Posts by Matt Zuiderhof

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…

FY26 Appropriations Update Last week, the House approved a three-part spending package covering Energy-Water, Interior, and Commerce-Justice-State (C-J-S) appropriations. Getting this passed requires some negotiation. When the package went before the Rules Committee on Tuesday, far-right members objected to certain earmarks in the C-J-S bill and to limited opportunities for members to propose amendments. The…

Healthcare Debate Continues Last week, the House passed a Democratic bill for a three-year extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits, with support from seventeen Republicans. The vote was considered a significant win for Democrats. President Trump renewed his call for Congress to focus healthcare legislation on health savings accounts and individual insurance…

Senate Rebuke of Trump Foreign Policy Recently, the administration’s foreign policy, particularly over the last few weeks, has caused frustration among Democrats and posed challenges for some Republicans in Congress. In a rare public disagreement with President Trump, five Republican senators—Collins (R-ME), Hawley (R-MO), Murkowski (R-AK), Paul (R-KY), and Young (R-IN)—voted last week to move…

Reconciliation 2.0? Chairman Pfluger (R-TX) announced that the Republican Study Committee will release a blueprint for a second budget reconciliation package this week. Congressional Republicans are split on pursuing another party-line bill. Return to the ASAtoday page to read more articles

New House Ratios Rep. LaMalfa (R-CA) passed away, leaving Republicans with a narrow one-vote majority in the House (218-213), as Rep. Massie (R-KY) often breaks party ranks. California has two weeks to schedule a special election for LaMalfa’s seat, which is expected to become Democratic after redistricting. Texas will hold a January 31 special election…

DOL’s Six Opinion Letters on the Application of FMLA and FLSA On January 5, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued six opinion letters to provide clarity to the employer community on the application of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The opinion letters address specific compliance…

This Week in Congress Congress returned this week to start the second session of the 119th Congress. The House considered two bills that would limit the Energy Department’s ability to issue household energy efficiency standards: the SHOWER Act (H.R. 4593) would redefine a showerhead relevant to federal water pressure requirements, and the Affordable HOMES Act…

Update: FY26 Appropriations Bills The legislation that ended the government shutdown in November included three FY26 appropriations bills: Agriculture, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs.  Congress has until January 30 to pass the remaining nine appropriations bills or a continuing resolution (CR) that would continue funding those agencies and programs at FY 2025 spending levels.…