We know that 2025 will be a year of great challenges and change in large part due to the November elections. The year kicks off the start of the 119th Congress at the beginning of the month and the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025. With these beginnings, a lot of time and focus will be on organization and prioritizing for legislative agendas.
119th Congress
In the House, the chamber will formally elect a speaker and adopt new rules for the new session of Congress.
Historically, this has been a relatively straightforward process, but you might recall that it was a chaotic process filled with drama for the 118th Congress that resulted in rules that significantly limited the powers of the speaker.
This had a lasting effect on the operations of the chamber throughout Congress. While the hope that the start of the 119th Congress will be less dramatic, we have learned to expect the unexpected on Capitol Hill. Of note, for the other side of the Hill, the Senate is a continuous body governed by standing rules. It does not vote on a rules package at the beginning of a new session of Congress.
The leadership of committees in the House and Senate greatly affects the consideration of legislation on issues of concern and interest to the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) and its membership.
Most committee and subcommittee assignments should be finalized by the end of January or early February. With assignments in place, committees will hold organizational meetings to lay out rules and priorities. This will allow FPA to further flesh out its advocacy planning accordingly.
Member Outreach
With the new Congress, FPA will spend a lot of time on outreach to new members to educate them on the flexible packaging industry and FPA’s federal legislative priorities.
Getting into offices early to meet the members and work with the staff is important. It allows the FPA government relations team to lay the groundwork on key issues before legislative votes occur.
At the committee level, there were many retirements at the close of the 118th Congress and election losses that resulted in significant changes in the membership of key committees of jurisdiction on FPA issues of interest.
Accordingly, the government relations team will also focus on bringing new members up to date on industry priorities and position potential legislation for committee consideration.
All legislation that did not pass in the last Congress needs to be reintroduced in a new Congress. Bills may have a similar title but will get new legislative numbers.
New Administration
A new president generally has an aggressive “first 100 days” agenda that kicks in after the inauguration. Most of this is more for agenda and messaging as it will be many months before the cabinet and senior officials will be confirmed by the Senate.
Regulatory oversight will continue to be a key interest for FPA as the new administration settles in. FPA’s advocacy and outreach plans to the administration should come together toward the end of the first quarter.