MCAA Government Affairs Update for the Week of November 17, 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, November 17, 2025 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

Trump Administration

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

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

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

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

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

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

Congress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Around the Country

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

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

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

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

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