During the week of April 29, House committees of jurisdiction began crafting their pieces of the $6 trillion+ reconciliation budget bill that Congress wants to enact by the end of this summer. The process is and will continue to be fraught as lawmakers make tough decisions, on which there is and will be much opposition, on how to cut spending and taxes for the upcoming 10 years.

The House Ways and Means Committee approved its reconciliation title on May 14 on a party line vote after a 17-hour mark-up. The tax title of the reconciliation bill contains provisions that would permanently extend (i.e., eliminate an expiration date) a raft of tax rules that are set to expire at the end of this year. A few of these extension provisions also modify the expiring rules, including the Section 199A deduction. In addition, the title includes new tax cuts first proposed by President Trump as well as other tax cuts. Offsets are included to ensure that the cost of the title complies with the Committee’s reconciliation instructions. Significantly and in a major victory for NAIFA, the Committee did not attempt to raise revenue from the products and services NAIFA provides to assist American families in achieving financial security.

The emerging reconciliation bill includes a provision to raise the statutory debt limit—the amount beyond which Treasury may not borrow--to $4 trillion. The Senate version of the budget calls for a $5 trillion increase to the $37.2 trillion federal debt limit. The House budget authorizes a $4 trillion debt limit increase.

Legislation to create a new, tax-favored flexible savings account was introduced in both the House and Senate. The “Universal Savings Account (USA) Act” would qualify USA accounts for Roth treatment (after-tax contributions, tax-free earnings and withdrawals).

Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) has introduced two worker classification bills. One would clarify what constitutes an independent contractor as compared to an employee. The other would create a safe harbor that would allow an employer to provide benefits to independent contractors without risking a worker’s classification as an employee.

On April 30, a bipartisan bill to establish a federal paid family leave program was introduced by Reps. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA). The bill creates a three-year pilot grant program within the Department of Labor (DOL) aimed at encouraging states to create paid family leave programs using public-private partnerships.

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the Trump Administration’s request for a 60-day delay in considering the fiduciary rule cases that are currently on appeal before that court. That puts the court’s consideration of the case on track to be considered in mid-June at the soonest.

The request for delay impacts the ACLI/NAIFA case challenging the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule. This is the second request for a 60-day delay that the court has granted.

On March 26, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an interim final rule (RIN 1506-AB49) narrowing the applicability of the beneficial ownership information (BOI) rule to foreign reporting companies.

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.

On Feb. 26, the House Education & the Workforce Committee held a hearing focused on over-regulation of business. Titled “Unleashing America’s Workforce and Strengthening Our Economy,” the hearing focused on the adverse impact of a slew of recent regulations, including overtime pay (the white-collar exemption) and worker classification.

The last big-ticket item approved by the 118^th Congress was enactment of a continuing resolution (CR), HR 10545, that keeps the government funded through March 14, 2025. The House and Senate approved the measure by wide margins. The House vote was 366 to 34, with one member voting “present.” The 366 aye votes included 170 Republicans and all Democrats except the one (Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas) who voted present. The Senate vote, coming just minutes after midnight December 20 deadline, was 85 to 11. President Biden signed it into law on December 21. Thus, the threatened partial government shutdown was averted, despite a few hours on a Saturday during which funding for the government technically ran out.

On December 23, 2024, President Biden signed into law two pieces of legislation that will ease the burden on employers and insurance carriers that need to submit information to the IRS and employees on health care coverage. The Paperwork Burden Reduction Act (H.R. 3797) and the Employer Reporting Improvement Act (H.R. 3801) were championed by a bipartisan group of legislators eager to provide significant relief from paperwork burdens for small businesses.

After a series of court decisions and reversal and then a reversal of the reversal, the rule (Beneficial Ownership Information, or BOI rule) requiring most businesses to report to FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) on their ownership is currently on hold, pending a judicial opinion on whether the law containing the BOI rule is constitutional.

Just as the 118^th Congress ended last month, then Senate Finance Committee chairman and now ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) offered a bill to contain private placement life insurance (PPLI). The bill died when the 118^th Congress adjourned sine die on January 3, but Sen. Wyden is expected to reintroduce his legislation early this year.

CMS is proposing actions in the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicare Part D prescription drug programs to continue to strengthen protections and access to care for people with Medicare. The proposed rule aims to hold MA and Part D plans more accountable for delivering high-quality coverage so that people with Medicare are connected to the care they need when they need it.

Donald Trump’s victory was declared when, at just about 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 6, the media projected he had won swing state Wisconsin, taking him over the 270-vote electoral college count needed to win the presidency. 

Republicans will control the Senate in the incoming 119th Congress (2025-2026). The GOP’s undisputed win of 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats means Democrats have lost control of the upper chamber in the 119th Congress.

A number of key issues remain to be addressed by the outgoing 118^th Congress. They include the need to fund the government past the December 20 dates on which current funding authority expires. The government funding issues include extension of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) authority and funding.

Incoming President-Elect Donald Trump’s Administration is likely to roll back a plethora of regulations of concern to NAIFA members and their clients.

Four Democratic Senators have introduced legislation that would subject pass-through (non-corporate) business income to payroll (Social Security/Medicare) taxes. Currently, many pass-through businesses (S corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships) characterize some of their business income as dividends or other non-wage income and thus avoid having to include it in the payroll tax base.