Policy and Legal

Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure should vote yes on legislation that would modernize and reform the Clean Water Act permitting process, the NAM said today.

What’s going on: The Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act “adopts the NAM’s key recommendations to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for modernization of regulatory authorities under the Clean Water Act—reforms that are critical to manufacturers’ ability to build, expand and hire in America,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain told the committee ahead of a Wednesday markup of the bill.

• “These include proposals to increase certainty for permittees and clarify the scope of the CWA.”

Why it’s needed: The permitting process for manufacturers under the Clean Water Act is unnecessarily long and onerous, jeopardizing continued American leadership in manufacturing.

• In February, Nucor Corporation Executive Vice President of Sheet Products Noah Hanners told the committee members that “cumbersome and overreaching permitting regulations are holding back progress and hurting our nation’s competitiveness .”

Case in point: In 2022, Nucor announced it had chosen a site in West Virginia for a new steel mill—but the location on the Ohio River required the company to seek federal authorization under the Clean Water Act.

• What followed was a process that “required us to work with multiple federal agencies—with little direction and unclear timelines,” Hanners said. “This led to moving targets for our own planning and execution, delaying the project and increasing costs.”

What should happen: CWA permit reform should be undertaken as part of a broader effort to streamline and speed up the regulatory permitting process writ large.

• “If we want to grow America’s economy, we need to fix this broken system,” Crain concluded.

The State of New York plans to construct the first major U.S. power plant in more than 15 years (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: “Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an interview that she has directed the state’s public electric utility to add at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear-power generation to its aging fleet of reactors. A gigawatt is roughly enough to power about a million homes.”

• The New York Power Authority—created in 1931 by then-governor Franklin D. Roosevelt to manage hydropower for New York—will locate a site upstate and then determine a reactor design.
• Potential sites “include the grounds of New York’s three operating plants, all owned or majority-owned by Constellation Energy” and could consist of a single large reactor or several smaller reactors, according to Hochul.
• NYPA “may pursue the project alone or in partnership with private entities,” according to Hochul.

Why it’s important: The endeavor could spur a new age of reactor construction in the U.S. The industry has been stymied in recent decades in part by “permitting processes that move at a glacial pace.”

• Since 1991, just five new commercial reactors have come online in the U.S.—not nearly enough to offset the retirement of old plants.
• Nuclear generation capacity has declined more than 4% from its peak in 2012, as other electricity generation methods, such as solar, have experienced booms.

Closed—with no Plan B: In 2021, New York shuttered its Indian Point nuclear plant, about 40 miles outside Manhattan. The plant had supplied about a quarter of New York City’s electricity needs.

• “There was no Plan B,” Hochul told the Journal.

Nuclear resurgence: Since then, nuclear energy’s popularity has surged, due in part to the large amount of energy required to build artificial intelligence data centers.

• Late last year, Microsoft announced plans to restart the shuttered reactor at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, and in March, the Energy Department approved $57 million in loans to get Michigan’s Palisades Nuclear Plant up and running again.

The NAM’s view: “New York’s plan to expand the role of nuclear in the state’s energy footprint is an important one,” said NAM Director of Energy and Resources Policy Michael Davin.

• “Nuclear energy is safe, emissions-free and available 24 hours a day. As such, it’s a critical component of America’s energy dominance strategy. It’s also vital for meeting additional energy needs that have arisen with the growth in data centers and the use of AI. President Trump recognizes this, and manufacturers commend him for the four executive orders he signed last month designed to boost the nuclear energy industry in the U.S.”

A class of targeted cancer therapies could one day replace traditional chemotherapy as a first-line treatment, shining a spotlight on the need for a regulatory environment that supports continued innovation—and stays away from price controls that reduce R&D budgets.

What’s going on: “Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have taken major strides in recent years, as companies … are developing drugs in the space that could ease the trials of cancer treatment,” according to  CNBC.

• ADCs are designed to target cancer cells using chemotherapy without harming surrounding healthy tissue and may have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.
• Though ADCs have been on the market since 2000, biopharmaceutical manufacturers have made significant strides improving them in recent years, and some ADCs have become the preferred treatment for certain cancers.
• Biopharmaceutical firms including AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Lilly and Merck have invested heavily in the development of ADCs.

Who’s doing what: Pfizer’s Enhertu is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of certain lung, gastric and breast cancers. In a trial in which it was used as a first treatment, Enhertu stalled the growth—by more than a year—of a common type of breast cancer.

