Organization: MCAA

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, February 9, 2026 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• Last week, as money ran out for the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel Project due to the Trump Administration’s decision to withhold congressionally appropriated federal funding, the White House told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that the Administration would restore the funding if Schumer endorsed renaming both New York City’s Penn Station and Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport after President Trump. In response, Schumer said “there’s nothing to trade. The president stopped the funding and can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers.” As the standoff continued, the Gateway Development Commission sued the Transportation Department in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to compel payment of $205 million in past due federal reimbursements. Labor groups, business leaders, and transit advocates from New York and New Jersey also urged President Trump to restore Gateway funding, warning that pausing the project would increase costs, delay completion, and jeopardize tens of thousands of union jobs.

• Last Friday, the Office of Personnel Management released a final rule anticipated to result in the conversion of approximately 50,000 career civil servants to a new category of federal employment that would lack traditional civil service job protections. Employees reclassified under this new schedule could be removed by political appointees and replaced without violating civil service laws. Under the new rule, Trump Administration appointees at federal agencies will recommend positions for conversion to this new category, but the final determination will be made by the President through executive order. The rule is expected to primarily affect career officials who draft, edit, interpret, or influence policy, including senior career leadership such as regional directors and heads of operating units across cabinet departments and independent agencies. The final rule is intended to empower political leadership at federal departments and agencies to ensure that people holding key career government posts can be held accountable if they do not faithfully and vigorously advance administration priorities.

• Last Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published a proposed rule revising regulations for the Clean Fuel Production Credit (Section 45Z) established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and amended last year by the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The proposal is intended to support expanded sales of domestically produced biofuels, including low-emissions transportation fuels, by implementing OBBBA changes extending the credit for fuel sold on or before December 31, 2029 and broadening the definition of qualifying sales to include transactions involving wholesalers, dealers, and other intermediaries. The Section 45Z credit consolidates prior biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel incentives and applies to fuels produced after December 31, 2024. The proposed rule also sets detailed eligibility requirements for producers and facilities, clarifies how emissions rates will be calculated for both sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and non-SAF transportation fuels, and establishes new restrictions related to foreign and foreign-influenced entities. Biofuel producers are still awaiting updated Department of Energy emissions models necessary to take advantage of this credit.

• Administrators of MCAA health plans should take note that last Thursday, the Trump Administration launched TrumpRx, a new direct-to consumer website intended to lower prescription drug costs by steering patients to manufacturer discounts and cash-pay offers. The platform does not sell drugs directly but instead serves as a clearinghouse linking users to pharmaceutical companies’ own websites or providing coupons for use at pharmacies. At launch, TrumpRx features discounted drugs from five participating manufacturers—AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer—with a heavy emphasis on GLP-1 obesity and diabetes drugs. However, analysts caution that because direct-to-consumer purchases may not count toward insurance deductibles or out-of-pocket limits, TrumpRx is expected to be of greatest benefit to people who do not have prescription drug coverage.

• To advance its goal of reducing U.S. reliance on China and strengthening domestic supply chain resilience,the Trump Administration last Monday announced that the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) approved up to $10 billion in financing to launch Project Vault, a new public-private partnership establishing a U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve aimed at strengthening supply chain security and domestic manufacturing. Project Vault is designed to support U.S. production and processing of critical minerals while delivering a net positive return for taxpayers and advancing national security objectives tied to energy infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, defense, aerospace, electric vehicles, and consumer electronics. Participants include GE Vernova, Boeing, Western Digital, and Clarios, alongside global commodity suppliers such as Mercuria, Hartree Partners, and Traxys. This comes as Vice President JD Vance separately unveiled plans last Wednesday for a preferential trade bloc of allied nations for critical minerals, proposing coordinated price floors enforced through adjustable tariffs. The proposal is intended to prevent cheap minerals from undercutting domestic producers and help unlock private investment in mining and processing.

• The Labor Department Inspector General’s Top Management and Performance Challenges report released last Monday indicates that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could use more inspectors. The ranks of OSHA inspectors have declined from 846 in February 2024 to 736 in June 2025—making it increasingly difficult to inspect a meaningful share of the nation’s 11.6 million worksites. The report notes that in 2026, OSHA and its state partners together are expected to field just 1,720 inspectors responsible for overseeing approximately 144 million workers. The Inspector General warns that a lack of qualified inspectors can lead to fewer inspections, weaker enforcement in high-risk industries like construction, and heightened risks of worker injuries, fatalities, or compromised health. Concern about the dwindling ranks of OSHA inspectors comes as Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that in 2024 employer-reported nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses fell to their lowest level since 2003, with 2.5 million injuries reported—down roughly 3% from 2023. The decline was driven by a 26% drop in illness cases, including a 46% reduction in respiratory illness cases to the lowest level reported since the onset of COVID-19 in 2019.

