MCAA Government Affairs Update for August 5, 2024: The Latest Developments Impacting Our Industry

As part of its ongoing commitment to protecting your livelihood and setting the stage for a bright future, MCAA has secured the services of Longbow Public Policy Group to advise our MCAA Government Affairs Committee (GAC). GAC Chair, Jim Gaffney will be passing along information relative to our industry on a regular basis.

On Monday, August 5, 2024 MCAA Lobbying Firm, Longbow Public Policy Group provided the following information:

MCAA Issues and Interests 

Registered Apprenticeship

MCAA Helps to Ensure Legislation Barring Educational Requirements in Federal Contract Solicitations Do Not Impact Apprenticeship Utilization Requirements 

Last week, the MCAA policy team was busy working with our allies in the Construction Employers of America to address concerns with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee regarding provisions in the Allowing Contractors to Choose Employees for Select Skills (ACCESS) Act (S. 4631) that was marked up in the Committee on Wednesday. The ACCESS Act would prohibit federal agency contract solicitations from requiring minimum educational requirements for federal contractor personnel—including on federal construction projects. The MCAA successfully advocated with its allies to secure changes in a manager’s amendment clarifying that language in the bill prohibiting the inclusion of minimum experience or educational requirements did not impact registered apprenticeship utilization requirements, such as those MCAA supported in the Inflation Reduction Act. Following unanimous adoption of the manager’s amendment, the Committee voted 10-1 to advance the bill to the full Senate for consideration. During the August recess, we will be advocating for the House of Representatives to adopt the Senate-passed version of this bill instead of trying to move the original text that MCAA and its allies opposed. 

Project Labor Agreements and Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage

Last week, the MCAA policy team also continued our outreach to oppose Congressional Review Act resolutions to rescind the MCAA-supported rulemakings on project labor agreements from the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council and Davis-Bacon prevailing wage from the Labor Department. We plan to use the opportunity on Capitol Hill with lawmakers out of town for the August recess to continue this outreach with Congressional staff. As the days left on the legislative calendar continue to dwindle and the November elections loom, we remain confident that we may be able to prevent a legislative reversal of these rulemakings but are continuing our outreach efforts to leave no stone unturned. On Thursday, a recount confirmed that one of our leading opponents on these issues in the House of Representatives, House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-VA) lost his Republican primary for Virginia’s 5^th Congressional District to state Sen. John McGuire by 374 votes. Good is expected to resign as Chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus following the recount, but he is expected to keep working to undermine PLAs and Davis-Bacon for the remainder of this Congress from his post as Chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. 

Pension Reform

Senate Fails to Invoke Cloture on Smith-Wyden Tax Bill 

MCAA’s effort to add two-pool withdrawal liability authorization suffered a setback as Senate Democratic leadership elected not to include this language in a proposed revision  to H.R. 7024, the House-passed “Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act,” also known as the “Smith-Wyden tax deal.” On Thursday, the Senate voted 48-44 against invoking cloture on the modified version of this $79 billion tax package. As discussions around this vote developed over the course of last week, it was clear that this was not a substantive legislative effort, but rather a messaging vote ahead of the August recess by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to reinforce the message that Republicans are “anti-family” and against the middle class because they voted against a tax cut bill that would have expanded the Child Tax Credit. Given this dynamic, not even our best allies on pension issues felt it was worth the effort to press for inclusion of our two-pool withdrawal liability. There may be a run at actually passing some tax legislation to address expiring provisions when Congress returns in September and MCAA plans to use the August recess to assess the prospects for attaching two-pool withdrawal liability to any discrete tax measures that may move before Congress breaks for the elections at the end of September. 

Foxx Expands Investigation into Pensions Leveraging Funds to Support Organized Labor

Following up on an item discussed in our May 24^th Government Affairs report, on July 29^th, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced the expansion of her investigation into the Biden Administration’s attempts to leverage pension assets to support organized labor by sending a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Daniel Werfel and California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) President and Vice Chair of Investment Theresa Taylor demanding answers regarding CalPERS’s commitments to divert pension holdings for the benefit of organized labor. Foxx previously sent similar letters back in May to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), the National Electrical Benefit Fund, the AFL-CIO, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and the National Education Association seeking information about an April 2024 White House meeting launching an initiative encouraging pension funds to leverage their investments to advance fair pay, apprenticeship utilization, and basic labor standards. 

