MCAA Government Affairs Update for the Week of December 22, 2025: The Latest Developments Impacting Our Industry

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

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

Trump Administration

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congress

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

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

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

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

Around the Country

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

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

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

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

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