• As the MCAA continues discussions on federal permitting reform with the Trump Administration, last week we received notice of the Food and Drug Administration’s plans to start accepting requests to participate in its new PreCheck Pilot Program aimed at streamlining the review and inspection process for the construction of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Facilities will be selected for the pilot program based on their alignment with national priorities, including the products to be manufactured, the stage of facility development, timelines for supplying the U.S. market, and the use of innovative approaches in facility design and construction.

Congress

• Last week, the House voted 217–214 to end a four-day partial government shutdown, approving a bipartisan funding package that provides full fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Energy, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Defense, Treasury, Justice, State, and Education, along with several independent agencies, while the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains on a continuing resolution (CR) that expires February 13^th. If DHS funding continues on a CR or lapses after February 13^th, key infrastructure, shipbuilding, and disaster-response investments in the House-passed FY2026 Homeland Security Appropriations bill will not go forward, including $26.4 billion for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, $40 million for deferred Coast Guard shoreside maintenance, $30 million for cutter and boat maintenance, and $98 million for Waterways Commerce Cutters. Democrats and Republicans remain far apart on a DHS funding deal due to disagreements over the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Last Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent Republicans a letter restating policy demands to “rein in ICE” they have made for weeks, including barring ICE agents from wearing masks and requiring that they wear body cameras. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) called Democrats’ demands “unrealistic” and Senate Republicans are preparing a clean, full-year continuing resolution to fund Homeland Security for the remainder of this fiscal year because they doubt they can reach agreement with Democrats ahead of the current February 13^th deadline. The DHS funding fight is also unfolding amid the Trump Administration’s efforts to ease tensions in Minnesota over immigration enforcement. Last Wednesday, President Trump ordered Border Czar Tom Homan to draw down roughly 700 federal law enforcement officers in Minnesota, about a quarter of those deployed during the immigration enforcement surge in the state, citing increased cooperation from state and local authorities.

• MCAA health plan trustees should know that the appropriations package signed into law last Tuesday ending the partial government shutdown included a series of pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reforms, including new transparency requirements, provisions delinking PBM compensation from drug list prices, and a requirement for full rebate pass-through in Medicare Part D. The package also extended Medicare telehealth flexibilities for two years and the hospital-at-home program for five years, continued funding for community health centers, delayed in-person requirements for tele-mental health services until January 1, 2028, and required the Department of Health and Human Services to issue guidance within one year on delivering telehealth services to individuals with limited English proficiency. The legislation comes as the Federal Trade Commission secured a settlement with Express Scripts and affiliated entities Caremark Rx and OptumRx to resolve allegations that the companies inflated insulin list prices through anticompetitive rebating practices that increased patient out-of-pocket costs. Against this backdrop, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), along with Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) released a Dear Colleague letter outlining a broader framework to lower prescription drug costs by expanding Medicare drug price negotiations, reducing out-of-pocket costs by further cracking down on PBMs, and bolstering domestic pharmaceutical innovation through the tax code and increased funding for federal research, including at the NIH.

• Last week, the House Republican majority shrank yet again after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) swore in Democrat Christian Menefee to represent Texas’ 18th Congressional District, filling a seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX) after nearly a year without representation for the Houston-area district. Menefee’s swearing-in narrowed the House GOP majority to 218–214, leaving Speaker Johnson with just a one-vote margin on party-line legislation.

• Last Tuesday, the MCAA policy team engaged with the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy as it held a hearing entitled “Oversight of FERC: Advancing Affordable and Reliable Energy for All Americans,” featuring testimony from all five Federal Energy Regulatory Commission commissioners focused on rising energy costs, grid reliability, and the challenge of meeting rapidly growing electricity demand driven by data centers, manufacturing, and artificial intelligence. During the hearing, Republicans warned that the electric grid is under severe stress from baseload retirements, permitting delays, and infrastructure constraints. They urged FERC focus on its role as an economic regulator to ensure reliability, affordability, and U.S. competitiveness. Democrats countered that electricity prices are rising nationally due to interconnection failures and outdated grid planning, criticized Trump Administration actions to block new clean energy projects, and emphasized that large data centers must pay their fair share without shifting costs to residential and small business ratepayers. FERC Chair Laura Swett stressed the Commission’s bipartisan mission and commitment to legal durability, regulatory certainty, and staffing capacity. She highlighted FERC’s efforts to streamline permitting, reduce interconnection delays, expand blanket authorizations, and establish transparent rules for serving large data center loads while protecting consumers. FERC Commissioners also underscored the urgency of “speed to power” (the ability to bring new generation, transmission, and large loads online quickly enough to keep pace with rising demand without compromising reliability or driving up costs) particularly following Winter Storm Fern. Throughout the hearing, the Commissioners emphasized protecting affordability through fair cost allocation, ensuring new large loads cover the infrastructure costs they trigger, advancing durable long-term solutions rather than temporary fixes, and maintaining bipartisan consensus to provide regulatory predictability and support timely investment in energy.

