJ); (14) Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM); (15) Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV); (16) Rep. Susie Lee (D-NV); (17) Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV); (18) Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY); (19) Rep. Laura Gillen (D-NY); (20) Rep. Josh Riley (D-NY); (21) Rep. John Mannion (D-NY); (22) Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); (23) Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-OH); (24) Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX); (25) Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX); and (26) Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA).  

• Senate Democrats are laying the groundwork to seek unanimous consent to pass a major bipartisan, bicameral health care policy package that was removed from last December’s omnibus funding package. The health care package would include substantial reforms to the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers. MCAA is engaging the sponsors to ensure it does not include PBM-related proposals we helped kill last year that threatened ERISA preemption. A draft of the package also includes an extension of COVID-era telehealth and hospital-at-home rules and new measures to fight the opioid crisis and prevent cuts in pay for doctors treating Medicare patients.

• The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for review its final rule on “Contract Year 2026 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, and Medicare Cost Plan Programs, and PACE (CMS-4208).”  The Biden CMS published the proposed rule on December 10, 2024. It would require Part D sponsors, such as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), to notify network pharmacies which plans will be in-network in a given plan year by October 1 of the year prior to that plan year. The proposed rule also required PBMs and other Part D sponsors to provide a list of these plans to network pharmacies upon request after October 1 of the year prior to that plan year. Additionally, regarding Part D, CMS proposed to: (1) implement section 11401 of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) requiring that, effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, the Medicare Part D deductible shall not apply to, and there is no cost-sharing for, an adult vaccine recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices; and (2) implement section 11406 of the IRA requiring that, effective for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, the Medicare Part D deductible shall not apply to covered insulin products, and the Part D cost-sharing amount for a one-month supply of each covered insulin product must not exceed the statutorily defined “applicable copayment amount” for all enrollees. Moreover, CMS proposed codifying the existing CMS guidance regarding section 11202 of the IRA establishing the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan and requiring each prescription drug plan (PDP) sponsor offering a prescription drug plan and each Medicare Advantage (MA) organization offering a Medicare Advantage prescription drug (MA-PD) plan to provide any enrollee in such plan, including an enrollee who is subsidy eligible, the option to elect to pay cost-sharing under the plan in monthly amounts that are capped. CMS also added “the availability of low-income supports including the Part D Low-Income Subsidy” to the list of requirements that agents and brokers must discuss with their customers regarding Part D enrollment options. OIRA typically has up to 90 days to review agency rulemakings.

• Siemens announced plans to invest $285 million in manufacturing in the United States, including two new manufacturing facilities for electrical products in Fort Worth, Texas and Pomona, California. The company said it expects this investment to create more than 900 skilled manufacturing jobs, with the equipment produced in those factories supporting the U.S. commercial, industrial and construction sectors.

March 5, 2025 

• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. The legislation: (1) creates financial penalties for employers who commit unfair labor practices; (2) bars companies from holding “captive audience” meetings; (3) makes it easier for newly formed unions to secure their first contracts; (4) strengthens a worker’s right to strike and boycott; and (5) overrides state “Right-to-Work” laws.

March 4, 2025

• House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) encouraged Republican lawmakers to skip town halls that have been filled with protestors decrying the Trump Administration’s slashing of the federal government, echoing the president’s claims that the demonstrations are fueled by professional protestors. National Republican Congressional Campaign Chair Richard Hudson (R-NC) also told Republicans to stop holding town halls in person.

• The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that the measles outbreak that started in West Texas has now spread to Alaska, California, Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Rhode Island. Two cases of measles have been reported in New York City and three cases have been reported in New Jersey. Thirteen new measles cases have also been reported in Texas as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sends a team of epidemiologists and doctors to help the state deal with the outbreak.

March 3, 2025 

• There is a new interactive website called the Workplace Rights Hub that provides answers to questions about the maze of varying state laws regarding medical leave rights for workers to take care of themselves and loved ones, and to navigate pregnancy, childbirth, and related workplace issues. The creator of the tool is “A Better Balance,” which describes itself as “a leading national nonprofit legal advocacy organization dedicated to work-family justice.” 