In the July 29^th letter Chair Foxx sent to the IRS this week, she said the Agency “has an obligation to enforce the provisions of the [Internal Revenue] Code to ensure that taxpayers are not improperly subsidizing a retirement plan that does not comply with the Code’s exclusive benefit requirement. To the extent that CalPERS is using plan assets for the benefit of social or political causes, the plan’s tax status is no longer valid.” The letter to IRS Commissioner Werfel is available here and the letter to CalPERS President Taylor is available here. MCAA is closely monitoring Chair Foxx’s ongoing fishing expedition and conducting education intended to minimize the prospect of MCAA-affiliated plans being caught up in this investigation.

Decarbonization

EPA Sends Final Rule Regarding Phasedown of HFCs to White House for Review

As we continue engaging on decarbonization issues for MCAA, we wanted to be sure MCAA members were aware that last Wednesday, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) concluded its review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule entitled, “Phasedown of Hydrofluorocarbons: Correction to Address Vacated Provisions.” This final rule is intended to comply with a 2023 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which concluded that the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act did not give the EPA the authority to ban disposable HFC cylinders. Consistent with the court’s decision, this impending final rule removes regulatory provisions at 40 CFR part 84 prohibiting the use of disposable cylinders, implements a cylinder tracking system, and creates auditing obligations related to the cylinder tracking system. The conclusion of OIRA review is typically the final step before an item is published in the Federal Register, so we expect this final rule to issue soon, correcting the EPA’s overreach. 

FBI Warns Malicious Actors May Seek to Disrupt the Renewable Energy Industry

This week a new challenge related to decarbonization and promotion of “clean energy” surfaced as public notice increased of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning to energy companies and alternative energy developers that “malicious cyber actors may seek to disrupt power generating operations, steal intellectual property, or ransom information critical for normal functionality to advance geopolitical motives or financial gain within the U.S. renewable energy industry.” The FBI added that “with federal and local legislatures advocating for renewable energies, the industry will expand to keep pace, providing opportunities and targets for malicious cyber actors.”  While the examples of such malicious activity provided in the Notice mainly pertain to solar power, the Notice broadly urges “current and former employees of companies within the renewable industry to report cyber intrusions targeting either themselves or their organization, as well suspected elicitation attempts by foreign nationals outside of the organization.” The FBI also says that “[p]rivate industry partners can contact their local FBI office to report security concerns and request threat briefings.”  

Other Interesting Things Since Our Last Report 

Thursday, August 1^st

• House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC) called on Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to reconsider the Biden Administration’s pending proposed rules on mental health parity about which the multiemployer plan community has expressed significant concerns, along with the larger health insurance community. In her letter, Chair Foxx said that following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Chevron deference in “Loper Bright, the [departments] do not have the authority to create new tests for Non-Quantitative Treatment Limitations that Congress did not intend” and that “the proposed rule’s requirement that plans measure outcomes and vary reimbursement rates are without basis in law.” Foxx urged the department heads to work with Congress to ensure any mental health parity rules are workable, improve patient care, and do not result in employers ceasing to offer mental health benefits. 

• The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Green Proving Ground (GPG) program released a request for information (RFI) seeking “innovative, emerging, and sustainable technologies that enable energy efficiency and decarbonization in commercial buildings and contribute to a more efficient electric infrastructure.” The RFI is focused on the following issues related to decarbonization of commercial buildings: (1) Deep Energy Retrofits (renovations to reduce site energy use by at least 40%); (2) All-Electric Buildings and All-Electric Vehicle Fleets; (3) Healthy and Resilient Buildings; (4) Low-Embodied Carbon Building Materials; (5) Net-Zero Operations; and (6) Packages of Emerging and Sustainable Technology Solutions. Technologies selected for the GPG program will be piloted in one or more federal buildings and/or private sector facilities and evaluated by Biden Energy Department National Labs. The comment period on the RFI is open until September 13, 2024.  The agency will also host an informational webinar at 1pm ET on August 22, 2024 through Zoom, for which participants must register here.

