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State of Play: Five Things We Are Tracking As Congress limps into the July 4th recess, it appears that the legislative agenda will remain in gridlock. The ongoing disagreements will ultimately define the remainder of the summer and fall calendar. SAVE America Act rebellion is freezing the House floor. A group of House conservatives have twice blocked procedural rules this week, demanding that leadership force action on the SAVE America Act. The faction has stalled many must-pass items and sent members home early for the second week in a row. Speaker Johnson needs near-unanimous GOP support to move anything with such a razor-thin majority. FY27 NDAA a victim of House Gridlock. The House Armed Services Committee has released a $1.15 trillion topline NDAA, with Chairman Rogers framing it around industrial base revitalization and getting to the administration's defense spending target. As of this week, the bill is caught in the SAVE America Act crossfire, with Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's push to attach the voter ID measure via amendment threatening to sink it in the Senate, where it needs Democratic votes to clear a filibuster. FY27 appropriations are inching forward. The House has passed two FY27 spending bills (MilCon-VA and Agriculture-FDA) and was set to take up the State Foreign Operations bill this week before the SAVE Act revolt punted it again. With the Senate in recess for two weeks, and the end of the fiscal year fast approaching, the path to a full-year deal versus another continuing resolution remains in question. Surface transportation reauthorization is racing against a September 30 deadline. With the IIJA's five-year authorization set to expire on September 30, the House T&I Committee advanced the bipartisan $580 billion BUILD America 250 Act (H.R. 8870) out of committee with a bipartisan 62-2 vote in May championed by Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen. Floor time has not yet been announced, but committee leadership is hopeful it will be secured before the August recess. The Senate hasn't released its proposal yet, but early signals suggest strong continuity with the House version, with a streamlined return to the legislation’s original core functions. The urgency to move is driven by a very real funding problem: the Highway Trust Fund is projected to run dry by 2028, the House bill addresses this with a new EV and hybrid fees. Senate Appropriations markups keep getting delayed. Movement is expected once the Senate returns from its two-week recess. Senate Appropriations has postponed its full-committee markups of Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Legislative Branch, and MilCon-VA for the fourth time. Defense Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell's hospitalization left Republicans short a vote. He is anticipated to return later this month.

More Than a Phone Call: The Real Work of Effective Advocacy Government relations is not just about knowing who to call. It is about identifying the right person, knowing why to call them, and how to frame the conversation when you do. Recently, a client who is a healthcare provider reached out for support. They had supported a licensing change that moved them into a new category, a shift that made sense as a way to better align oversight with the services being delivered. What nobody anticipated was that the change triggered simultaneous obligations under two separate, similar state statutes. Two divisions within the same agency were now required to conduct independent maltreatment investigations of the same event on sequential timelines, leaving staff on administrative leave for months and operations significantly disrupted — with most allegations ultimately unfounded. The provider had attempted to resolve the issues but was frustrated. They needed a strategy. Step One: Understand the Law A side-by-side analysis of both statutes mapped jurisdiction, investigation requirements, and timelines. It identified the precise point of overlap and, just as importantly, room within existing law to coordinate that had not yet been explored. Without that foundation, there is no credible position, no realistic solution, and no productive conversation with anyone who has authority to act. Step Two: Know Your Audience The framing had to acknowledge what both statutes were designed to protect while making clear the current process was producing a significant burden without additional protective value. Understanding the agency's own position and constraints was essential to developing a message they could act on rather than defend against. Step Three: Engage the Agency First The first call was not to a legislator. It was to the agency. Going to them first signals good faith and allows them to be part of the solution. A legislative fix takes a session. An administrative accommodation can be processed within weeks. The agency reviewed the analysis, agreed that the duplication did not serve the intent of either statute, and agreed to streamline the process within existing authority. Step Four: Build Toward a Long-Term Solution The streamlining was a meaningful win and not the finish line. The statutory ambiguity remains, and both sides recognized that a legislative fix is likely necessary to fully resolve the issue. The short-term work built the trust to get there together. Effective advocacy is not a single conversation. Done well, it does not just solve the problem at hand. It builds the foundation to resolve greater future issues. And the agencies and legislators who are part of that process are far more likely to become partners in solving the next problem too.

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President Ashlee Rich Stephenson joined Steve Scully on SiriusXM POTUS to discuss the latest political developments, including the Maine Senate race, the emerging field for the 2028 presidential election, and renewed scrutiny of President Biden's 2024 campaign. The conversation covered former Vice President Mike Pence's political future, the growing attention surrounding Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as potential Republican standard-bearers, and former First Lady Jill Biden's recent reflections on the 2024 election cycle.  Listen to the full conversation here: