TRIA Reports on August 2025 Government Relations Updates

Tile Roofing Industry Alliance Lobbyist, Craig Brightup, has provided the latest government relations update and activities on the following from August 2025:

Federal Workforce
The federal government is paying more than 154,000 employees not to work as part of the deferred resignation program.  These workers took the Trump Administration’s buyout offer to keep pay and benefits until Sept. 30.  With other departures from the 2.3 million federal civilian workforce, the Office of Personnel Management believes the federal government will have shed around 300,000 workers (a 12.5% reduction) by the end of 2025.
 
Appropriations
In August, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 26-3 to advance the bill funding the Dept. of Labor (DOL) through Sept. 2026.  If passed, it would provide $13.7 billion to DOL for FY26 – a 3% increase from the current fiscal year.  This seems at odds with the Trump Administration’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce, but Senate appropriations bills must get support from Democrats to reach 60 votes.  However, that’s not the case in the House and a continuing resolution through Sept. 30 at FY25 levels seems likely.
 
Trump Nominations
The Senate has traditionally taken up Presidents’ noncontroversial agency nominees using unanimous consents to speed up votes.  But in this Congress, Senate Democrats have dragged out confirmation votes for as long as possible under Senate rules.  Thus, Majority Leader John Thune and Republicans might move to change the rules (“go nuclear”) when the Senate reconvenes.  The nominations of Dave Keeling to serve as Asst. Sec. of Labor for OSHA and Jonathan Berry for DOL Solicitor are two examples of Democrats’ stalling tactics.  Both were approved by the HELP Committee on June 26 and should be confirmed by now but have yet to be scheduled for votes.
 
EPA to Rescind GHG Endangerment Finding
On July 29, EPA proposed to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding.  Per EPA’s website, absent this finding, EPA lacks the statutory authority under Sec. 202 of the Clean Air Act to prescribe standards for GHG emissions. The attached one-pager explains the significance of this very important deregulatory action.

For more information on the TRIA Alliance and our Government Relations efforts, please visit our website at www.tileroofing.org.