On May 22, the U.S. House passed their budget reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” in a 215-214-1 vote. Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Warren Davidson, R-Ohio were the only Republicans to vote against the measure, while House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., voted present.

Ahead of the vote, ABC sent a Key Vote letter expressing strong support for the bill that provides critical tax relief to contractors. Among the many essential reforms in the package, ABC particularly supports:

• Making the Small Business Deduction Permanent and Stronger: The bill provides the pass-through sector crucial relief via introduction of a boosted 23% deduction for qualified business income. Locking in the higher deduction under Section 199A will not only prevent a significant tax hike in 2026, but it will also ensure that ABC members—most of whom are passthrough businesses—can reinvest in their companies, expand their workforce, and take on new projects without fear of future tax hikes.

• Permanent Estate Tax Relief: The bill preserves and protects family businesses from destructive estate taxes keeps jobs, skills, and ownership here at home, allowing contractors to pass on the businesses they built to the next generation.

• Restoration of 100% Bonus Depreciation: Renewing previously expired immediate expensing via 100% bonus depreciation is a powerful incentive for businesses to invest in new equipment and technologies. This policy was based on the understanding that allowing immediate expensing of capital investments would encourage businesses to modernize their operations, increase productivity and, ultimately, drive economic growth. It was particularly aimed at capital-intensive industries like construction, where equipment investments can be substantial.

• Revived Expensing of R&D Costs: This provision permanently allows taxpayers to immediately deduct domestic research or experimental expenditures paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024. Additionally, small business taxpayers with average annual gross receipts of $31 million or less will generally be permitted to apply this change retroactively to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2021. Furthermore, all taxpayers that made domestic research or experimental expenditures after December 31, 2021, and before January 1, 2025, will be permitted to elect to accelerate the remaining deductions for such expenditures over a one-year period or a two-year period.

• Continuation of Simplified Tax Code: The bill permanently extends the larger standard deduction and the alternative minimum tax threshold that were set to expire. These two provisions have greatly simplified the tax code for millions of taxpayers, including construction workers and job creators.

• No Tax on Overtime for American Workers: By exempting overtime pay from federal income tax, the bill delivers direct, meaningful tax relief to the hardworking men and women in the merit shop construction trades—rewarding those who put in the extra hours to get the job done, support their families, and keep America building.

• Expanded 529 Accounts for Skilled Trades Training: By expanding 529 savings accounts to cover training programs and credentials in the skilled trades, the bill supports the next generation of craft professionals—ensuring more young Americans can pursue rewarding careers in construction without crushing debt.

• Relief from Overregulation and Red Tape: From the inclusion of the ABC-supported REINS Act to reducing 1099 reporting burdens to improving Opportunity Zones, this bill cuts unnecessary red tape and unlocks new growth in communities that need it most.

• Expedited Environmental Reviews: By paying 125% of the estimated cost to prepare or supervise the preparation of an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, a project sponsor would receive a deadline of six months for completing an EA and twelve months for completing an EIS along with protection from judicial and administrative reviews.

House leadership’s Managers Amendment added last-minute changes to the legislation ahead of floor consideration, including:

• Lifting the state and local tax deduction cap to $40,000 for individuals making under $500,000.
• The accelerated phasing out of certain IRA clean energy credits by 2028. There will be much debate over this item in the Senate, including the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.

The House-passed bill now heads to the Senate, where it is likely to be amended. Given the bill’s privilege under reconciliation rules, the Senate will only need a simple majority to approve their version bill. Both chambers will have to pass the same bill in order to send it to the President’s desk.

On March 25, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held a legislative hearing on a number of bills, including the ABC-supported ESA Amendment Act. Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee in support of the bill’s efforts to modernize the Endangered Species Act.

H.R. 1897 streamlines the approval of voluntary conservation agreements and incidental take permits by removing duplicative permitting processes. The bill also clarifies the ESA Section 7 permitting process and provides regulatory certainty that a critical habitat will not be designated if a private landowner is working to implement a plan that conserves the listed species in question. Each of these provisions will provide additional clarity to the ESA that is critical for allowing construction projects to be completed on time and on budget.

During the hearing, the bill sponsor, Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., said the ESA, “is a well-intentioned law that has been hijacked by litigation and executive overreach.” He went on to stress the permitting relief this bill would provide. You can view his comments here.

On February 19, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing: Improving the Federal Environmental Review and Permitting Processes. Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee, highlighting opportunities for Congress to responsibly streamline the Clean Water Act by eliminating persistent statutory barriers to state assumption and enhancing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency processes. Specifically, the letter urged Congress to authorize Endangered Species Act Section 7 liability protection to flow through state or tribal Section 404 enforcement agencies; authorize states and tribes that assume Section 404 authority to issue permits of equivalent duration to USACE Section 404 permits; clarify that states and tribes may assume authority to issue Section 404 permits for discharges into a portion of assumable waters; and authorize expenditure of EPA Wetland Development Grant Program funding to offset continuing state Section 404 implementation costs by supplementing state fee-for-service revenues. 

On January 15, the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing: “America Builds: The State of the Nation’s Transportation System.” The hearing focused on permitting and workforce development. Four witnesses participated in the hearing, including Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, R, and Vice President of Williams Brothers Construction, Seth Schulgen.

