ABC Supports One, Big, Beautiful Bill as Senate Kicks off Vote-a-Rama:

On June 30, the U.S. Senate began deliberations on their version of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act after passing a key procedural vote this past weekend. On June 27, ABC sent a Key Vote letter to the U.S. House and Senate, urging members of Congress to support the bill which includes key tax relief for contractors. ABC also joined a group of organizations representing millions of Main Street businesses in a June 28 letter expressing strong support of the package. ABC supported provisions of the OBBB would:

• Make the Small Business Deduction Permanent
• Provide Permanent Estate Tax Relief
• Restore 100% Bonus Depreciation
• Revive Expensing of R&D Costs
• Eliminate tax on Overtime for American Workers
• Expand 529 Accounts for Skilled Trades Training

The Motion to Proceed to debate the bill on the Senate floor passed in a 51-49 vote, with Senators Thom Tillis, R-N.C. and Rand Paul, R-Ky., voting against the measure. The bill is now in its early stages of a series of votes nicknamed “vote-a-rama,” where the Senate will consider any number of amendments to the package, a process expected to take several hours. Keep in mind, under Senate rules, reconciliation bills can pass the Senate with a simple majority, overriding Senate filibuster rules that typically require a 60-vote supermajority. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but Tillis and Paul are both unlikely to change their minds on Trump’s key agenda item, leaving Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., with a slim margin to pass the package. A third GOP defector would force Vice President JD Vance to break the tie, while a fourth would kill the bill all together.

If the Senate approves the package, it will head back to the House where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will face yet another challenge in corralling his Conference. Notably, the House passed their version of the OBBB at the end of May in a slim 215-214-1 vote. The Senate’s version now includes steeper cuts to Medicaid and a phase out of the $40,000 state and local tax deduction cap, not to mention an $800 billion increase to the deficit. These present a clear and present threat to Johnson’s hopes of getting the package through the Chamber and to the president’s desk ahead of their July 4 deadline.

On June 25, ABC joined other business groups and trade associations in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, supporting making permanent and expanding the Section 199A deduction from 20 to 23 percent. While ABC supports the Senate’s provision of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill that would make permanent the 199A deduction, it also would cut in half their ability to deduct State and Local Taxes (SALT) as a business expense. The net result will be a tax hike on millions of pass-through businesses relative to what they currently pay.

Locking in the higher deduction under Section 199A will prevent a significant tax hike in 2026 and 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.

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 Friday, May 16, the House Budget Committee, tasked with compiling and presenting the final package for consideration by the full House, shot down the bill, now officially labeled the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” in a 16-21 vote. Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Chip Roy, R-Texas, Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., and Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., all voted against the measure. The Budget Committee reconvened late Sunday and approved the package in a 17-16 vote, with four of these Republicans (Norman, Roy, Brecheen, and Clyde) voting present and allowing the measure to move forward. Speaker Johnson spent the weekend negotiating with these hardline conservatives, agreeing to accelerate work requirements for Medicaid and the repeal of clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter in support of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, specifically highlighting some of the bill’s key tax provisions crucial to the construction industry. ABC has expressed concerns over the business state and local tax deduction limits included in the bill which impose unnecessary complexity and potentially higher taxes for small businesses.

 

On May 14, after a more than 17-hour markup, the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means, the chief tax writing committee in Congress, passed its recommendations for President Trump’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill in a 26-19 vote. Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee expressing strong support for the measure. Specifically, ABC supported the bill’s permanent expansion of a 23% small business deduction under Section 199A and permanent relief from the estate tax. In addition, the legislation delivers a series of reforms that directly strengthen the construction sector, including:

• Full and Immediate Expensing + Expanded Section 179: By restoring 100% bonus depreciation and doubling Section 179 expensing to $2.5 million, the bill supports critical reinvestment in equipment, vehicles, and tools—assets our members need to stay productive, safe, and competitive.
• Restored Interest Deductibility: Construction firms often finance labor and materials across long project timelines. This provision allows them to deduct legitimate interest costs, improving cash flow and supporting sustainable growth.
• Immediate Expensing for R&D: Many contractors are innovating—developing energy-efficient systems, project management platforms, and safety technologies. This provision rewards that investment and keeps jobs and IP in the U.S.
• Incentives for U.S.-Based Manufacturing Projects: When America builds, our members get to work. Enhanced cost recovery for domestic manufacturing structures translates directly into demand for contractors, skilled trades, and materials.
• Improved Opportunity Zones: Enhancements to the OZ program will unlock new development in underserved and rural communities—delivering contracts, jobs, and infrastructure that benefit both local residents and the firms that build there.
• Reduced Reporting Burdens: Raising the 1099-MISC threshold and repealing the expanded 1099-K rule reduces unnecessary red tape. Contractors should be on the job, not buried in compliance paperwork.