• The House Financial Services Committee Republicans’ Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Working Group—led by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bill Huizenga—released its final staff report entitled “The Failure of ESG: An Examination of Environmental, Social, and Governance Factors in the American Boardroom and Needed Reforms.” The report focuses on GOP concerns about the use of the shareholder proposal process by a small group of activists—especially climate activists—to advance political and social objectives at the expense of other investors. It explores how these actors allegedly use undue influence on shareholder voting exerted by proxy advisory firms and federal policies and regulations that facilitate their efforts. The Working Group specifically raised concerns about the SEC exceeding its statutory authority by mandating non-material climate-related regulations and making harmful changes to the proxy process that facilitate exploitation by climate activists. Key priorities identified in the staff report to address House Republicans’ concerns include: (1) reforming the proxy voting system to safeguard the interests of retail investors; (2) promoting transparency, accountability, and accuracy in the proxy advisory system; (3) enhancing accountability in shareholder voting by aligning voting decisions with the economic interests of shareholders; (4) increasing transparency and oversight of large asset managers to ensure their practices reflect the pecuniary interest of retail investors; (5) improving ESG rating agency accountability and transparency to safeguard retail shareholders; (6) strengthening oversight and conduct thorough investigations into federal regulatory efforts that would contort our financial system into a vehicle to implement climate policy; (7) demanding transparency, responsibility, and adherence to statutory limits from financial and consumer regulatory agencies; and (8) protecting U.S. companies from burdensome European Union regulations and safeguarding American interests in global markets. 

Wednesday, July 31^st

• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 15-4 to advance the “compromise” bipartisan energy permitting legislation from Committee Chair Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Ranking Member John Barrasso (R-WY) that would, among other things, require the Interior Department to hold at least one offshore wind lease sale and one offshore oil and gas lease sale annually from 2025 through 2029, override the Biden Administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas exports, and open up electricity transmission development. 

• During a Senate Banking Committee hearing entitled, “Long-Term Economic Benefits and Impacts from Federal Infrastructure and Public Transportation investments,” Committee Chair Sherrod Brown (D-OH) hailed passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and CHIPS and Science Act, noting that “every state is benefiting” from “more than 60,000 infrastructure projects already underway across the country” that have “added 670,000 construction jobs to the U.S. economy.” Brown also said that the CHIPS and Science Act is “allowing [the U.S.] to build a new generation of chip facilities…around the country.”

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced $41 million for 14 projects that develop Renewables-to-Liquids (RtL) systems that operate at a renewable energy production site and use its electricity, carbon dioxide, and water to create liquids that can be used as renewable fuels or drop-in replacements for conventional fuels. Currently, low-carbon fuels are expensive at around $10 per gallon, so producers who use cheaper electricity sources like wind and solar independent from the grid to create these fuels can achieve lower overall costs. DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), will manage these projects through its Grid-free Renewable Energy Enabling New Ways to Economical Liquids and Long-term Storage (GREENWELLS) program, which aims to economically store at least 50% of incoming intermittent electrical energy in carbon-containing liquids. Projects funded under the announcement include: (1) $2 million to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta to work on an electrochemical reactor that responds quickly to dynamic changes in renewable energy to work with direct air capture systems that produce syngas for hydrocarbon production; (2) a $2.3 million grant to Emvolon in Woburn, Massachusetts to repurpose automotive engines as chemical reactors to convert renewable power and greenhouse gas emissions to liquid clean fuels; and (3) a $4 million award to Washington State University in Pullman, WA to develop a carbon dioxide hydrogenation process that converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen into liquid hydrocarbons using renewable energy sources. A full list of the grant awards is available here.
  
