On March 19, House Education & the Workforce Committee Chair Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) wrote to Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer urging her to focus DOL on “neglected” regulatory issues like expansion of access to health care and a range of PBGC issues.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the Senate’s Majority Leader and a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, is pushing for inclusion of complete estate tax repeal in the upcoming tax reconciliation bill. Sen. Thune listed estate tax repeal as among his priorities—another is making permanent the extension of expiring tax rules.

On April 2, the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s Health Subcommittee held a hearing on “expanding access and affordability” to employer-sponsored health insurance. A key priority the subcommittee discussed was association health plans (AHPs).

An April 3 Department of Labor (DOL) Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB 2025-02) provides guidance on the annual funding notice requirements applicable to defined benefit (DB) plans. The Bulletin also provides updated model notices for single-employer and multiemployer DB pension plans.

On March 10, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed new rule, CMS-9884-P/RIN 0938-AV61, that would, among other things, shorten the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enrollment period by a month and reduce ACA subsidies by $5/month until those claiming the subsidies confirm information about their income. Under the new rule, the enrollment period would end on December 15 rather than January 15.

Key Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced legislation to phase in a federal minimum wage increase to $17/hour. The five-year phase-in would hike the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25/hour, to $17/hour by 2030. The bill would also index the minimum wage for inflation, and would phase out the subminimum wage for youth, tipped and disabled workers. It would be the first federal minimum wage increase since 2009.

As Congress grapples with whether and how to cut Medicaid and also whether to allow current ACA premium tax credit levels to revert to 2016 levels, States are looking at ways to fill the gap.

On April 9, the Senate confirmed Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The vote was 52 to 44.

On March 12, the Senate confirmed Keith Sonderling as deputy secretary of labor, the number two job at the Department of Labor (DOL). The vote was 53 to 46.

On April 3, the Senate confirmed President Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Dr. Mehmet Oz. The party-line vote was 53 to 45.

NAIFA’s Policy Director Roger Moore attended NAIC’s Spring 2025 National Meeting on March 23-26, where he had the opportunity to strengthen NAIFA’s relationships with state regulators and industry trade partners as well as advocate for key priorities affecting NAIFA’s members. Before regulators convened for the meeting, they announced their 2025 federal legislative and regulatory priorities, which include 1) preserving and respecting states’ primary role as insurance regulators by eliminating the Federal Insurance Office (FIO); 2) ensuring natural catastrophe resilience; 3) promoting and preserving state flexibility to manage their health insurance markets; 4) providing consistent funding for crucial programs; and 5) producing guidance for key issues, including Section 1557 nondiscrimination rules, copay accumulator rules, and mental health parity grants.

On March 14, Congress enacted a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government’s discretionary spending through September 30, 2025, the end of the current fiscal year.

Enactment of the law prevented a government shut-down that, absent this measure, would have kicked in at midnight March 15.

The House and Senate have passed different Congressional Budget Resolutions (CBRs). Now, the two chambers must reconcile the differences to pass identical CBRs to unlock the budget process (reconciliation) that could bring deep mandatory and discretionary spending cuts, a huge tax package, and possibly an increase in the debt limit.

NAIFA, in conjunction with a coalition of pass-through business employers, has weighed in with Congressional leadership on the importance of extending expiring tax rules important to pass-through (S corps, partnership, sole proprietorship) businesses.

On February 24, the Main Street Employers Coalition sent a letter to Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Democratic Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) urging Congress “to act quickly to prevent a massive tax hike on Main Street businesses.”

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it is again going to enforce the beneficial ownership interest (BOI) rule that was enacted as part of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). But, FinCEN said on February 27 that it will not impose fines or penalties until after it finalizes new reporting rules that would narrow the BOI reporting rule to foreign reporting companies. The new reporting deadline is March 21, 2025.

President Trump’s March 4 address to a joint session of Congress included a call for tax cuts along with most of his other campaign promises and priorities. The speech (technically not a State of the Union speech due to its occurrence at the beginning of his term) was well-received by President Trump’s GOP base, but characterized as divisive by those who do not support him.

On February 28, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the agency will no longer accept public comments on many of its rulemaking initiatives. This could impact rules important to NAIFA members, such as many Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules, including compensation for advisors on ACA insurance purchases.

Staffing cuts, federal agency and program relocation, and contract review (and potential cancellation) have started across the federal government. In conjunction with the Administration's “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) (it is not a formal Cabinet department as it has not been established by law), all federal agencies have been ordered to put together a plan to reduce the federal workforce (starting with last month’s termination of thousands of probationary employees) by mid-March. The agencies must also draw up plans, by mid-April, to move agencies and programs out of Washington, DC to less expensive parts of the country. Agencies are also reviewing contracts they have with private sector service providers, with an eye to cancelling those that are not required by law or are otherwise not “mission critical.”

On Feb. 27, House and Senate Democrats introduced the Social Security Expansion Act, a bill that would increase Social Security (SS) benefits by $2,400/year, fully fund the program for 75 years, and apply the SS payroll tax to all income above $250,000/year.

On Feb. 19, bipartisan bicameral legislation was introduced that would make permanent several provisions of tax-favored ABLE accounts. The bill’s sponsors say that ABLE accounts help people with disabilities save for their future and ease the burden on those who support them.