advocacy

Weekly Legislative Update
February 3, 2025

  • Release Date: February 03, 2025

Legislative Update

Budget Reconciliation: Last week Republicans held their annual policy retreat. In his appearance before the group on Monday, President Trump urged the conference “not to get stuck on the details” of a budget reconciliation strategy, clarifying that he does not care whether his priorities are addressed in one bill or two. With respect to tax policy, he said that he intends to keep his campaign promises to eliminate federal income tax on tips, social security payments, and overtime pay, and he wants to reduce the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% (he did not specify whether the reduced rate should apply only to domestic manufacturing income). Addressing his budgetary preferences, he called for increased spending to complete construction of the border wall and pay for implementation of other border security and immigration policies. Including all of these provisions would significantly increase the cost of the reconciliation package beyond the $4.6 trillion estimate for extension of the expiring TCJA tax cuts.

 Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wants the House Budget Committee to mark up a budget resolution this week. That appears unlikely.

 The budget resolution unlocks the budget reconciliation process by setting top-line numbers for spending and revenue and instructing committees on their individual targets. Once both chambers pass an identical budget resolution, the committees that have received instructions begin drafting language for their parts of the budget reconciliation package.

To report a budget resolution out of the Budget Committee, the Chairman can only lose the support of two members of his own party. The Republican side of the committee includes several fiscal conservatives who have publicly called for substantial cuts to spending. The Speaker argues that it is risky to set spending levels too low in the budget resolution, because the failure of just one committee to ultimately agree on how to achieve aggressive spending cuts could jeopardize the entire budget reconciliation package. Instead, he urges that the budget resolution should set floors for required spending cuts, with additional reductions left to the discretion of the various committees when they write their portions of the reconciliation package. Budget hawks are suspicious that this approach will allow leadership to abandon its prior commitment to cut at least $2.5 trillion in spending.

The budget framework that leadership shared with members last week would authorize an approximately $25 billion net spending increase. Leadership is considering how any tariffs that will be implemented by executive order might be counted as additional revenue raisers, but estimates of the impact of those tariffs will not come close to reaching the floor of spending cuts that hard-liner conservatives are demanding. Budget Committee Republicans had a call yesterday, and reportedly they are not even close to an agreement. As of today, the Committee has not scheduled a date for the markup.

The Week Ahead

House: The House returns tomorrow. This week’s schedule includes floor votes on two measures under a rule, requiring a simple majority vote for passage: the HALT Fentanyl Act (H.R. 27), which would amend the Controlled Substances Act to permanently list the drug as a Schedule I controlled substance, and the Protecting American Energy Production Act (H.R. 26), to prohibit a moratorium on fracking. The chamber could consider another eight bills under suspension of the rules, requiring two-thirds majority support for passage. That list is comprised of bills out of the Natural Resources Committee, including a few measures relating to Tribal land and a bill requiring the Agriculture Secretary to evaluate the use of certain aerial firefighting systems.


Senate: The Senate returns this afternoon. It plans to vote today on the confirmation of Christopher Wright to be Secretary of Energy, and it will vote on the nomination of Doug Collins to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs later this week. Additional confirmation votes are possible on Russell Vought to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Pam Bondi to be Attorney General, and Eric Turner to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

TIA Sends Letter Supporting Death Tax Repeal

House and Senate sponsors of the Death Tax Repeal Act are planning on bill introduction this week. TIA sent the following letter to the House and Senate:

"On behalf of TIA and members of the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition (FBETC), we write to lend our support your legislation pending introduction, the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2025, to permanently repeal the estate tax.
Historically, the FBETC has supported increased estate tax exemption thresholds indexed for inflation, permanent lower tax rates, and provisions for spousal transfer and stepped-up basis.

Additionally, the FBETC supported the temporary estate tax relief in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which doubled the exemption to approximately $12.9 million for tax year 2023 and indexed future increases for inflation through 2025.
These changes represent significant relief to family-owned businesses from the estate tax. However, without further Congressional action the temporary increase in the exemption amount will expire at the end of 2025, increasing uncertainty and planning costs.

While TIA supports making the estate tax provisions of TCJA permanent, TIA continues to believe that repeal is the best solution to protect all family-owned businesses from the estate tax.  

Thank you for your continued efforts to support America’s family-owned businesses and farms. We look forward to working with you to advance this important issue." 

 

FinCEN Halts CTA Enforcement (Despite SCOTUS Ruling)

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced that businesses and covered entities are still not obligated to file under the CTA, so long as the ruling in Smith v. Treasury remains in place.

Here’s the alert:

On January 23, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the government’s motion to stay a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas (Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. McHenry—formerly, Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland). As a separate nationwide order issued by a different federal judge in Texas (Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury) still remains in place, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s action in Texas Top Cop Shop. Reporting companies also are not subject to liability if they fail to file this information while the Smith order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

That good news came just a day after an unfavorable ruling in the Supreme Court that struck down separate nationwide injunction issued by a Texas court in the Texas Top Cop Shop case. However, a separate ruling in Smith v Treasury – which resulted in a stay of the CTA’s reporting deadline – was unaffected by the SCOTUS decision. Importantly, the Biden administration never appealed the January 7 Smith ruling, so as long as the DOJ under President Trump doesn’t do so, the pause should remain in place.

Finally, we’re closely watching NSBA v Yellen, which remains before the Eleventh Circuit and has a good chance of being heard by the Supreme Court this year. That appellate court heard oral arguments last fall and we expect a ruling to be handed down at any time now. 

CTA Delay Bill Introduced

Congressman Zach Nunn (R-IA) last week reintroduced his CTA delay bill, following up on his efforts to move similar legislation in the previous session.

Notably, the bill enjoys support from an even split of Democrats and Republicans, as well as the backing of House Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN). 

REMINDER: TIA Launches Online Tool for Reporting Right-to-Repair Issues

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) is proud to announce a significant update to its website, introducing a new tool designed to amplify the voices of shop owners and technicians nationwide. The "Right to Repair - Report Your Issue" form empowers industry professionals to report instances where they face barriers to diagnosing or repairing vehicles, providing critical data to protect the right to repair for all.

With reports increasing of automakers restricting access to both wired (OBD-II) and wirelessly (telematics) generated diagnostic and repair information, TIA aims to document the real-world impacts of these restrictions on businesses, consumers, and the broader economy.

Why the Right-to-Repair Form Matters

The form gathers key information about repair challenges, including:

  • Vehicle specifics: Make, model, and year.
  • Maintenance attempt details: What type of repair was being performed and whether diagnostic codes were accessible.
  • Barriers encountered: Lack of proper tools, unavailable OEM documentation, refusal to sell parts, or required software updates.
  • Current vehicle status: Whether the repair was completed, or the vehicle remains inoperable.

TIA assures users that all submissions will remain confidential, and no identifying personal or business information will be disclosed when case studies are presented on Capitol Hill.

The form is now live and can be accessed at https://www.tireindustry.org/advocacy/right-to-repair-report-your-issue/.