March 2, 2025 

• The Treasury Department announced that it will not enforce against U.S. citizens, domestic reporting companies, or their beneficial owners any penalties or fines associated with the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership information reporting rule under the existing regulatory framework and deadlines. The Treasury Department also announced that it will be issuing a proposed rule to narrow the scope of the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership reporting to foreign reporting companies only. 

February 28, 2025

• Apollo Global Management, Inc. said it is in talks to lead a roughly $35 billion financing package for Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. to help develop data centers in the U.S. The alternative asset manager has discussed providing a major part of the financing and KKR & Co. is also a part of the investor group. The funding conversations were characterized as being in the early stages and there is no guarantee a deal will be completed. 

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced that it has issued an order allowing the use of liquified natural gas (LNG) as marine fuel, reducing regulations on LNG to power boats. The order modifies a December 2024 order issued by the Biden Administration that gave DOE authority to regulate LNG bunkering (i.e., storing LNG on ships and transferring the fuel at sea). Specifically, the order issued to JAX LNG withdraws DOE’s “exercise of its jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act for ship-to-ship transfers of LNG for marine fuel use at a U.S. port, in U.S. waters, or in international waters.” The DOE order leaves unchanged its authorization to JAX LNG to export LNG through shipping containers.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it intends to act expeditiously to delay implementation for South Dakota and Ohio of year-round sales of E15 fuel until Spring 2026, noting that this will be the last year an extension can be provided to any of the eight applicable midwestern states (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin). This announcement follows the February 26, 2025 deadline for states to submit written requests to delay year-round sales of E15 fuels. The EPA added that Kansas, which was not among the eight states addressed in the EPA’s final rule extending year-round E15 sales, submitted a similar request, but did not say whether it was also granting Kansas an extension. The EPA also explained that, in the absence of congressional action, the agency is still considering issuing emergency fuel waivers to allow the year-round sale of E15. 

February 27, 2025 

• Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced a $27 billion investment to build four drug manufacturing “mega-sites” across the U.S. which would create around 10,000 construction jobs.

• A spike in demand for electricity from tech companies competing in the artificial intelligence race is upending forecasts for natural gas-fired power in the U.S., as utilities reconsider it as a major new power source. Relatedly, GE Vernova Inc., NRG Energy Inc. and Kiewit Corp. agreed to develop up to 5.4 gigawatts of gas-fired power plants to power data centers experiencing an increase in demand due to AI. The plants would start up between 2029 and 2032 and could be located in Texas or the eastern U.S. NRG also entered into preliminary agreements with data center developers Menlo Equities and PowLan for 400 megawatts with the potential to scale up to more than 6 gigawatts.

February 26, 2025

• Trump Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson said the FTC is creating a new task force to investigate corporate behavior that harms workers in ways that violate antitrust and consumer protection laws. Ferguson promised that the FTC will launch the “labor markets task force” with mandates for the agency’s bureaus to work together in scrutinizing the issue, and he listed noncompete agreements, as well as no-hire and no-poach contracts, as areas of focus.

February 25, 2025 

• The U.S. Justice Department indicated in a filing that it will withdraw from defending the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) final rule prescribing the accommodations employers must provide to pregnant workers under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Enacted in December 2022, the PWFA requires covered entities—including public and private employers with 15 or more employees, unions, employment agencies, and the federal government—to provide reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitation related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation will cause the employer undue hardship. The move away from defending the rule comports with recent statements made by President Trump’s new EEOC Acting Chair, Andrea Lucas, making clear her intention for the EEOC to “reconsider portions of the final rule” that she believes broaden “the scope of the statute in ways that cannot be reconciled with the text [of the law].” This includes provisions in the final rule defining abortion as a related medical condition to pregnancy that employers must reasonably accommodate.

• President Trump signed an executive order to reinforce existing rules to make health care prices more transparent for patients by directing the Treasury Department, Labor Department, and Health and Human Services Department to enforce regulations requiring hospitals and health insurers to publicly disclose their prices or face a fine of up to $5,500 per day. A similar order mandating more price disclosure issued during Trump’s first term has had limited success, with a 2022 survey finding that only about 14% of hospitals were fully adhering to rules to publicly post their prices. 

