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This Week in Congress With the political conventions in the rearview mirror, Congress returned this week facing the traditional election year quagmire of members wanting to leave Washington as quickly as possible while doing just enough to avoid a government shutdown. Congress has three weeks to pass a continuing resolution (CR) by the October 1st…

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Bans the Use of Reverse Auctions in Construction Services On Thursday, September 5th, the Department of Defense (DOD), the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced their proposal to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a section of the Construction Consensus Improvement…

Congress Remains in Recess Until September 9th! Once Congress returns on September 9th, it will have a three-week sprint to face key legislative deadlines before departing again for campaign season, but political pressure and considerations could complicate the path to addressing those must-pass items. The election could make the chances of a government shutdown less…

ASA Urges Speaker Johnson to Delay the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) for One Year! ASA, along with 200 plus organizations, sent a letter to Speaker Johnson urging him to hold a vote on Rep. Nunn (R-IA)’s bipartisan legislation (H.R. 9278), which would delay the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)’s year-end filing deadline by one year. Rep.…

OSHA’s Proposed Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Standard Continues to Move Forward OSHA’s proposed heat injury and illness prevention standard is now open and it will have a 120-day comment period, the deadline to submit feedback will be Monday, December 30th. Per an OSHA staffer, there will also be a “robust public hearing, with a…

Speaker Johnson Extends the FY24 Budget Until March 2025? When Congress returns next week, Speaker Johnson is expected to bring to the floor a continuing resolution (CR) next week, which would keep the government funded through March 2025. The bill will be funded at the Fiscal Responsibility Act levels minus the “side deals” worked out…

On Interest Rate Cuts and Job Growth Last Wednesday, August 21, 2024, the Labor Department announced that it had overstated job growth by more than 800,000 for the 12-month period ending in March. The preliminary figures suggest employers added about 174,000 jobs per month during that period, down from the previously reported pace of about…

National Preparedness Month September marks the beginning of National Preparedness Month, a nationwide campaign to increase awareness about disaster and emergency preparedness. While the transition from summer to fall naturally brings attention to hurricane season, we know that natural disasters can occur at any time. Through August 2024 (NOAA), the U.S. has experienced several billion-dollar…

Non-Compete Rule Blocked As a follow up to last week’s newsletter, on August 20, 2024, Judge Ada Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lacks legal authority to implement its “non-compete” rule.  As we have previously alerted you in the below updates, on…

This Week In Congress The House and Senate remain out of session until after Labor Day, but members of Congress are already negotiating their FY25 budget priorities and have been for the last few weeks prior to the August recess. The House Freedom Caucus issued a statement calling on Republican leadership to either pass all…