On April 8, the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the U.S. House Committee on Small Business held a joint hearing titled, “Prosperity on Main Street: Keeping Taxes Low for Small Businesses.” Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committees in support of key provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that provided important tax relief for contractors. Specifically, ABC called on House and Senate members to support critical tax policies, such as:

• Maintaining Parity for Pass-Through Entities through the permanence of the TCJA’s Section 199A
• Revived Expensing of Research and Development Costs
• Restoration of 100% Bonus Depreciation

The scheduled expiration of many of these policies would have grave effects, not only for our contractor members, but for the construction market more broadly, specifically harming small businesses around the country. On Jan. 17, ABC sent a letter to the House Ways & Means Committee emphasizing the significance of making permanent the provisions of the TCJA for America’s working families.

On March 24, ABC joined over 300 other trade associations in a letter urging the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to refrain from imposing its proposed actions in response to the Section 301 investigation of China’s targeting the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance.

“We support scrutiny of China’s efforts to dominate the maritime industry,” the letter reads. However, USTR’s proposed actions will not deter China’s broader maritime ambitions and will instead directly hurt American businesses and consumers. Specifically, USTR’s proposed fees will increase shipping costs, container and non-containerized, by at least 25% ($600-$800 or more), adding approximately $30 billion in annual costs on U.S. businesses and farmers.”

The letter went on to acknowledge the intended goal of supporting a domestic shipbuilding industry but explained that the proposed export requirements would force a reduction in U.S. exports, contrary to the Trump Administration’s America First trade goals.

On Jan. 17, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways & Means held a hearing focused on the family and business provisions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter to the committee emphasizing the significance of making permanent the provisions of the TCJA for America’s working families.

In the letter, ABC urged the committee to support the following critical tax policies, which are vital to the continued success and economic prosperity of our industry:

• Maintaining parity for pass-through entities (TCJA Section 199A)
• Continuation of TCJA estate tax treatment
• Revived expensing of R&D costs
• Restoration of 100% bonus depreciation
• Opposition to exclusionary labor mandates in IRA green tax credits

In the hearing, there was increased focus on addressing the looming expiration of the Section 199A deduction, which, if allowed to expire, would result in a 20% increased tax on pass-throughs, while C-corps and publicly traded companies will continue to enjoy their lower, 21% permanent rate.

For more information on the hearing, see ABC Newsline.

On Sept. 11, the U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means held a markup of the ABC-supported H.R. 9461, the USA Workforce Investment Act.

By establishing a new federal tax credit encouraging donations for community-based apprenticeship, career and technical education, workforce development and educational preparedness programs, Rep. Lloyd Smucker’s USA Workforce Investment Act will help address the skilled worker shortage and grow the construction talent pool.

On July 31, ABC submitted a letter in support of the cloture motion for the motion to proceed to H.R.7024, the American Families and Workers Act. This legislation, introduced by Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., extends vital tax provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including the deduction for research and development and the extension of the 100% bonus depreciation. Notably, this legislation maintains provisions that allow for immediate R&D expensing, which provides for lower tax bills, less paperwork and easier compliance for contractors. In addition, the legislation extends the 100% bonus depreciation that allows construction businesses to expense or write off the purchase of tools, equipment and machinery during the year of purchase.

ABC awaits the Senate's vote on the motion to proceed to H.R.7084. While the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act passed the House with bipartisan support on January 31 with a 357-70 vote, Republicans in the Senate have said that they will vote the measure down, which takes 60 voters to pass, as they anticipate having the majority next year and thus hold more negotiating power when it comes to Tax Policy.