February 24, 2025

• Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent UnitedHealth Group Chief Executive Andrew Witty a letter demanding details on the company’s Medicare billing practices, saying “the apparent fraud, waste, and abuse at issue is simply unacceptable and harms not only Medicare beneficiaries, but also the American taxpayer.” Chair Grassley demanded that UnitedHealth turn over training manuals and guidance documents around certain practices that he believes are leading to extra payments. These include in-home visits by nurses working for the company as well as reviews of medical charts. He also requested details of UnitedHealth’s compliance program, audit results, lists of software used and other documents.

• A new report from RentCafe found that the pipeline for new apartments in old office spaces is growing and the top ten U.S. metro areas with the most office-to-apartment conversions in progress are: (1) New York City; (2) Washington, D.C.; (3) Los Angeles; (4) Chicago; (5) Dallas; (6) Atlanta; (7) Minneapolis; (8) Charlotte, NC; (9) Cincinnati; and (10) Kansas City, MO. The report also found that developers completed less than 7% of office-to-apartment units underway in 2024, pushing most into 2025.

February 21, 2025

• The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requested comments in connection with proposed actions aimed at eliminating China’s acts, policies, and practices targeting the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance. Among other things, USTR is proposing new fees and restrictions on maritime shipments of goods by ship operators that use Chinese-built ships. It is also looking to mandate increased use of U.S. built vessels to transport goods internationally. The fees are viewed as directly targeting Chinese-government-controlled carrier Cosco Shipping and, if implemented, could add significant operating costs for ocean shipping companies that would in turn drive up freight rates for U.S. retailers, manufacturers and farmers. Comments are due by March 24, 2025 and should be submitted through the USTR comment portal using Docket ID USTR-2025-0002. In addition to requesting public comments, USTR will hold a public hearing on March 24, 2025, at the International Trade Commission. Those interested in participating in the hearing must submit a request by March 10, 2025 through the USTR comment portal using Docket ID USTR-2025-0002. Additional information and documents regarding the investigation can be found here.

Around the Country 

Northeast 

• On March 2^nd, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) launched a bid to be the next mayor of New York City. The announcement comes as Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), two senior members of the House Oversight Committee, wrote a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting information regarding the department’s decision to forgo its case against current New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D). On February 26^th, Adams asked a federal judge to dismiss the criminal case against him in a way that wouldn’t allow federal prosecutors to reindict him at a later date. The request puts Adams at odds with the Justice Department’s effort to abandon the case now while still reserving the option to revive the charges in the future.

• On February 28^th, the Trump Interior Department announced that the National Park Service has signed a new ten-year lease and right of way with Williams Transco to use hangars in the Floyd Bennett Field unit of Gateway National Recreation Area, located in New York City, for energy infrastructure. Under the prior lease, Williams invested $22 million to restore Hangars 1 and 2 to convert the interiors into a natural gas metering and regulating station used to provide energy to New York City.

• On February 26^th, a judge dismissed the racketeering indictments against New Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross, the brother of Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ), and his five co-defendants, potentially ending a case that rocked New Jersey politics. The judge said the charges “must be dismissed because its factual allegations do not constitute extortion or criminal coercion as a matter of law.” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin vowed to appeal the dismissal of the charges.

West

• On March 4^th, CIM Group and Novva Data Center secured a $2 billion construction loan from JPMorgan Chase and Starwood Property Trust for a 100-acre data center campus in West Jordan, Utah, outside Salt Lake City that will be able to provide 175 megawatts of continuous service based on a deal with the local electric utility. That is roughly enough power for 175,000 average-size U.S. homes. The project seeks to address water use concerns by deploying a new cooling system technology that minimizes water evaporation. 