• Merck’s Keytruda is viewed and used as a first-line treatment for bladder cancer. With Keytruda’s patent expiration nearing, Merck has been co-developing three new ADCs with global health care company Daiichi Sankyo.
• Pharmaceutical company Lilly is developing ADCs that do not use chemotherapy, according to Lilly Oncology President Jake Van Naarden. New kinds of payloads, Van Naarden said, could help cancer “patients who relapse on existing ADCs, shrinking their ‘newly growing cancers’ again in ‘a durable way.’”
• And just this week, drugmaker Roche announced that it has “demonstrated the power of combining two of oncology’s hottest modalities—bispecifics and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)—in a Lunsumio-Polivy regimen in large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL),” according to Fierce Pharma.

What it means for innovation: ADCs are just one example of how the biopharmaceutical industry’s leadership is improving and lengthening lives. So it can continue that mission, the U.S. must stay away from drug price fixing, according to the NAM.

• “Manufacturers in America are driving global pharmaceutical innovation, and importing foreign price controls on innovative biopharmaceutical products would undercut innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, threaten patient access and weaken U.S. competitiveness,” NAM Director of Health Care Policy Jess Wysocky said in May.

The NAM is ramping up pressure on policymakers this week, launching a multistate advertising blitz and bringing dozens of manufacturing leaders to Capitol Hill to underscore the urgent need to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act by President Trump’s July 4th deadline.

Why it matters: With time running out, manufacturers are going all-in to urge Congress to preserve 2017 tax reform and make targeted improvements to the bill moving through the Senate that will maximize the pro-growth impact of the OBBBA.

Driving the message: The NAM’s Manufacturing Wins tax campaign’s latest push includes  digital and print ads in major dailies across Washington, D.C., Florida, Maine, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, Louisiana and Wisconsin.

• The launch aligns with a two-day fly-in bringing 40 manufacturers from 29 member companies across the country to meet with key lawmakers in the House and Senate and press for action.

The details: Led by the NAM, manufacturers participating in this week’s fly-in are delivering a clear message: Preserve the pro-manufacturing provisions in the House-passed version, while making targeted changes to ensure the final legislation is a pro-manufacturing bill.

The background:Crucial provisions for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are scheduled to expire at the end of 2025—and the NAM and manufacturers have been counting on Congress to prevent devastating tax increases on manufacturers and manufacturing workers by preserving critical manufacturing priorities from the House-passed bill, while also considering targeted improvements that will maximize the pro-growth impact of the OBBBA.

The NAM says: “Our strategy is clear: to press urgency, emphasize the stakes for manufacturing and rally support at every level. We are doing everything possible to propel this bill over the finish line, including a full-court lobbying push behind the scenes—working closely with key senators to ensure the final legislation is as supportive as possible for manufacturing investment in the United States,” said NAM Executive Vice President Erin Streeter.

What they’re saying: The national ad was picked up by the White House and covered by POLITICO.

• The White House’s rapid response account on X (formerly Twitter) promoted the NAM’s latest ad, quoting key language from the ad.
• The ad launch and fly-in were also featured in POLITICO’s Morning Tax (subscription) and  Inside Congress newsletters.

The Securities and Exchange Commission should rescind certain reporting requirements for cybersecurity incidents in its 2023 final cybersecurity rule, the NAM told the agency.

What’s going on: The NAM supports a rulemaking petition recently submitted by five financial industry groups that asks the SEC to “rescind the Form 8-K (Item 1.05) incident reporting requirements for cybersecurity incidents, as well as the corresponding Form 6-K requirements for foreign private issuers.”

The SEC should also do the following, according to the NAM:

• Rescind the four-day reporting requirement: The NAM asks the agency to stop mandating that public companies report on cybersecurity incidents within four business days. Instead of this rigid deadline, the NAM supports a return to a voluntary principles-based disclosure regime, whereby companies have more flexibility to disclose significant cybersecurity attacks to provide timely and useful information for shareholders.
• Allow more flexibility for companies to delay disclosures that could jeopardize national security or law enforcement investigations. The NAM asks the SEC to broaden a narrow exception that requires companies to obtain permission from the U.S. attorney general within four business days to delay public disclosure, an impractical requirement for most manufacturers.

Why the SEC should do it: The current four-business day reporting mandate provides manufacturers “with insufficient flexibility to delay or forgo disclosure to investigate and respond to an incident, work with law enforcement or avoid tipping off attackers,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain explained.

• The mandatory disclosure deadline has “increase[d] costs and complexity for businesses” and has the potential to “mislead investors and ultimately create significant risks for shareholders and the broader economy that would eclipse the potential benefits of reporting.”
• The SEC’s incident reporting mandate also harms shareholders by diverting company resources from efforts to address the impact of a cybersecurity attack.
• Finally, requiring that companies issue public reports while a cybersecurity incident is ongoing could provide information helpful to the perpetrators or other bad actors.