• Last week, the MCAA policy team also monitored the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions’ hearing entitled, “Building an AI-Ready America: Adopting AI at Work,” which examined how AI is being deployed across workplaces and what that means for productivity, job quality, and worker protections. Subcommittee Chairman Rick Allen (R-GA) emphasized the need to balance innovation with worker safeguards, including the continued applicability of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the importance of improved federal data collection to understand the workforce impacts of AI. Democratic Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) warned that unchecked AI adoption could widen power imbalances in the workplace through surveillance and hiring and other processes driven by discriminatory algorithms. Witnesses outlined competing approaches to managing AI in the workplace. Bradford Kelley of management law firm Littler Mendelson argued that existing federal workplace laws, including Title VII, the NLRA, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, are largely sufficient to address AI-related misconduct and cautioned that premature or fragmented AI-specific regulation could stifle innovation and create compliance uncertainty. Revana Sharfuddin of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University contended that current federal data systems are insufficient to measure AI’s task-level effects on workers and recommended targeted investments in Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau surveys to better track AI adoption, job redesign, and labor-market impacts. Tanya Goldman of Workshop emphasized that workers are already experiencing harm from opaque AI-driven hiring systems, wage setting software, surveillance, and algorithmic management. She called for stronger enforcement resources, transparency and disclosure requirements, human oversight and appeal rights, regular impact assessments, and preservation of states’ ability to enact additional worker protections. The hearing took place amid new reporting on a surge of private-sector investment in AI systems designed to enable robots to perform complex physical tasks in construction, energy, logistics, manufacturing, and other traditionally blue-collar industries. These technologies are heightening concerns that AI-driven job disruption will extend beyond office work and underscoring the urgency of developing clearer data, oversight, and worker protection frameworks.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. In Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D-MN) in the Democratic primary to succeed her, backing a fellow progressive over Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN). In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) significantly outraised incumbent Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) in late 2025, raising $7.3 million in the fourth quarter alone—matching Husted’s total fundraising for all of 2025—and ending the year with nearly $9.9 million cash on hand. An internal National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) poll shows that if Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) wins the GOP Senate primary, he would trail Democratic state Rep. James Talarico by three points in a head-to-head matchup and lead Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett by just one point, while incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) would outperform Paxton against both Democrats. In Kentucky, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) is leading the crowded Republican primary to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), with new polling showing Barr at 24%, followed by former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) at 21%, and Trump-endorsed businessman Nate Morris at 14%. All of this comes as NRSC Chair Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) warned GOP senators last week that Democrats currently hold a six-point advantage on the generic ballot, creating what he described as electoral headwinds, particularly in Maine where Sen. Susan Collins (R) is seeking a sixth term.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared California to use its new congressional maps that favors Democrats in November’s midterms, rejecting a request from the California GOP and the Trump Justice Department to reconsider their argument that the map was an illegal racial gerrymander. This comes as Republicans in Utah filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the state’s newly imposed congressional maps, arguing a state judge violated the Constitution by overturning GOP-drawn districts and substituting a court-ordered plan that gives Democrats a potential pickup opportunity in Salt Lake County. In Texas, President Trump endorsed former MLB player Mark Teixeira (R) in his bid for retiring Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-TX) seat in Texas’ 21^st Congressional District. In Georgia, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) announced he will not seek reelection to Georgia’s 11^th Congressional District. In Nevada, Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) became the 30^th House Republican to announce he won’t seek re-election, leaving an open seat in Nevada’s 2^nd Congressional District. And in Maryland, former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who became a national figure after testifying about the January 6 Capitol attack, announced he is running as a Democrat in the state’s 5th Congressional District. Dunn’s announcement came as the Maryland House voted 93–77 to advance a new congressional map that would eliminate the state’s lone GOP seat currently held by House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD).

