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This Week in Congress This week, congressional leaders continued bipartisan negotiations on a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government beyond December 20th. The CR is expected to run through March. Still being negotiated is the size and scope of disaster aid and “anomalies” including $6.6 billion for veterans’ health care and nearly $10.7…

  2024 Election Concludes The 2024 federal election has finally concluded with Republicans winning 220 House seats to Democrats’ 215.  That represents a two-seat loss for Republicans as compared to the size of their majority after the 2022 elections.  It is the second-smallest House majority in history, percentagewise, and the smallest in more than 100…

The 119th Congress by the Numbers When the 119th convenes on January 3rd, there will be 81 new Members of Congress from 31 states and territories including: • 13 new U.S. Senators • 68 New U.S. Representatives • 38 New Republicans • 41 New Democrats • 2 Vacancies – Rep. Gaetz (R-FL) resigned, and Rep.…

Update: The Suspended Corporate Transparency Act Brief Summary: The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a nationwide injunction suspending enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) Reporting Rule.  The injunction suspends obligations to file initial BOI reports by January 1, 2025.  The court found that…

This Week in Congress Both chambers of Congress returned to Washington this week following their Thanksgiving break, and they have three weeks of work before the end of the 118th Congress to finalize government spending and wrap up negotiations on the annual defense policy bill.  Speaker Johnson (R-LA) is pushing for a short-term funding extension…

Congressional Members Joining the Trump Administration To date, President-elect Trump has tapped the following members of Congress to join his new administration. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL): Secretary of State Expected to resign from Congress on January 20th Four years remaining in his term Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) will appoint a replacement to fill the vacancy…

2024 Election Finally Over? Democrat Adam Gray has won California’s 13th congressional district by 187 votes. This was the last race to be called, leaving Republicans with 220 congressional seats to Democrats’ 215. But, with the three House departures listed above, Republicans would have just 217 members for the first few months of 2025, leaving them…

Immigration Update The Republicans will likely have a slim House majority (potentially with no room for error) to pull off immigration changes and will struggle to win over Senate Democrats, who could filibuster legislation from the minority. Republicans have a potential procedural tool for sidestepping the filibuster, a process known as budget reconciliation, but it…

OSHA Extends Heat Injury and Illness Prevention Proposed Rule OSHA has provided a 15-day extension to the comment period for its heat injury and illness prevention proposed rule. The comment period now ends on January 14, 2025. We requested an extension until March 31, 2025, at least this extension gets us past the holidays. Return to the ASAtoday…

DOL Appeals District Court Ruling on Overtime Rule On November 26th, the Department of Labor appealed the District Court’s ruling vacating the overtime final rule to the 5th Circuit. It remains to be seen whether they will seek a stay pending appeal or move to expedite the appeal. We will keep you updated as we learn…