• President Joe Biden issued a National Security Memorandum to the heads of the Departments of the Treasury, Homeland Security, Justice, and other federal agencies directing a coordinated, whole-of-government approach for disrupting the supply chain for fentanyl and synthetic opioids that will be overseen by the National Security Council. Specifically, the memo directs federal agencies to “engage collectively and collaboratively, employing all available tools, in support of the shared goal of materially and sustainably disrupting the illicit fentanyl supply chain.” The Biden Administration also called on Congress to pass legislation to permanently schedule fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs and give law enforcement at the border “the tools they need to more effectively track and target the millions of small-dollar shipments that cross our borders every day.”

Tuesday, July 30^th

• A new poll from Data for Progress found that 90% of respondents said they either strongly or somewhat support the Biden Labor Department’s proposed rule addressing heat injury and illness in indoor and outdoor work settings. Democrats were more likely than independents or Republicans to “strongly” support the rule, with 78% of self-identified Democrats supporting it, compared to 63% of independents and 56% of Republicans. However, when those who “strongly” or “somewhat” supported the rule were combined, more than 80% of all three groups supported it, including 96% of Democrats and 86% each of independents and Republicans.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced that applications are open for $36 million in Enhancement & Innovation (E&I) competitive grants, which aim to expedite the shift to clean energy through demonstration projects for residential homes. Complementary to the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which offers formula funding to state entities, the E&I program offers competitive funding and flexibility to allow a broader range of innovative weatherization activities, including the installation of renewable energy technologies, electrification, comprehensive workforce development, and more expansive health and safety measures. For example, a proposal could offer on-the-job weatherization training where trainees learn how to replace old wiring or repair a leaky roof. Additionally, the program encourages weatherization providers to hire, train, and retain employees within their local communities. An optional information webinar for potential applicants will take place on August 6, 2024 at 2pm ET and registration is required. Applications are due by September 27, 2024. DOE intends to announce E&I selections in late February 2025.

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released guidance providing updates to its permitting process for electric transmission facilities, which focuses on some of the basic concerns of landowners, tribal communities, environmental justice communities and other stakeholders as outlined in FERC’s Order No. 1977, which was issued in May 2024 to update the Commission’s regulations on applications for permits to site electric transmission facilities. The guidance is available here.

Monday, July 29^th

• House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) introduced the Labor Enforcement to Securely (LET’S) Protect Workers Act, legislation to: (1) increase civil monetary penalties for violations of minimum wage and overtime, worker health and safety, child labor and farmworker protection standards; (2) create new penalties for violations of the National Labor Relations Act, consistent with the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act; (3) set new penalties for retaliation against workers who exercise their family and medical leave rights; (4) close loopholes that allow employers to escape penalties for failing to keep records of workplace injuries if the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not detect the violation within six months; (5) strengthen enforcement of mental health parity requirements for employer-sponsored health plans; and (6) improve mine safety and reliable funding of black lung benefits through new and increased civil monetary penalties and the option to shut down scofflaw operators. The bill text is available here, a fact sheet is available here, and the section-by-section is available here.

• The Energy Department (DOE) announced $24 million in funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for 21 projects in Washington State, Idaho, California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island to bolster development of clean energy workforce training programs—with a focus on jobs that do not require four-year college degrees—within union training programs, community colleges, and trade schools. Over 40% of the announced funding will directly support union job training. The selected projects will expand the DOE’s existing Industrial Training and Assessment Centers (ITAC), a network that trains energy-efficiency workers to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers reduce their carbon emissions and energy costs. A full list of the ITAC expansion selectees is available here.

• The Transportation Department’s (DOT) Office of the Inspector General announced that it is initiating an audit of the Federal Highway Administration’s Advanced Transportation Technologies and Innovative Mobility Deployment program, which is authorized to receive $60 million per year from fiscal year 2022 through 2026 to deploy, install, and operate advanced transportation technologies. Grant funds through the program may be used for workforce development, planning, construction, equipment and materials for funding activities, which include installing advanced transportation and congestion management technologies for public transportation systems, integrating corridor management systems, and technology for tolling and congestion pricing.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a joint project with the U.S. Army to conduct sampling and testing of private drinking water wells located near Army installations for the presence of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The joint EPA-Army sampling and testing project, which is being implemented nationally, has identified a priority list of nine installations in Alabama, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Oklahoma. As initial work is completed, the EPA and the Army will evaluate additional installations for expansion of the pilot at the rest of the 235 locations. 