Around the Country

• As the MCAA policy team continues working with the Trump Administration on accelerating deployment of nuclear technology, last week we were informed that the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management is restarting uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon facility in South Carolina, enabling the production of high-assay low-enriched uranium for advanced reactors as well as the recovery of isotopes for scientific research, medical applications, and commercial uses. H Canyon is the only production-scale, radiologically shielded chemical separations facility in the U.S. The announcement followed a separate move last Tuesday in which DOE said it is partnering with nuclear fuel company General Matter to assess returning the Hanford Site’s Fuels and Materials Examination Facility in Washington State to service for advanced nuclear fuel cycle technologies and materials. Under that partnership, DOE signed a lease granting General Matter access to the 190,000-square-foot facility, with the company responsible for site characterization, evaluating potential upgrades, and leading engagement with local communities and stakeholders to determine feasibility. Finally, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy awarded more than $19 million to five companies last Thursday to research and develop recycling technologies for used nuclear fuel. The companies getting the funding are Oklo, Alpha Nur, Curio Solutions, Flibe Energy, and SHINE Technologies.

• MCAA members operating in Texas should take note that last Wednesday, the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration granted Texas GulfLink, LLC a license to own, construct, and operate a deepwater port approximately 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas. This is the first U.S. deepwater port license approved under President Trump’s Unleashing American Energy executive order. The offshore facility will support up to 720 construction and operations jobs and enable the export of up to one million barrels of crude oil per day. Designed to accommodate very large crude carriers, the port will allow oil to be loaded offshore rather than in congested nearshore waters, reducing vessel traffic, improving navigational safety, and increasing the efficiency and reliability of U.S. crude oil exports.

• MCAA members operating in Vermont should take note that last Wednesday, the General Services Administration announced the release of a final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for the Richford, VT Land Port of Entry project, clearing the way for construction to begin this fall. The project will modernize and expand the nearly century-old port of entry at the U.S.–Canada border between Richford, Vermont and Abercorn, Quebec, replacing facilities that no longer meet current U.S. Customs and Border Protection design and operational standards. Planned upgrades include new officer work areas, secure inspection and holding spaces, and major plumbing, mechanical, and electrical improvements, along with exterior enhancements such as reconfigured traffic lanes, mechanical gates, guardrails, and bullet-resistant inspection booths to improve safety, security, and traffic flow for both commercial and non-commercial crossings. The project is expected to cost between $36 million and $44 million.

• MCAA members involved in energy infrastructure and pipeline construction and maintenance in the Midwest should be aware that last Tuesday, the Trump Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Civil Division filed a statement of interest in a case before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin involving the potential shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline as it crosses the Bad River Reservation. The filing seeks to reverse the district court’s injunction that would require Enbridge to cease pipeline operations by June 16^th, arguing that an immediate shutdown would disrupt the nation’s energy supply chain and drive up costs for consumers. The Trump Justice Department emphasized that the case has been under appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2023 and warned that imposing operational restrictions while appellate review is ongoing would be premature. Citing President Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency, DOJ officials said there are no readily available alternatives to transport the energy products currently flowing through Line 5, and that shutting down the pipeline would harm U.S. energy security and economic stability.
  
  
• The rapid expansion of data center development is being shaped by both growing private-sector capital interest and increasingly divergent state policy approaches focused on infrastructure readiness. Prologis, the world’s largest owner of industrial real estate, said it is weighing a dedicated co-investment vehicle focused on data centers, citing rising demand, with a decision expected in the coming months. Prologis expects to break ground on $4 billion to $5 billion in new developments in 2026, with data centers accounting for roughly 40% of the projected value, up from about 10% of its $3 billion in development starts last year. At the same time, states are adopting different strategies to manage that growth. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) announced “Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development” standards that would condition public support for data centers on developers funding their own power generation, hiring and training local workers, engaging communities, and meeting water and environmental requirements in exchange for faster permitting and tax incentives. By contrast, Texas is attracting hyperscale demand by moving projects with power and permits already secured, as evidenced by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s approval of Pacifico Energy’s 7.65-gigawatt GW Ranch project in the Permian Basin. The project is a gas-fired, private-grid power complex designed specifically to support large-scale data center development without drawing on the public grid.

• As the MCAA defends President Biden’s MCAA-supported 2022 executive order mandating the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on federally funded construction projects costing $35 million or more, there is a new legal battle involving the Baltimore–D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council, which on January 30^th filed a lawsuit in federal court in Virginia against the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). The suit alleges that MWAA is unlawfully failing to require PLAs on large construction projects at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. The complaint argues that MWAA’s decision to forgo PLAs on projects exceeding $100 million violates both a 2022 MWAA resolution and President Biden’s 2022 PLA executive order. The Council is seeking an injunction barring MWAA from awarding federally eligible large-scale construction contracts without a PLA, asserting that continued non-compliance undermines labor stability and the union’s bargaining position with airport contractors.

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, February 2, 2026 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

• As this week begins, Congress is racing to close a tentative deal the White House and Senate Democrats made late last week to fund the government following the expiration of the stop-gap funding measure enacted in November after the lengthy government shutdown. The deal separates the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill from a broader package containing the five remaining appropriations measures and advances a short continuing resolution (CR) to keep DHS funded at current levels until February 13 while lawmakers debate proposed changes to immigration enforcement. Senate leaders had been expected to quickly clear the remaining bills covering roughly $1.2 trillion in funding for Defense, Labor-HHS, Transportation-HUD (which includes funding for the Pipeline Safety Hazardous Materials Administration), Financial Services-General Government, and State and Foreign Operations funding fiscal year 2026 appropriations for approximately 96% of federal government operations. However, floor action stalled late last week after Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) objected to expedited consideration of the funding package. This week, we will see if divisions within the narrowly divided House GOP majority over both the short-term DHS funding measure and new limits Democrats are pushing on immigration enforcement will further delay finishing the fiscal year 2026 funding bills.

• Because MCAA has been engaged in ongoing permitting reform and decarbonization discussions with the Trump Administration, this week we got advance notice of President Trump’s surprise Executive Order (EO) 14377, “Addressing State and Local Failures to Rebuild Los Angeles After Wildfire Disasters” and the Interim Final Rule (IFR) the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) released on Thursday to implement it. The IFR enables SBA disaster loan borrowers to bypass certain state and local permitting requirements for rebuilding if the borrower has been unable to obtain required permitting approvals for 60 days or longer. Borrowers may have their builders self-certify compliance with state and local regulations and immediately begin rebuilding. The IFR requires builders to certify to the SBA that: (1) all required permit applications and approval requests were properly submitted more than 60 days earlier; (2) the delay in rebuilding is due to government inaction; and (3) all applicable building codes, health and safety requirements, inspections, and any other processes required to obtain a certificate of occupancy have been, and will be, met. More on the certification process and the related forms with the attestations contractors must sign is available here. While the situation in California prompted the Executive Order and the SBA rule, the rulemaking is not limited to California. It establishes a standard of general applicability for rebuilding funded with SBA disaster loans in any federally declared disaster area where state or local permitting delays are the “but-for” cause of delays of 60 days or more. The IFR applies retroactively to disaster loans approved on or after January 1, 2025. Although the rule took effect upon publication on January 29, 2026, the SBA is accepting public comments here through March 2, 2026 using RIN 3245-AI71.

• The MCAA also saw progress last week on permitting reform on the regulatory front, with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Permitting Innovation Center last Thursday launching a pilot called CE Works. CE Works is a digital platform designed to streamline categorical exclusion determinations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The pilot begins at the Bureau of Land Management’s Moab Field Office, with additional agency partnerships expected. The program was developed in coordination with the General Services Administration to modernize federal permitting technology pursuant to President Trump’s April 15, 2025 memorandum “Updating Permitting Technology for the 21^st Century.” CEQ says the tool will help cut red tape and accelerate timelines for infrastructure and energy projects.

• The MCAA’s outreach to the Department of Labor, to the extent it was channeled through the Secretary’s office, is becoming more complicated as the investigation into Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, her Chief of Staff, and her Deputy Chief of Staff continues. Both the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff have been placed on administrative leave during the investigation. This week scrutiny of the Secretary expanded to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent Secretary DeRemer a letter demanding her response to multiple allegations currently being investigated by the Labor Department’s Inspector General. Chairman Grassley asked the Secretary to respond by February 11, 2026, about allegations that while on official travel she took staff to a strip club in Portland, Oregon and fabricated other official work trips for personal travel at taxpayer expense. The Chairman also requested details about the Secretary’s travel to Palm Beach and four visits to Las Vegas last year, two of which included a staffer with whom she allegedly had an inappropriate relationship. Through her personal attorney, the Secretary has denied any wrongdoing, but she has not remarked on any of the allegations herself.

• MCAA health plan trustees need to know that last week the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published its long-awaited proposed rulemaking to implement section 12 of President Trump’s April 15, 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14273, “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First.” The 78-page proposal is intended to help trustees of self-insured health plans gain greater transparency into the direct and indirect compensation received by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). It would require both providers of PBM services and affiliated providers of brokerage and consulting services to disclose compensation information to fiduciaries of ERISA self-insured group health plans. This is intended to enable fiduciaries to satisfy their legal obligation under ERISA to assess both the “reasonableness of the compensation” in light of the services being provided and the potential for or existence of conflicts of interest that may impact the quality of services provided. These disclosures would be provided on an initial basis prior to the self-insured group health plan entering into a service contract or arrangement and then on a semiannual basis thereafter. To ensure further transparency, the proposed rule includes provisions permitting the responsible plan fiduciary to audit PBM disclosures for accuracy. The rule also requires PBMs to detail the authority they retain to change a plan formulary and how often they expect to do so and requires PBMs to state affirmatively when they are acting as a plan fiduciary and list any relevant conflicts of interest. EBSA is also proposing a Prohibited Transaction Exemption intended to ensure that a covered service provider’s failure to comply with the proposed requirements will not result in a prohibited transaction by a responsible plan fiduciary acting diligently and in good faith with this regulation and other applicable laws and regulations. Comments are due by March 31, 2026 and should be submitted through the federal eRulemaking portal using RIN 1210-AB37.

• MCAA health plan trustees may also be interested to see that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the list of 15 new medications selected for the Medicare drug price negotiation program under Medicare Part B (medical/outpatient coverage, including certain physician-administered drugs)andPart D (prescription drug coverage). The selected drugs treat conditions including HIV, type 2 diabetes, chronic lung disease, depression, and include Botox for Medicare-covered uses such as chronic migraines and overactive bladder. The medications to be negotiated this year include: Anoro Ellipta, Biktarvy, Botox and Botox Cosmetic, Cimzia, Cosentyx, Entyvio, Erleada, Kisqali, Lenvima, Orencia, Rexulti, Trulicity, Verzenio, Xeljanz and Xeljanz XR, and Xolair. According to CMS, these drugs accounted for approximately $27 billion in combined Medicare Part B and Part D spending between November 2024 and October 2025—about 6% of total Part B and Part D drug spending during that period. A CMS fact sheet on the update is available here.

• We wanted to be sure that MCAA pension plan trustees were aware that last Tuesday the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) released its fiscal year (FY) 2025 Annual Report showing continued improvement in the financial condition of its Multiemployer insurance program, reflecting in part the ongoing effects of the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program. The Multiemployer Program reported assets of $4.9 billion and liabilities of $2.3 billion as of September 30, 2025, resulting in a positive net position of $2.6 billion—an improvement of $516 million during the fiscal year. PBGC reported paying $6.2 billion in SFA to 48 financially troubled multiemployer plans in FY 2025, helping stabilize plan funding and contributing to the program’s long-term solvency outlook, even as the program also paid $169 million in traditional financial assistance to insolvent plans. Last week, PBGC also released its FY 2024 Projections Report showing the Multiemployer Program is expected to remain solvent for at least the next 40 years.

• As MCAA continues engaging the Trump Administration on its plans for implementing President Trump’s Executive Order on “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future,” we wanted to make you aware that last week the Department of Labor announced that National Apprenticeship Week 2026 will be held April 26 through May 2. The theme will be “America at Work: Making America Skilled Again Through Registered Apprenticeship.” National Apprenticeship Week will feature events across all 50 states and U.S. territories highlighting how Registered Apprenticeship expands career pathways for workers and helps employers meet workforce needs in industries such as the skilled trades, nuclear, energy, shipbuilding, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence.

• MCAA contractors and workers engaged in pipeline, industrial piping, and energy infrastructure inspection and repair projects may see increased compliance scrutiny and potential retrofit demand following new federal safety guidance from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) warning hazardous liquid pipeline operators about the integrity risks associated with the long-term use of Type A repair sleeves, citing multiple incidents that resulted in significant environmental damage and industry costs. PHMSA said incident data shows that failures of Type A sleeves—steel sleeves welded around a pipeline but not welded to the carrier pipe—have been linked to improper installation, moisture intrusion, corrosion fatigue, inadequate cathodic protection, and pressure cycling, particularly where annular spaces are not properly sealed. The advisory highlights recent pipeline releases in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania where leaks originated beneath aging Type A sleeves and urges operators to strengthen integrity management by improving recordkeeping, validating inline inspection data, inventorying and assessing all installed Type A sleeves as potential integrity threats, conducting fatigue analyses for sleeves subject to pressure cycling, and enhancing leak detection and monitoring practices. PHMSA also reminded operators that unauthorized or poorly executed sleeve installations may be subject to enforcement under existing pipeline safety regulations, while emphasizing that the advisory does not impose new regulatory requirements but provides technical guidance to prevent future failures.

• As the Labor Department works to help employers understand their obligations under federal labor and employment laws, the WHD last Tuesday highlighted compliance assistance tools explaining federal labor laws so well-intentioned companies can avoid violations. The materials that we were encouraged to share with MCAA members include a dedicated compliance webpage, a video series on the Family and Medical Leave Act, and updated industry-specific toolkits, including one for the construction industry, and another for government contractors. These resources are designed to encourage proactive compliance and provide clear, practical guidance for employers and workers. These latest compliance assistance efforts build on the department’s recent relaunch of its opinion letter program and renewal of the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program. The PAID program allows employers to self-report and resolve potential minimum wage, overtime, and certain FMLA violations, while avoiding certain penalties they would have to pay if these violations were the subject of an enforcement action.

Congress

• As part of our legislative efforts to advance federal permitting reform through Congress, last week MCAA engaged with the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in connection with its second permitting reform hearing this Congress. Witnesses included LiUNA General President Brent Booker, Bechtel CEO Brendan Bechtel, and Dustin Meyer of the American Petroleum Institute, among other energy and infrastructure stakeholders. The hearing underscored bipartisan concern that current federal environmental review and permitting processes continue to delay or cancel major energy infrastructure projects—particularly interstate natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas export facilities, and cross-border oil and gas development—creating uncertainty for contractors, workers, and investors. Witnesses also emphasized that extended litigation timelines and state-level water quality certifications under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act have frequently been used to stall pipeline projects, discouraging capital investment, and contributing to higher regional energy costs.
  
  The MCAA succeeded in prompting members at the hearing to acknowledge broad agreement that federal permitting reform should be project- and technology-neutral, provide certainty for approved projects, reduce redundant administrative reviews, and impose clear timelines and limits on judicial review while preventing future administrations from unilaterally terminating previously approved projects. These priorities reflect the core principles the MCAA has consistently advanced in its ongoing engagement with lawmakers and industry stakeholders. Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) both stressed the need to act on legislation this year, although Senator Whitehouse cautioned that progress would remain difficult unless the Trump Administration lifts its pause on previously approved offshore wind and other renewable energy projects approved during the Biden Administration.

• Last Monday, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Republicans announced the creation of a new task force to combat fraud in federal spending, citing concerns that waste, fraud, and abuse are siphoning taxpayer dollars away from programs intended to support families, workers, patients, and retirees. The initiative follows heightened scrutiny of alleged large-scale misuse of federal welfare funds in Minnesota. The Task Force will be organized through the committee’s health, education, labor and pensions subcommittees. The Labor & Pensions component of the task force will be led by Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Tim Scott (R-SC), who will examine fraud affecting federal labor programs, retirement security, and worker benefits, with a focus on improper payments and misuse of funds intended for workers and seniors. Committee leaders said the task force will pursue aggressive oversight and investigations across federal programs and has launched a public tip portal to allow whistleblowers and citizens to report suspected fraud involving taxpayer dollars. MCAA will be watching to see if this Task Force raises issues about multiemployer pension plans or the Special Financial Assistance Program. Meanwhile, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last Monday indefinitely postponed a scheduled hearing on “Examining Fraud in State and Federal Programs.”

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. Senate last week. In Georgia, non-partisan election analyst Larry Sabato shifted Senator Jon Ossoff’s (D) Georgia re-election bid from “toss-up” to “leans Democratic” and in Florida, Sen. Ashley Moody’s (R-FL) re-election bid from “safe Republican” to “likely Republican.” The ratings change in the Florida Senate race came after Alex Vindman, the former National Security Council official who testified against President Trump during his first impeachment trial, announced he is running as a Democrat against Senator Moody. In Michigan, a new poll finds state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D) leading the crowded Democratic U.S. Senate primary field with 22%, followed by Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in second at 17%, and progressive activist Abdul El-Sayed in third at 16%. In Texas, a new analysis revealed that the campaign manager for Rep. Wesley Hunt’s (R-TX) U.S. Senate bid, James Kyrkanides, charged taxpayers more than $44,000 in hotel expenses while he worked as Hunt’s chief of staff.

• There were several developments in races for the U.S. House last week. In Massachusetts, gun safety advocate and former DNC co-chair David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve PACendorsed voting rights attorney Patrick Roath in his Democratic primary challenge to Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) in Massachusetts’ 8^th Congressional District after Roath outraised Lynch by a more than 2-1 margin last year. In Florida, Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, announced he will not seek re-election to Florida’s 16^th Congressional District. Washington, D.C., Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) announced that she will not seek re-election, ending a more than three-decade tenure as Washington, D.C.’s non-voting delegate to the House amid mounting concerns about her age and ability to continue serving. In Maryland, the state’s House of Delegates released a proposed constitutional amendment to implement a new congressional map for 2026. In Virginia, a state judge issued an injunction blocking Democrats from moving forward with redrawing the state’s congressional lines before the 2026 midterms, a setback for Democrats who will appeal the ruling.

