Posts by Matt Zuiderhof

This Week in Congress  This week, the House is session and the Senate is in recess. The House considered two pregnancy-related bills (H.R. 6359 and H.R. 6945), and a resolution (H. J. Res. 140), brought under the Congressional Review Act, to disapprove of a Bureau of Land Management rule restricting mining leases in northern Minnesota. Additionally,…

Government Shutdown? Congress has until January 30th to pass six more appropriations bills to avoid a partial government shutdown. Last week, the Senate passed the three-bill minibus that cleared the House on January 8. Once the President signs it, six of the 12 appropriations bills will become law: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-State, Energy-Water, Interior, Legislative Branch, and…

ASA Urges Congress to Pass the FY26 Transportation Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill ASA, along with the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC), urged Congressional Leadership to pass the FY 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill, which fully-funds core highway, public transportation and airport construction programs at previously authorized levels.  More than…

ASA Monitors DOL’s Independent Contractor Rule Enforcement On May 1, 2025, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division paused enforcement of the 2024 independent contractor rule and reverted to the older, multi-factor “economic realities” test. While the 2024 rule remains technically in effect, enforcement now follows Trump-era standards, considering factors such as opportunity for…

Healthcare Negotiations Continue Negotiations among a bipartisan group of Senators to temporarily extend the now-expired ACA enhanced premium tax credits have encountered significant hurdles, primarily due to disputes concerning Hyde Amendment provisions that restrict the use of federal funds for abortion. Sen. Moreno (R-OH), who has taken a leadership role in the discussions, along with…

Republican Study Committee Proposals for Reconciliation 2.0 Last week, the fiscally conservative Republican Study Committee unveiled a list of proposals for a new tax and spending bill, potentially advancing through the partisan budget reconciliation process. You can access the document here: https://aboutbtax.com/bkGi. However, some Republicans, including the Chairmen of the House Ways and Means and…

House GOP Leaders Struggle to Control the Floor House Republican leaders were reminded last week how hard it is to manage the House with such a narrow majority. A small group of vulnerable Republicans opposed a labor bill, causing it to fail on the House floor. Their opposition also forced Speaker Mike Johnson to delay…

Revamping the FAR and Its Impact on Construction Contracting The federal government is initiating and implementing significant modifications to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that influence construction contracts. These adjustments are part of a comprehensive overhaul rather than isolated changes specific to construction. The majority of these reforms are associated with the “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul”…

This Week in Congress Congress has 18 days left to pass nine appropriations bills to prevent a partial government shutdown. The House considered five bills advanced by the Education and the Workforce Committee aimed at reforming employment regulations: H.R. 2262, which permits employers to conduct voluntary after-hours, job-related training sessions without compensating employees for attendance;…

ASA Calls Upon the Treasury Department to Purge CTA Database ASA, together with numerous Main Street business organizations, called on the Department of the Treasury to promptly remove all beneficial ownership information from the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) database that was submitted by domestic entities no longer required to file. Cleaning out this database now…