• The White House posted a fact sheet on new private sector investments in American maritime industries, including plans to support U.S. jobs in the shipbuilding sector and U.S. shipbuilding competitiveness. This includes Bollinger Shipyards’ plan to build three new polar icebreakers for the U.S. Coast Guard, a “major investment” in a U.S. shipyard by David Shipbuilding to expand capacity and plans by Konecranes to establish a consortium of U.S. partners to build ship-to-shore cranes in the U.S. for North American ports.

• Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) announced the 13 members of the Bipartisan House Task Force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The seven Republicans on the Committee are: Chairman Mike Kelly (PA-16); Rep. Mark Green (TN-7); Rep. David Joyce (OH-14); Rep. Laurel Lee (FL-15); Rep. Michael Waltz (FL-6); Rep. Clay Higgins (LA-3); and Rep. Pat Fallon (TX-4). The Democrats are: Ranking Member Rep. Jason Crow (CO-6); Rep. Lou Correa (CA-46); Rep. Madeleine Dean (PA-4); Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6); Rep. Glenn Ivey (MD-4); and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (FL-23).

• The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement has an “active and ongoing” investigation of NuScale Power, the first company to have its small modular reactors certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NuScale’s stock was down as much as 15% Monday following the news.

Friday, July 26^th

• The Transportation Department (DOT) announced more than $374 million in funding through the third round of grants from the Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which funds a variety of projects including the construction of new and improved air facilities, repairs to runways and taxiways, maintenance of airfield lighting and signage, and purchasing equipment needed to operate and maintain airports. Grant funding from this announcement includes: (1) $6.9 million to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Alabama for rehabilitation and reconstruction of several taxiways; (2) $12.8 million to Huntsville International-Carl T. Jones Field in Alabama to shift a taxiway 200 feet and rehabilitate pavement and lighting on a runway; (3) $4.6 million to Miami International Airport in Florida to reconstruct the existing Central Terminal building to increase capacity; and (4) $7.2 million to Stillwater Regional Airport in Oklahoma for construction of a new terminal building to accommodate additional passengers. A full list of the grants through today’s announcement is available here, and an interactive map of AIP grant funding is available here.

Around the Country 

Northeast 

• On August 1^st, the Labor Department (DOL) announced the award of $24,030,695 to expand apprenticeship programs in Maryland through DOL’s Apprenticeship Building America grant program. The money is intended to provide more high-quality workforce training and a direct pipeline to in-demand jobs in Maryland’s growth sectors, including transportation, health care, and technology. Awards went to the following recipients across the state of Maryland: (1) $8,000,000 for the Amalgamated Transit Union to develop a national public transit registered apprenticeship ecosystem that connects frontline workers with 6,680 trainees enrolled in registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships for occupations in public transit; (2) $3,990,486, for the Asian American Center of Frederick, MD to expand their training program to increase and diversify the healthcare workforce through pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships for immigrants and other under-resourced populations; (3) $3,882,946 for the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare, Inc. to establish a Registered Apprenticeship Hub to expand access to high-quality apprenticeship programs in the healthcare industry, with a focus on promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; (4) $3,947,276 to the University of Maryland Global Campus in Adelphi, MD to develop and implement a replicable national model for increasing employment in high-demand information technology fields that consists of pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, higher education and job placement programs; (5) $3,117,812 to Joe’s Movement Emporium, Mount Rainier, MD to grow sustainable, living wage jobs in media and creative technologies across multiple sectors, building opportunities for both small business owners and trainees; and (6) $1,092,175 to the Maryland Governor’s Workforce Investment Board, Baltimore, MD to increase staffing for the “Apprenticeship 2030: Maryland’s Workforce Future” program.

