Situational Awareness
Both the House and Senate are in session this week. Last week, Senate Republicans voted to adopt a budget resolution that paves the way for a reconciliation bill covering a significant portion of President Donald Trump’s agenda. Notably, the Senate’s reconciliation instructions to individual committees does not include orders for the Ways and Means Committee, meaning a tax bill would not be included. Disagreement has continued among House and Senate Republicans over whether to go the House’s Big, Beautiful Bill route (which would include instructions for all of the committees and include a tax package) or take the Senate’s two-step approach.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he aims to hold a floor vote as early as Tuesday on the House’s budget resolution; he can only afford to lose one Republican vote. To win the numbers game, House Republican leadership has greenlit millions in additional cuts to gather the support of the House Freedom Caucus. However, this may not be enough to cover the permanent extensions of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts sought by Senate Republicans.
The House is also expected to vote on several bills aimed at supporting small businesses, including the Investing in Main Street Act of 2025, which would enable banks and federal savings associations to invest up to 15% (the current level is 5%) of their capital and surplus into Small Business Investment Companies. Across Capitol Hill, the Senate will continue to hold vote on President Trump’s nominations.
DOL Secretary Nominee Pledges to Modernize U.S. Labor Laws
Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing to consider Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination by President Trump for Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary. In her opening remarks, Chavez-DeRemer committed herself to rebuilding confidence in the labor market by supporting apprenticeship and skills-based worker training programs, in addition to updating and modernizing labor laws to reflect the current workforce and business environment. Overall, she said that if was confirmed by the Senate, her principal job would be to implement President Trump’s policy vision—ensuring a level-playing field for businesses, unions, and “the American worker.”
Throughout the hearing, Chavez-DeRemer was questioned by several senators about her past support for the PRO Act, which would strengthen certain protections for workers seeing to join unions, including by weakening “right-to-work” laws in 27 states and prohibiting captive audience meetings. She walked back support for certain provisions of the legislation, including those that would impact “right-to-work” laws and secret ballots.
Chavez-DeRemer also committed herself, if confirmed, to reviewing all rules and regulations at the agency, making specific mention of DOL’s joint employer and independent contractor rules. She also spoke about H-2B visas, saying that DOL would need to not only work with Congress on the issue, but with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State to examine issuance caps. She also suggested that DOL should have a greater understanding of what types of employers are asking for H-2B visas.
President Trump Issues EO on Independent Agencies
Last week, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) that strengthens the White House’s oversight over independent regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Trade Commission, National Labor Relations Board, and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Presidents have historically exercised informal control over these agencies by appointing agency leadership without requiring stronger oversight over their strategic plans, as directed by this EO. Independent agencies could also be subject to withhold federal funds if they fail to comply with the new oversight requirements. The new EO could complicate how the covered agencies interpret any new laws passed by Congress and disrupt ongoing enforcement activities carried over from the Biden administration.
President Trump Issues EO Directing Agencies to Review Federal Regulations
Last week, President Trump released an Executive Order entitled Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative. The EO directs the heads of all federal agencies to review all federal regulations within the next 60 days. The review should identify regulations that are identified by the administration as unconstitutional, unlawful, unduly burdensome to private parties, unjustifiably impeding technological innovation and/or those with ambiguous statutory authority. Furthermore, the EO directs agency heads to firstly deprioritize the enforcement of identified regulations and secondly, work with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to promulgate new regulations consistent with the administration’s priorities or rescind/modify existing regulations as deemed appropriate.
Most recently, the White House has undertaken a major overhaul of national permitting regulations established under NEPA. Under current statutes outlining how NEPA is implemented, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issues broadly applicable rules that complement agency-specific statutes and regulations. However, a new interim rule issued by CEQ would rescind its rulemaking authority. The move by CEQ is consistent with President Trump’s Unleashing American Energy Executive Order which directed CEQ to consider rescinding its permitting rules and also rescinded the 1977 Executive Order that formed the basis for those rules.
ClubPAC to Support Key Legislators This Week
This week, Joe Trauger, on behalf of ClubPAC, will attend fundraisers for several key member of Congress. Monday evening is a dinner with House Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). Wednesday evening, ClubPAC will attend a dinner for Congressman David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) hosted by Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.). On Thursday, ClubPAC is attending a breakfast for Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) hosted by Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). These members serve on two committees of importance to NCA. The House Ways and Means Committee has jurisdiction over all tax matters and The House Education and Workforce Committee has jurisdiction over the Department of Labor and its subagencies.
ICYMI
- The National Club Association sent letters to the chair and Republican leader of Maryland’s House Ways and Means Committee in opposition to legislation that would repeal the proposed special use assessment of country clubs and golf courses for property tax purposes. A copy of the letter was also shared with each member of the Ways and Means Committee prior to the hearing. The bill failed to advance favorably out of the committee during a mark-up last week.
