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 6, Sen. Sanders, D-Vt., and Rep. Scott, D-Va., reintroduced the ABC-opposed PRO Act in the 119th Congress.

On March 4, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace sent a letter to the Hill urging Congress to oppose the bill.

This radical legislation includes dozens of provisions that would violate workers’ free choice and privacy rights, force unions on employees who have voted against such representation, cost millions of American jobs, threaten vital supply chains and greatly hinder our economy. The bill boosts union membership at the expense of American workers and small businesses.

Of the many radical provisions in the PRO Act, the bill includes provisions that:

• Strip away workers’ privacy rights and key protections guaranteeing workers’ free choice through secret ballots in union representation elections
• Curb opportunities for people to work independently through independent contractor roles
• Revoke independently enacted state right-to-work protections and require workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment
• Change the legal standard for joint-employer liability, reducing opportunities for our country’s small and local businesses through subcontracts, licensing and franchising
• Violate employers’ right to attorney-client confidentiality on complex labor law issues, making it harder for businesses, particularly small businesses, to secure legal advice
• Impose government control over private contracts
• Infringe on the due process rights of employers
• Remove secondary boycott protections

The reintroduction of this legislation represents the latest attempt to implement labor law policies that have previously been rejected by the judicial system, opposed on a bipartisan basis in Congress and/or withdrawn by the agencies that prior administrations tried to use to implement the policies unilaterally. All of these entities realized those policies violated the law, exceeded the authority granted to the implementing agencies or would cause serious damage to the American workplace.

On Feb. 26, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing, “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Implementation and Case Studies.” Ahead of the hearing, ABC sent a letter expressing concern that the Biden administration’s pro-project labor agreement policies were limiting opportunities for all Americans to participate on federal and federally assisted construction projects, raising costs for taxpayers.

On Dec. 16, ABC sent a letter to members of the U.S. House and Senate supporting H.R.6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act, as amended. This bipartisan legislation reauthorizes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act for the first time in nearly a decade and promotes America’s economic competitiveness. 

ABC applauds the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for reaching a deal on WIOA that secures funding for workforce development and addresses the construction industry’s evolving need for qualified and skilled craft professionals by modernizing WIOA from its most recent reauthorization in 2014.

On Dec. 11, in a win for ABC and its members, the U.S. Senate rejected the confirmation of Lauren McFerran for a third term as chair of the National Labor Relations Board in a 49-50 vote. Her nomination threatened Democratic control of the NLRB through August 2026, two years into President-elect Donald Trump’s term. On Dec. 10, ABC sent a Key Vote letter to U.S. Senators urging them to vote “No” on her nomination

In an ABC statement, Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of legislative & political affairs, stated, “Under McFerran’s leadership, the NLRB has issued decisions and expanded interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act that have been rejected by the business community, Congress and federal courts.” In a statement released by the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, Swearingen added, “Her confirmation would have blocked President-Elect Trump from pursuing his policy agenda – an agenda that the voters resoundingly supported in the election.”

 On Dec. 3, the CDW sent a letter signed by 53 organizations to the U.S. Senate expressing concerns with her tenure. ABC members from around the country sent Action Alerts to their senators urging them to vote “No” on her confirmation.

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.

On July 31, the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs held a hearing, "Long-Term Economic Benefits and Impacts from Federal Infrastructure and Public Transportation Investment." Prior to the hearing, ABC submitted a letter to the committee highlighting that the Biden-Harris administration's Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects Final Rule is undermining federal infrastructure investments. Specifically, ABC expressed concern that the rule excludes 89.3% of the private U.S. construction industry workforce, reduces competition and increases costs for the American taxpayer on federal and federally assisted construction projects.

See the full hearing here.

On March 6, ABC sent a key vote letter to the U.S. Senate urging Senators to support the U.S. House of Representatives-passed H.J. Res. 98, Joint Employer CRA resolution of disapproval. If enacted, H.J. Res. 98 would not only prevent the rule from going into effect but would also prohibit a similar rule from being issued in the future.

In October 2023, the National Labor Relations Board released their ABC-opposed joint employer final rule. The final rule rescinds and replaces the ABC-supported 2020 NLRB joint employer final rule, which provided clear criteria for companies to apply when determining their joint employer status. ABC believes the new joint employer final rule will drastically alter existing contractor and subcontractor relationships in the construction industry, implementing a harsh new standard that will complicate this long-standing business arrangement and hit many smaller contractors with unsustainable legal and compliance costs.

On Jan. 12, the House passed H.J. Res 98 in a 206-177 vote, with 8 Democrats supporting. The resolution faces a more uncertain path in the Senate where a simple majority is needed to pass. Although President Biden has vowed to veto the resolution, passage in the House and Senate would send a strong message to the administration as they continue to implement harmful labor policies.

On March 6, Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the DOL’s new Independent Contractor final rule.

ABC sent a letter to members of the House and Senate expressing support for the CRA resolution. ABC also joined with a coalition of business organizations drafting a letter of support for the CRA resolution.

The resolution faces an uphill battle to passage in both chambers and a likely veto from the President, however, ABC remains committed to ensuring that this issue remains a priority for Congress this session.

Learn more about this issue, including ABC’s lawsuit, above and in Newsline here.

ABC and a coalition of construction organizations have been working to oppose a planned proposal by Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., dubbed the Seasonal Employer Protection Act. This new legislation is a reiteration of previously shot-down proposals that would impose harmful and unjustified restrictions on the access of the construction industry to the H-2B seasonal guest worker program.

Included in the legislation is a new requirement for employers in the construction industry to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a labor organization as a condition of receiving an H-2B temporary labor certification. This new requirement would harm the more than 88% of the construction industry that has chosen not to join a union and establish labor organizations as the gatekeepers of H-2B for construction.

ABC also issued an action alert and urges members to contact their U.S. Senators and Representatives to oppose this harmful legislation.