• On July 30^th, Rep. Bill Pascrell’s (D-NJ) office said that while Pascrell remains hospitalized, he is no longer receiving breathing assistance and that “his doctors are very encouraged by his progress, have begun to discuss discharge plans, and continue to anticipate a full recovery.” Pascrell has been hospitalized since July 14^th after going to the hospital with a fever. 

• On July 30^th, a new poll found that Vice President Harris leads Trump in Pennsylvania 47% to 43%. The poll also found Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) leading his Republican challenger Dave McCormick 47% to 42%. 

• On July 29^th, the Interior Department’s (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the availability of its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for U.S. Wind’s proposed wind project offshore Maryland and Delaware. The project proposes to install up to 114 turbines, up to four offshore substation platforms, one meteorological tower, and up to four corridors for offshore export cables. BOEM estimates that the development and construction phases of the project, if approved, could support 2,679 jobs annually over seven years.

West

• On August 1^st, the Agriculture Department (USDA) announced a $400 million investment in at least 18 irrigation districts to help farmers across the West deploy innovative water saving technologies and farming practices. The funding is expected to help conserve up to 50,000 acre-feet in water use across 250,000 acres of irrigated land in production, while expanding and creating new, sustainable market opportunities. The preliminary selected districts (list available here) may receive up to $15 million each in the awards and will enter into sub-agreements with the producers participating within the district. USDA is working to finalize agreements with the preliminarily selected districts, which will include the details of each individual district’s water-saving strategies, commodities to be produced, and specific budgets. Following the finalization of those awards, producers within the participating districts will work directly through their irrigation districts to participate.

• On August 1^st, northern California’s Panattoni Development launched a new team that will build and operate data centers across North America with the goal of developing a gigawatt of data-center capacity over the next five years—the equivalent of what it takes to power about 876,000 homes. 

• On July 29^th, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo announced the appointment of Christy Kwon as the Regional Director of the Region 32-Oakland, CA office. Kwon began her career as an NRLB Field Attorney in Los Angeles (Region 31) and was appointed Regional Attorney of the NLRB’s Oakland office in 2019. 

Northwest 

• On August 1^st, ProPublica released a new report detailing how Washington State and other U.S. states are trying to address both facilitating the growth of data centers in their states and the power and water demands they create that threaten efforts to eliminate carbon emissions from electricity generation.

Midwest

• On August 1^st, a new poll found incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) leading his Republican Senate opponent Bernie Moreno by four points (46%-42%).

• On July 29^th, Democrats’ House Majority PAC announced $24 million in additional spending to target the House seats occupied by Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Bryan Steil (R-WI), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA).

Southeast

• On August 1^st, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the selection of West Virginia University Research Corporation (WVU) to receive $2,486,224 to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials. WVU is one of 38 selectees across the country that were announced on July 16, 2024, as part of a $160 million grant rollout. WVU will provide technical assistance to construction material manufacturers in the region to develop environmental product declarations (EPDs). Their project will support businesses to create comprehensive life cycle assessments that show environmental impacts and enhance their competitiveness in supplying products for federal and institutional construction projects.

• On August 1^st, a recount in Virginia’s 5^th Congressional District confirmed that House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-VA) lost his GOP primary to Trump-backed Virginia state senator John McGuire (R) by 374 votes. Rep. Good is rabidly anti-union and has been the lead sponsor of H.R. 720 the “Davis-Bacon Repeal Act.

• On August 1^st, Tennessee state Rep. Gloria Johnson won Tennessee’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary and will face incumbent Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in November. 

• On August 1^st, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) defeated Nashville Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston in the Republican primary for Nashville’s 5^th Congressional District. 

• On July 29^th, a new poll found progressive Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) trailing her Democratic primary challenger Wesley Bell 48%-42% in the race for Missouri’s 1^st Congressional District.

Southwest

• On July 30^th, Kari Lake won the Arizona GOP Senate primary and will face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego (AZ) in the November general election. 

• On July 30^th, Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) won the Republican primary in Arizona’s 2^nd Congressional District against Yavapai County Board of Supervisors member Jack Smith, who had the support of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).