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How Townships can access clean energy tax credits in the form of direct pay/transferability
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NATaT December 2024 Annual Meeting
Jerry B. Crabtree, Heidi Fought (Ohio ED), Past President Neil Sheradin (Michigan Ed), and NATaT President Dave Sanko (PA ED)
NATaT Weekly Legislative Report
December 15, 2025
Congressional Outlook
Lawmakers are in Washington, D.C. for the last scheduled legislative week in 2025 for both chambers, before leaving Friday for a two-week recess (returning the week of January 5). Lawmakers’ top priorities remain an extension of healthcare tax credits, action on FY 2026 spending bills, and Senate passage of the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The Legislative Update will pause with Congress and return on January 5, 2026.
As the Legislative Update has continued to report, Congress has until December 31, 2025 to pass legislation extending expiring Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premium tax credits (EPTCs). If Congress fails to act this week, it is likely that as many as 22 million Americans will face significant price hikes to their health insurance premiums, effective Jan. 1. Both chambers have waffled on a solution for a potential extension, with the Senate rejecting dueling health care bills last Thursday. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will place the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act (H.R. 6703), a House Republican health care bill, on the House floor for a vote on Wednesday. The bill does not extend the ACA tax credits, but rather, requires more transparency from pharmacy benefit managers, codifies association health plans, and funds ACA cost-sharing reductions, though it has no action on health savings accounts (HSAs) or other mechanisms to soften the blow to increases to health care premiums. The House Rules Committee will meet on Tuesday afternoon to determine if amendments will be made in order for the bill. Some moderate House Republicans, in vulnerable districts, have come out in favor of extending the ACA subsidies. Democrats maintain the goal of a three-year extension to the ACA subsidies, through 2028. Given the limited time remaining on the legislative calendar, it appears likely that the Senate will not have enough time to pass any healthcare legislation adopted by the House this week.
The odds of a partial government shutdown beginning January 31, 2026 appears to be on the rise as Congress has stalled in its attempts to pass any of the remaining nine FY 2026 spending bills. After attempting to move forward with a minibus package that would include the FY26 Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD spending bills, not much traction has occurred in the Senate to-date. Top GOP appropriators in the House and Senate have, however, agreed to topline numbers on six of the remaining nine bills, with only the Defense, Energy-Water, and Labor-HHS-Education topline numbers outstanding. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) are working through how to proceed on the next minibus, with Sen. Collins hoping to include the aforementioned five bills, while Rep. Cole prefers consideration of only the C-J-S, Interior-Environment, and T-HUD bills. The leaders remain optimistic about advancing consideration of a minibus before Congress breaks for the holidays, although it looks increasingly likely that early to mid-January will be the earliest a minibus could pass through both chambers and be enacted into law.
The Senate will vote on the FY26 NDAA this week after the House passed it last week by a vote of 312-112. The Senate voted 76-20 on the cloture motion to advance consideration of the FY26 NDAA (S.1071) on Monday evening. Upon final passage, the bill heads to President Trump’s desk for his signature marking the 65th year in a row that Congress has passed the NDAA, authorizing $901 billion in funding for the Department of Defense and other related defense activities.
The House will consider 19 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 (S. 222), which allows schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to begin serving whole and reduced-fat milk; the Save Our Seas 2.0 Amendments Act
(S. 216), which reauthorizes NOAA’s Marine Debris Program at $15 million annually through FY 2029; the Federal Maritime Commission Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 4183), which authorizes $49.2 million annually for the Federal Maritime Commission through FY 2027; and the Enhancing Science, Treatment, and Upkeep of America’s Resilient and Important Estuarine Systems (ESTUARIES) Act (H.R. 3962), which reauthorizes the EPA’s National Estuary Program through 2031.
For the remainder of the week, the House will consider nine additional bills, including the Lower Health Care Premiums for All Americans Act (H.R. 6703), the House Republicans’ recently released health care package; the Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025 (H.R. 3632), which authorizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to delay power plant retirements by up to ten years; the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act (H.R. 4776), which accelerates and narrows environmental reviews and litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); the Kayla Hamilton Act (H.R. 4371), which requires the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement to screen unaccompanied migrant youth arriving in the U.S. for criminal history and gang tattoos before they can be placed in foster care, with a relative, or released to a sponsor; the
Protect Children's Innocence Act (H.R. 3492), which allows for health-care providers who perform gender-affirming surgeries or provide hormone therapy to minors to be fined and/or imprisoned for up to ten years; the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act (H.R. 1366), which allows mining companies to not have to prove there is a valuable mineral deposit on federal land before getting approved to use it for activities ancillary to mining; the Pet and Livestock Protection Act (H.R. 845), which requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the gray wolf from the endangered and threatened species list; the Do No Harm in Medicaid Act (H.R. 498), which mandates that federal Medicaid funds cannot be used for gender-affirming care for minors; and the Reliable Power Act (H.R. 3616), which allows FERC to block proposed energy rules from other federal agencies if it identifies potential threats to the country’s power grid. The House may also consider two resolutions (H. Con. Res. 61 and H. Con Res. 64) which directs President Trump to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities with any presidentially designated terrorist group in the Western Hemisphere as well as within or against Venezuela unless expressly authorized by Congress, respectively.
The House will hold numerous committee hearings and markups this week, including a Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment hearing on the Water Resources Development Act of 2026: Stakeholder Priorities; a Financial Services Committee two-day markup to consider 20 bills, including the Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644), a bipartisan housing package to streamline housing development and affordability by updating outdated programs, removing regulatory roadblocks and increasing local flexibility, and the NFIP Extension Act of 2026 (H.R. 5577), extending the National Flood Insurance Program’s authorization through Sept. 30, 2026; a Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources legislative hearing to consider nine bills pertaining to geothermal energy; an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing to consider seven bills aimed at improving public safety communications; a Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection hearing on The Quantum, AI, and Cloud Landscape: Examining Opportunities, Vulnerabilities, and the Future of Cybersecurity; a Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement hearing on The Impacts of Temporary Protected Status; and an Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment hearing on the Impact of EPA’s CERCLA Designation for Two PFAS Chemistries and Potential Policy Responses to Superfund Liability Concerns.
The Senate will consider the nominations of Jared Isaacman to the Administrator of NASA; Douglas Weaver to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the remainder of the term expiring June 30, 2026; Joshua Simmons to be General Counsel of the CIA; Keith Bass to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs; Alexander Van Hook to be a U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Louisiana; Sara Bailey to be Director of National Drug Control Policy; and an en bloc package of 97 nominations. The Senate will also hold multiple committee hearings and markups, including a Homeland Security and Government Affairs Subcommittee on Governmental Operations and Border Management hearing to examine Government Accountability Office recommendations for a more accountable government; a Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection hearing on ensuring fair access to banking; an Energy and Natural Resources Committee meeting to consider 15 bills regarding federal lands; a Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on oversight of the Federal Communications Commission; and a Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation hearing to examine the Federal Aviation Administration’s plan for Air Traffic Control modernization.
Week in Review
Inside Republicans’ new health bill
Senate rejects plans to address sharp rise in health care premiums
Senators brace for another possible shutdown in January
Data center boom creates political conundrum for the GOP
Energy secretary predicts that electricity prices will stop rising ‘very soon’
Senators ask AI companies to commit to safety disclosures, citing teen suicides
Rising tensions and finger-pointing at DHS amid pressure to ramp up deportations
The Justice Department has now sued 18 states in an effort to access voter data
In a setback for Trump, Indiana lawmakers defeat redistricting plan
Redistricting fight shifts to Wisconsin, where judicial panels may pick new maps