• On February 21^st, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) requested that Congress appropriate nearly $40 billion to rebuild from the wildfires that devastated the Los Angeles region last month and destroyed 16,251 structures. About $16.8 billion of the requested funds would provide public assistance for community and private property recovery, such as hazardous household materials and debris removal, road and bridge repairs, public utility works and school district needs. Around $10 billion would also be used to address damage to housing and infrastructure. And Gov. Newsom made clear more federal support will be needed, explaining, “we expect to identify additional funding needs to help these communities recover.” Over the weekend, President Trump’s Special Envoy Richard Grenell made clear that Republicans will attach conditions to any California wildfire aid. Grenell indicated these conditions may include pressing for the state to reform or eliminate the California Coastal Commission and demanding changes to state water and forestry management. As the debate on conditions for California aid continued this week, on Wednesday, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had completed its work to assess, remove, and safely dispose of household hazardous materials from areas burned by the southern California wildfires. This 29-day effort was the largest wildfire hazardous materials cleanup in the history of the EPA and involved 1,700 EPA staff identifying and then clearing hazardous materials from southern California properties. That same day at President Trump’s first cabinet meeting, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin floated plans to cut the EPA’s workforce by up to 65% to facilitate the work of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The White House later walked back Zeldin’s remarks, saying the EPA intends to cut 65% of its spending, not 65% of its staff.

Northwest 

• On March 5^th, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) joined Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Janelle Bynum (D-OR), and Maxine Dexter (D-OR) in a statement asking the Trump Administration why it proposed to dispose of federal properties in Baker City, Eugene, Medford, Portland, and Troutdale, Oregon. Sen. Wyden said that he was “nowhere near convinced this fire sale of federal assets…is in the best interest of U.S. taxpayers” while Sen. Merkley said the Administration “doesn’t grasp that federal buildings in our communities provide a central place for folks to access government agencies and the everyday essential services they provide, like keeping our electric grid functioning and providing help with the IRS and Social Security.”

Midwest 

• On February 26^th, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said that he will not run for the Minnesota U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Tina Smith (D).

• On February 25^th, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy formally announced that he is running to be the next governor of Ohio. The entrance by Ramaswamy comes after Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) announced his candidacy last month to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. On February 27^th, entrepreneur Heather Hill also announced a bid for the Ohio Republican gubernatorial nomination. 

Southeast

• On February 27^th, Florida trial lawyer and Democratic mega-fundraiser John Morgan announced he’s launching his own political party, after repeatedly teasing that he might run for governor in the state. He said the party will be for those “stuck in the middle.”

• On February 25^th, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) announced his candidacy for Florida governor. Prior to President Trump’s endorsement on February 22^nd of Donalds in the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary, current Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was reportedly making calls to donors and consultants asking them to hold off on supporting Donalds as DeSantis’s wife Casey mulled a possible gubernatorial bid.

• On February 25^th, a new poll showed former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) holds an early double-digit lead over Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R) ahead of Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial race in November.

Southwest

• On March 5^th, the Trump Energy Department approved the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permit extension for Golden Pass LNG Terminal LLC (Golden Pass) granting the company additional time to begin LNG exports from the Golden Pass LNG Terminal currently under construction in Sabine Pass, Texas. Golden Pass, owned by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, could begin exporting LNG as soon as “later this year.” Once operational, the terminal will be able to export up to 2.57 billion cubic feet per day of LNG.

• As the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on March 5^th in a case that will determine whether private companies can temporarily store spent nuclear fuel at facilities in Texas and New Mexico, increased interest in nuclear power driven by artificial intelligence data centers has renewed the debate about what to do with the radioactive waste left behind. Currently, more than 90,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel is being stored at sites in 39 states—with Illinois holding the most. The facilities include 73 commercial nuclear power plants and more than three dozen university and government facilities.

• On March 4^th, Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX), who was sworn-in to Texas’ 18^th Congressional District in January to replace the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), passed away at the age of 70. 

• On February 24th, it was revealed that Texas is looking to become a leader in nuclear power and to deploy the next generation of atomic energy, aggressively courting the growing nuclear sector and settle it in state. That includes facilitating Dow Chemical’s plans to place small reactors made by X-energy at its Seadrift complex on the Gulf Coast, Natura’s plans to power oilfield infrastructure in the Permian Basin, and Texas A&M’s deal with four companies to build small, 250 megawatt commercial-scale reactors at a new “proving grounds” near its campus in College Station.