The last word: “The NAM strongly supports a more flexible approach to cybersecurity reporting, and manufacturers respectfully encourage the SEC to amend its 2023 cybersecurity rule to more appropriately reflect the important concerns of public companies, shareholders, law enforcement and national security agencies,” Crain said.

A critical law that safeguards Americans from cybersecurity threats is due to expire on Sept. 30—and Congress must reauthorize it before that happens, the NAM told Congress this week.

What’s going on: “The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 2015) has been instrumental over the past decade in protecting Americans from cybersecurity threats by supporting companies’ efforts to share cybersecurity information with one another and with the federal government,” NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain told the House Committee on Homeland Security and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Monday.

• Through their relationships with customers, vendors, suppliers and governments, manufacturers are entrusted with vast amounts of sensitive data and intellectual property. With its information-sharing requirements, CISA 2015 has been instrumental in helping them keep that information safe.
• Prior to the law’s enactment, many businesses were reluctant to share cyberthreat information due to liability and public disclosure concerns.

How it works: “By enabling the rapid dissemination of security intelligence, information sharing diminishes the ability of malicious actors to gain economies of scale as they seek to replicate attacks against multiple targets,” the NAM continued.

• “It also allows government agencies and private sector Information Sharing and Analysis Centers to develop a comprehensive and authoritative view of patterns and trends across industries and geographies, and thus to promote effective systemic responses.”
• It also helps create trust between cybersecurity personnel across various organizations.

What Congress should do: “With less than four months before the expiration of CISA 2015, manufacturers call on Congress to make its reauthorization a priority,” the NAM urged.

The Senate Finance Committee yesterday released draft text of the tax sections of the reconciliation bill, preserving most of the pro-growth tax provisions that manufacturers—and the NAM—have long advocated.

What’s in it: The bill reflects the NAM’s key tax priorities, including:

• A permanent pass-through deduction and retention of pro-growth individual and corporate tax rates;
• Permanence for pro-growth tax policies like immediate R&D expensing, full expensing for capital equipment purchases and a pro-growth interest deductibility standard;
• An expanded and permanent estate tax exemption;
• Pro-manufacturing reforms to the international tax system that protect America’s competitiveness on the world stage; and
• A first-of-its-kind incentive allowing immediate expensing of the cost of new factories and modernizations.

What’s not in it: Critical energy and manufacturing incentives are still on the line. The Senate bill makes changes to these provisions from the House bill—and the NAM is already working to ensure policymakers understand the implications these changes could have for manufacturers in America and American energy dominance.

The NAM’s advocacy: The NAM has long urged Congress to make permanent the pro-growth policies of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Its multiyear campaign has put manufacturers front and center to show why preserving tax reform is essential for driving investment and creating jobs.

• Most recently, the NAM released a report, “Keeping Our Promises: Manufacturers on Eight Years of Tax Reform,” featuring manufacturers’ own accounts of how the TCJA helped them invest in their facilities, their workers and their communities.
• The NAM has stayed in constant contact with lawmakers, urging Senate leaders to preserve the crucial manufacturing priorities from the House bill while also adopting targeted improvements to ensure the final package is maximally beneficial for manufacturers’ investment and job creation.

The NAM says: “Chairman Crapo and the Senate Finance Committee are delivering the kind of tax policy manufacturers have been calling for—policy that drives growth, unlocks investment and grows jobs,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “… By preserving the full suite of pro-growth policies from the TCJA, this bill marks a major step forward for manufacturing in America.”

• “Manufacturers also want to ensure that the tax code continues to support inbound investment into the United States as well as preserve incentives that drive investments in the manufacturing and energy production needed to power America’s economic growth. If the Senate acts now, manufacturers can continue to grow—buying equipment, hiring workers, increasing pay and expanding operations with greater certainty and confidence.”
• “The Finance Committee recognizes what’s at stake: nearly 6 million jobs and more than a trillion dollars in economic output depend on getting this right.”

Thanks in large part to rising power demand for data centers, policymakers have become increasingly supportive of nuclear energy—resulting in more than 200 nuclear-related bills filed in state capitols so far in 2025 (E&E News).

What’s going on: One of the few methods of electricity generation to have bipartisan backing, nuclear “has quietly gained traction in statehouses from Phoenix to Austin to Indianapolis” with dozens of state bills already either signed into law or now awaiting signature by governors.

Why it’s happening: “Unlike in the past, when nuclear power was pitched as a carbon-free back[stop] for aging coal plants, the selling point today is focused squarely on rising power demand, especially for power-thirsty data centers.”

• Nuclear power emits no greenhouse gases and can be generated year-round and in all weather.
• But efforts to make it more widely used in the U.S. have stalled in recent years, owing mainly to project delays and higher-than-anticipated costs.

