Tile Roofing Industry Alliance Lobbyist, Craig Brightup, has provided the latest government relations updates and activities since the 2024 Presidential election:

The Election and Regulatory Actions

The election of Donald Trump to a second, non-consecutive term as President will result in dramatic policy changes immediately after his swearing-in on Jan. 20, 2025.  He will start by issuing executive orders reversing those from President Biden and also order a temporary freeze on new regulations from federal agencies.  It will suspend regulations being written by the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL), National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other agencies whose authority impacts the roofing industry.  This will be followed by reinstating agency requirements to do more stringent cost-benefit analysis of regulations for their impact on business.  Trump might also bring back an executive order from his first term that required agencies to cut two regulations for every new one.  And he could fire the NLRB’s General Counsel and replace its chair with a Republican Board member while his Administration no longer defends legal challenges to the Biden DOL’s overtime and independent contractor rules.   

The New Congress

Policy changes will be accelerated by Republican majorities in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.  Unified control of the White House and Congress will allow the Congressional Review Act to be used to repeal regulations issued during the last year of the Biden Administration.  These could include OSHA’s Heat rule if finalized before Jan. 20, EPA’s designation of PFAS as hazardous under the Superfund law, and many others.  Unified control will also allow Trump and Congress to move fast on a budget reconciliation package that will extend provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that expire at the end of 2025.  Reconciliation enables whoever controls Congress to avoid Senate filibusters and the 60-vote hurdle.  Republicans used it to enact the TCJA and it will be crucial to pass a massive tax package that reportedly might also include regulatory reforms, spending cuts, border security provisions, and other initiatives.

Energy Policy

President Trump will reorient energy policy away from Dept. of Energy (DOE) subsidies for renewable energy and the EPA’s electric vehicle mandates.  Trump can act unilaterally on some changes, and he’ll also be sending his cabinet nominations to the Senate to be confirmed for the DOE, EPA, and other agencies, to fulfill his agenda.  Trump and the Republican Congress will try to claw back Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) renewable subsidies, but the IRA’s energy-efficiency tax incentives could remain though union-backed prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for maximum credits and deductions might be removed.

For more information on the TRIA Alliance and our Government Relations efforts, please visit our website at www.tileroofing.org.