Around the Country

• The Trump Administration’s decision to freeze federal funding for the Gateway Development Commission’s $16 billion tunnel project will halt construction of the Hudson River rail tunnel linking New York City and northern New Jersey if it is not lifted by this Friday, February 6. Federal funds have been frozen since the government shutdown in October 2025. Project backers warn that a construction pause could jeopardize the entire multi-billion dollar project, and that stopgaps, such as additional backing from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, won’t be sufficient to close the funding gap. The pause follows public comments last year from President Trump suggesting that the Gateway project had been “terminated,” even as Trump Administration officials sent mixed signals about whether the promised funding will ultimately be released. New York and New Jersey lawmakers from both parties have vowed to fight the funding freeze, arguing that the Gateway Project is critical to the Northeast Corridor, regional economic stability, and thousands of union jobs.

• On the decarbonization front, MCAA contractors performing work on power plants, industrial facilities, and pipelines should note that last Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed Phase 1 of its reconsideration of the Biden-era “Good Neighbor Plan,” moving to approve State Implementation Plans (SIPs) related to the 2015 eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Alabama, Arizona, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Tennessee. Under the proposal, these states would not be subject to additional federal “Good Neighbor Plan” requirements and could proceed with implementing the remainder of their SIPs. The original rule imposed stringent emissions-control obligations on sectors including power generation, natural gas pipeline operations, cement and steel manufacturing, metal mining, chemical production, and petroleum and coal product facilities.

• As the MCAA continues advocating for federal policies supporting nuclear energy deployment and expansion of the domestic nuclear supply chain, last week both federal agencies and private industry advanced complementary initiatives strengthening the U.S. nuclear industry. The Department of Energy (DOE) last Wednesday issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking state input on the potential establishment of Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses, envisioned as integrated, full-cycle nuclear hubs that could co-locate advanced reactors, data centers, advanced manufacturing, and key fuel cycle capabilities such as fabrication, enrichment, used fuel reprocessing, and waste disposition. DOE invited states to outline their interest in hosting a campus and identify priorities including workforce development, infrastructure investment, economic diversification, and technology leadership, while emphasizing reliance on private and state capital, targeted and time-limited federal support subject to appropriations, and strong financial assurances to protect taxpayers. Responses to the RFI are due April 1, 2026. Separately, advanced nuclear fuel startup Standard Nuclear announced it raised $140 million in Series A financing to scale domestic production of TRISO and HALEU-based fuels for next-generation reactors, with backing from investors including Decisive Point, Chevron Technology Ventures, StepStone Group, and Andreessen Horowitz. Based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the company has begun producing HALEU TRISO fuel and plans to expand annual output beyond two metric tons by mid-2026; has secured authorization to receive HALEU feedstock; participates in DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program; and has formed a joint venture with Framatome to supply commercial quantities of advanced reactor fuel. The expansion is intended to reinforce the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain as demand grows for advanced reactors supporting clean energy, defense, and data-center power needs.

• MCAA members operating in New York should be aware that last Wednesday, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) intervened in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) review of the proposed Constitution Pipeline Company LLC project, reiterating the state’s opposition to construction of roughly 100 miles of natural gas pipeline across New York. The DEC urged FERC to reject the company’s request to reissue a federal certificate and to declare that the state waived its authority under the Clean Water Act to act on the project’s water quality certification, warning it could seek judicial relief if FERC acts contrary to a 2017 U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling that upheld New York’s earlier permit denial. The pipeline’s developer, a subsidiary of Williams Companies, maintains the project is meeting all environmental requirements and is needed to improve regional energy reliability.

• MCAA members operating in California should be aware that the state sued the Trump Administration on January 23^rd over federal approvals allowing offshore oil infrastructure activity along the state’s coastline. The contested approvals were the first ones issued in more than three decades for oil development off the California Coast. The lawsuit argues that the approval of the offshore permits unlawfully overrides California’s regulatory authority and environmental protections.

• MCAA members operating in Michigan should be aware that on January 23^rd, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute, alleging the companies operated as an unlawful cartel for decades to suppress competition from renewable energy and maintain dominance in the transportation and energy markets. Filed in federal court, the lawsuit claims violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, Clayton Act, and Michigan Antitrust Reform Act, asserting that the defendants coordinated through trade associations, abandoned renewable technologies, manipulated patents and litigation, and misled the public and policymakers about the costs of fossil fuels. Michigan argues these actions inflated home and transportation energy prices, reduced consumer choice, delayed the deployment of cost-effective renewable alternatives, and exacerbated the state’s broader energy affordability and climate-related economic impacts.