NAM Update: Tax Bill, Cybersecurity, & Nuclear Power

Senate Releases Tax Bill

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.”

NAM to Congress: Reauthorize Cybersecurity Law Before It Expires

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.
 

State Lawmakers Embrace Nuclear Power

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.

The government affairs update is provided by the National Association of Manufacturers.  MTI is a Member of the Council of Manufacturers comprised of 250+ manufacturing associations.

Written by: Author Unknown, for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)