Washington Report - November 21, 2023
Friday, November 17, 2023
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Posted by: Jordan Langeheine
WMMA Hits the Hill
Last week a contingent of WMMA and WMIA members descended on Washington, DC to visit with federal lawmakers and staff to discuss our public policy priorities. Our day on the Hill was Wednesday, November 15 and started with a breakfast briefing on logistics for the day and nuances of our policy asks. Our members then fanned out across the Capitol campus for a full day of meetings with Representatives in the U.S. House and Senate, as well as their staff teams. As one of our members quipped during the day, “we are few but mighty….” The last time we executed a DC fly-in was pre pandemic in 2019. We are hopeful that this year’s event will serve as a springboard for action on our issues and create momentum for additional events in 2024 and beyond.
Congress
Congress averted a federal government shutdown last week with the House passing a “laddered” measure that funds certain agencies and departments through January 19 next year and others through February 2. The Continuing Resolution or CR passed on a bipartisan basis with 209 Democrats joining 127 Republicans to clear the lower chamber on Tuesday. The following evening the Senate voted 87-11 to send the measure to the President, signed it. Included in this CR is a one-year extension of the Farm Bill, which we have noted, includes several provisions incentivizing the use of biomass for heat and power and wood as a building material.
From a tax policy perspective, last week’s development presents a good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that the additional month or so will give tax writers more time to forge an agreement on the business tax extensions that Republicans and the business community support with an expanded child tax credit for which Democrat leaders are advocating. The bad news is that a pre-holiday government funding “cliff” usually serves as an effective impetus for Congressional action on the always contentious tax policy front.
In support of action on expired and expiring business tax benefits, Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-IN) is circulating a letter to House colleagues, trying to get as many non-Ways and Means Committee Members of Congress on as possible to show Speaker Johnson and the tax-writing committee that there is broad support for action on these extenders within the House GOP rank-and-file membership. WMMA will continue to meet with legislators and staff to urge our support for enacting a meaningful tax package early in the new year.
WMMA will continue to meet with legislators and staff to urge our support for enacting a meaningful tax package early in the new year.
Mature and Old Growth Engagement Session with Forest Service
Two weeks ago the Forest Services hosted an engagement session to provide information on President Biden’s Executive Order that directs the Forest Service to identify, inventory, and protect mature and old growth forests on federal lands. Key take aways from the session included that fire, insects and disease represent the greatest threats to mature and old growth forests, and timber harvest is a minor threat. Wildfires have eliminated 2.6 million acres of mature forest and 689,000 acres of old growth since 2000 on lands managed by the Service and the Bureau of Land Management. In the same period, 1.9 million acres of mature forest was lost to insects and disease. Timber harvest occurred in 214,000 acres of mature forests and 10,000 acres of old growth. The agency will be developing policies on how to protect mature and old growth forests in the coming months. WMMA will be monitoring activity in this space and report on developments.
Workforce
WMMA picked up some positive intelligence last week in meetings with Congressional staff. Evidently, the House Education and Workforce Committee has reached out to Members of Congress on and off the committee for recommendations on policies/legislation that should be included in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) reauthorization. WIOA is the central statute in federal law that authorizes most of the workforce and apprenticeship programs in this country. It has been up for reauthorization since 2020, when it technically expired but has been kept alive by the annual appropriations process. There has been frustration by the lack of progress on a WIOA reauthorization bill. The House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing on WIOA in September which was a positive signal, but there did not seem to be any movement on drafting a bill. WMMA is hearing that the Committee’s goal is to have a WIOA draft bill complete sometime in the second quarter next year. As workforce challenges are still confronting nearly every segment of the U.S. economy, we are pleased to hear that action in Congress to address the issue is being contemplated.
In other labor and workforce news, House Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) introduced a bipartisan resolution supporting
the designation of the week of November 13, 2023 as “National Apprenticeship Week.” This bipartisan resolution is co-led by Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (D-PA), Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH),
and Rep. Alex Mooney (R-WV). The resolution celebrates “National Apprenticeship Week” and highlights the importance of apprenticeship programs and applauds their benefits. The resolution encourages the expansion of registered apprenticeship programs,
increases awareness about the value of the model, and supports the important work of its participants – uniting labor, industry, and a wide swath of stakeholders.
Corporate Transparency Act
WMMA signed a letter that was sent to House and Senate
leadership on November 16, advocating for postponing implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act. As we noted in previous updates, the CTA imposes reporting requirements on small and medium-sized businesses. While not overly onerous, the penalties
for non-compliance are stiff. WMMA joined with about 70 other organizations in urging Congress to pass CTA implementation delay legislation before the new law takes effect in 2024.
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