While the House left Washington a week early, the Senate will follow suit on time this week for the August recess.  In addition to appropriations bills, here is the status of three legislative topics of interest to government contractors:

1.  Senate Punts on FY’25 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA):  The Senate left town without a floor vote on the FY’25 defense authorization bill.  Progress on the measure has gotten caught up in election year politics with Republicans seeking to force uncomfortable policy votes on vulnerable Senate Democrats.  While this isn’t the first time the chamber has gone on break without passing a defense measure, there is increased concern now over timing.  No one should expect an FY’25 NDAA until December at the earliest.

2.  In a move that’s good news for contractors, the Senate did make progress on a measure that would consolidate and streamline cyber-related regulations. The Streamlining Federal Cybersecurity Regulations Act will create an interagency group in the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director focused on harmonizing U.S. cyber regulatory regimes and establish a pilot program to test new regulatory frameworks.  The measure has broad bi-partisan support and is important to contractors that currently face a patchwork of overlapping, and often inconsistent, cyber rules.

3.  The Senate also moved forward on multiple AI-related legislative initiatives.  The Future of AI Innovation Act, the CREATE AI Act, and the NSF AI Education Act are just three measures that saw action as a package.  Although some have bi-partisan support, others have drawn criticism from Republicans who fear that a slew of new regulations will hamper, not help, AI development and implementation.  Another looming question for these bills is that, under normal circumstances, the NDAA would be the expected vehicle of choice for passage but, as noted above, that measure has its own challenges.  Nevertheless, contractors absolutely do want to pay attention to what Congress has in store.  New laws could change your business for better or worse.