What’s new now: “Desperate to bring economic investment and jobs to their states and districts, state legislators of both parties are courting ‘hyperscale’ data centers operated by technology titans” such as Amazon. “And lawmakers are keenly aware that power availability is at the top of the list of requirements.”

Case study: In Indiana, legislators have prioritized measures to hasten nuclear development.

• Lawmakers have passed bills to attract small modular reactors, the next generation in nuclear power generation “considered by many leaders in the state as a fitting replacement for an aging coal fleet. And Republican Gov. Mike Braun and other state officials see potential for making Indiana a manufacturing hub for the next-generation reactors.”
• Large projects in the state—including an $11 billion Amazon endeavor in New Carlisle—require large amounts of power.
• One state utility, AEP’s Indiana Michigan Power, is seeking $50 million in federal grants with the Tennessee Valley Authority for an early site permit to build a 300-megawatt SMR at the site of a coal-fired power plant that’s set to retire in 2028.

Other states go nuclear: “Arizona, Arkansas, North Dakota, Utah and Virginia have all enacted measures into law to encourage nuclear power.”

• The hardest-hitting bills authorize funding or financial incentives, such as Texas’ measure for a $350 million nuclear fund.

Our take: “Nuclear power is a critical component of the all-of-the-above energy strategy that we need to meet the demands of the manufacturing industry in the 21st century and to make America truly energy dominant,” said NAM Director of Energy and Resources Policy Michael Davin.

Many major business groups, including the NAM, are calling on Congress to preserve funding and resources for ENERGY STAR, a federal program that promotes energy efficiency in consumer products (E&E News, subscription).

The request: “Clear legislative authorization backs ENERGY STAR as a voluntary public–private partnership run by the federal government,” more than 30 business groups told legislators.

• “We respectfully request that ENERGY STAR not be supplanted by nongovernmental efforts that could significantly alter and overly complicate the program.”

The background: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced plans to restructure the agency, including by eliminating the Office of Atmospheric Protection, which manages the ENERGY STAR program.

• The ENERGY STAR program sets efficiency standards for a range of products and materials, including air conditioners and heat pumps, allowing them to display the program’s logo if they meet the criteria.

Why it matters: “Electricity saved by ENERGY STAR helps free up space on the grid needed so the U.S. can lead the world to power and grow artificial intelligence, support the burgeoning crypto asset industry and bring more manufacturing plants back to our shores,” the associations said.

The NAM’s take: “The ENERGY STAR program is a prime example of how federal agencies should be partnering with the industry to promote energy-efficient products that save money for consumers,” said NAM Director of Energy and Resources Policy Mike Davin.

• “Instead of imposing top-down regulations, ENERGY STAR brings together the public and private sectors on a voluntary basis to create a win–win–win outcome for consumers, the environment and the economy.”

As manufacturers call on policymakers to preserve tax reform by passing the tax bill, they’re reflecting on everything the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made possible for the industry.

Back in 2017 and 2018, the NAM told manufacturers’ stories of hiring more workers and increasing wages, making new investments and buying new equipment, expanding facilities and strengthening R&D, in an influential series of articles called “Keeping Our Promises.” Today, the NAM released a report showing where those companies are now because of the TCJA—and how much they have grown and succeeded in the eight years since the landmark legislation.

Their stories: The report features many small manufacturers that found tax reform to be transformative, including Westminster Tool, Click Bond, Ketchie, Gentex, Winton Machine, Jamison Door Company and more.

• To take one example, Westminster Tool, a small Connecticut company that designs and creates plastic injection molds for the medical, aerospace and consumer products industries, was able to hire more than a dozen workers, growing its workforce by nearly 30%.
• Click Bond, a small manufacturer of aerospace and defense assembly solutions, was able to review its pay scales and increase both hourly and supervisory workers’ wages, which has helped it compete better in the labor market and keep pace with inflation.

The NAM says: “The evidence is clear: manufacturing had its best job creation in more than two decades, the strongest wage growth in 15 years and significant investment in capital equipment after the passage of the TCJA in 2017,” said NAM Executive Vice President Erin Streeter.

• “But several of these tax provisions have expired already—and the rest are scheduled to sunset at the end of this year—putting at risk 6 million American jobs, more than $500 billion in wages and benefits and more than $1 trillion in GDP.”

The bottom line: “Tax reform worked,” Streeter emphasized.

• “Congress faces a straightforward choice to make the TCJA’s manufacturing-empowering provisions permanent, or risk undermining the foundation of our economic competitiveness.”

NAM in the news: POLITICO Pro’s Morning Tax newsletter (subscription) covered the report this morning.

• Later, the White House’s rapid response account on X (formerly Twitter) promoted the report and the NAM’s tax policy priorities multiple times.