ABC sent a letter to the committee ahead of the hearing, encouraging it to consider all-of-the-above workforce development, fair and open competition and Davis-Bacon Act repeal/reform as ways to maximize the effectiveness of federal dollars.

During his opening statement, Chairman Sam Graves, R-Mo., stated the committee’s priority this Congress would be reauthorizing the Surface Transportation Act. He said the committee would hear from stakeholders and committee members as part of an aggressive hearing schedule. On the other hand, Ranking Member Rick Larsen, D-Wa., touted the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and its investments.

Regarding permitting, Ranking Member Larsen stated the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included streamlining and permitting reform that the Biden administration was unable to implement. He said he expects the Trump administration to advance these measures. Governor Landry expressed support for increasing state responsibilities within the permitting process. Landry noted that Section 404(b) permits were holding up the construction of vital infrastructure and that the states would be able to advance projects faster than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On workforce development, Schulgen said 90% of contractors reported struggling to find workers and expressed support for increased career and technical education funding.

Regarding construction costs, Schulgen said the IIJA’s impact had been eroded by inflation. He noted the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration’s displayed that highway construction costs have risen 70% since 2020.

View the hearing here.

On September 11, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a legislative hearing on NEPA legislation including Rep. Westerman’s discussion draft, H.J. Res. 168 and H.R. 6129.  ABC sent a letter to the committee ahead of the hearing highlighting how the Biden-Harris administration's Council on Environmental Quality NEPA Phase 1 and Phase 2 final rules are making it more difficult to build important projects, marking a major step backward for critical infrastructure, the construction industry and America’s economic future. In the letter, ABC called on the Committee to advance Rep. Westerman’s discussion draft, H.J. Res. 168 and H.R.6129, which promote a coordinated, predictable and transparent process to streamline permitting.

On September 11, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee Water Resources and Environment held a hearing to examine Waters of the United States Implementation Post-Sackett Decision: Experiences and Perspectives. ABC sent a letter ahead of the hearing calling out the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for not providing the regulated community with sufficient guidance regarding their interpretation of the August 2023 WOTUS rule. In the letter, ABC urged the EPA and the Army Corps to fully comply with the Sackett decision and provide the regulated community with a clear, concise definition of WOTUS necessary to inform them of how to comply with the law while also serving as good stewards of the environment, as they did prior to the Biden-Harris administration’s shortsighted reversal of President Donald Trump’s WOTUS policies

On July 10, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing to analyze actions taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In a letter to the committee, ABC expressed concern with EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers final rule regarding amendments to the definition of “waters of the United States” subject to Clean Water Act regulation aimed at bringing their original January 2023 WOTUS rule into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s May 25, 2023, decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. ABC noted that the revised rule fails to fully implement the court’s opinion specifically on the definition of “relatively permanent” waters and that it will likely result in continued litigation, regulatory uncertainty and confusion in the business community surrounding WOTUS.

On Aug. 29, the EPA and Corps issued the final rule making adjustments to WOTUS, including:

• Removing the “significant nexus” test entirely
• Removing the “interstate wetland” category
• Adjusting the definition of “adjacent waters” to mean “having a continuous surface connection”

ABC issued a press release criticizing the new rule and urging full compliance with the SCOTUS decision.

On June 13, the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held a hearing titled, “Environmentalism Off the Rails: How CARB will Cripple the National Rail Network.” The hearing focused on the California Air Resources Board’s In-Use Locomotive Regulation. Pursuant to section 209(e) of the Clean Air Act, the regulation would ban all locomotives 23 years or older from operating within California and mandate zero-emissions locomotives by 2030. Prior to the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee expressing concern over the regulation and the wide-ranging impact it could have on the construction industry, including new logistical challenges and increased materials prices.

On March 19, ABC sent a letter in support of H.R. 7023, “Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act,” sponsored by Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C. H.R. 7023 includes provisions from five standalone, ABC-supported bills that passed out of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Jan. 31, including the Nationwide Permitting Improvement Act, the Reducing Permitting Uncertainty Act, the Judicial Review Timeline Clarity Act, the Water Quality Criteria Development and Transparency Act, and the Confidence in Clean Water Permits Act. ABC believes that this bill represents the best and most comprehensive federal regulatory permitting and project review reform legislation on the table this Congress and will go a long way toward eliminating unnecessary delays that cause budget overruns in construction.

On Feb. 14, the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries held a hearing on several bills, including the ABC-supported ESA Flexibility Act.

Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter in support of H.R. 6784 recognizing the Endangered Species Act’s purpose of protecting species threatened with extinction and the need for science-based, data-driven actions that conserve those species and the habitats on which they depend. The ESA Flexibility Act gives the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service additional leeway when dealing with species listed as endangered under the ESA. While these agencies are already granted flexibility with species deemed “threatened,” this bill would allow for fit-for-purpose protections of “endangered” species while reducing undue regulatory burdens on development. The ESA Flexibility Act will allow for better management of species listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, such as the ABC-supported delisting of the northern long-eared bat.

You can view a recording the Subcommittee hearing here.