Policy Committee Updates

ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

• In January 2025, the Energy & Environment Committee hosted a Post-Election Policy Outlook meeting featuring insights from Beth Viola, Senior Policy Advisor at Holland & Knight as well as Brent Greenfield, Principal and Counsel at Cornerstone. The conversation focused on the recent executive orders issued by the new administration, as well as discussions on potential congressional action on energy policy. Watch Here.
• In March 2025, the Energy & Environment Committee hosted a discussion featuring Joe Valente of Congressman Jake Auchincloss’s office. Joe serves as Senior Legislative Assistant and oversees energy and environmental issues for the Congressman in his new role on the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The conversation focused on tariffs, as well as other opportunities for congressional action on energy related issues.
• During the 2025 Washington Leaders’ Conference, the Energy & Environment Committee is scheduled to meet with Judy Chang, who serves as a Commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The meeting will provide members with the opportunity to hear from the former Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy on her priorities and key issues before FERC.
• The committee is actively planning an event for September 2025 focused on PFAS chemicals, including an overview of PFAS, where it’s located, and ongoing efforts to address testing and remediation. The program also hopes to incorporate the role of government agencies as well as regulations, and review what businesses in the region need to prepare for both new consumer expectations and government regulations. Congressman Jake Auchincloss’s has been invited to deliver keynote remarks.

FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE

• In late 2024, the Committee named a new co-chair, Tom Crohan of John Hancock, who joins longtime co-chair Jim Febeo of Fidelity Investments.  Tom replaced Ed Kenealy of Liberty Mutual, who stepped down to focus on his new, expanded role with Liberty Mutual. Read more.
• On February 20, the Committee hosted a 2025 Policy Outlook virtual program, featuring a presentation by Jason Rosenstock and Chas Thomas, both partners at the Washington, DC, government relations firm Thorn Run Partners, a Council member.  Jason and Chas provided an overview of what to expect from both Congress and the new Administration as it relates to policy impacting the financial services industry in the new year.
• The Financial Services Committee is working with PwC and a group of other committee members to update the Council’s 2017 report on the economic impact of the financial services committee in New England.  On March 20, PwC briefed committee members on preliminary research, and discussed opportunities for member participation.  The goal is to release the report in June 2025.
• During the 2025 Washington Leaders’ Conference, the Financial Services Committee will hold two meetings – one with Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren’s committee staff, and a second with Catherine Fuchs, Majority Staff Director on the Senate Banking Committee.

HEALTHCARE COMMITTEE

• In December 2024, the Healthcare Committee shared a letter with the New England Congressional delegation urging ongoing support for the reauthorization of telehealth services, a key component in addressing the mental and physical challenges facing the region. Read the letter here.
• Also in December, the Committee hosted a post-election policy outlook event focused on healthcare featuring discussions led by Ann Jablon of Capitol Counsel and Graham Shalgian of Rasky Partners, who shared their insights on what to expect on federal healthcare policy from the Trump Administration and the 119^th Congress.
• In March 2025, the Committee hosted a legislative planning session with members, which featured overviews and insight from numerous Committee members. Advocacy opportunities focused on potential amendments to the Inflation Reduction Act, funding for community health centers, innovating FDA approval process of medical devices, as well as ongoing efforts to promote and defend funding for key federal agencies and programs such as NIH and Medicaid funding. View Meeting Recap.
• During the 2025 Washington Leaders’ Conference, the Healthcare Committee is scheduled to meet with Senate HELP Committee staff, including Jasmine Masand of Senator Maggie Hassan’s office. The Committee may also hear from other regional HELP Committee staff, such as Senator’s Murphy, Sanders, Markey or Collins.

HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE

• On January 14, 2025, the Higher Education Committee held a post-election policy outlook presentation featuring a panel discussion with Dan Egan of AICURI, Rob McCarron of AICUM, Jen Widness of CCIC, and Dan Walker of PretiFlaherty.  The panel shared their insight son what to expect from the new Administration and 119th Congress in relation to Higher Education policy.
• On March 3,2025 the New England Council sent a letter to the New England Delegation highlighting the economic impact of NIH grants in the region. In total, our region received $4.8286 billion in NIH Awards in FY2023, which supported 40,291 jobs and $10.652 billion in economic activity. Read the letter here. The Higher Education and Healthcare Committees are now collaborating on a possible follow-up Congressional Staff Briefing, as well as collecting impact stories from NEC Members to share with Members of Congress.
• On March 25, The New England Council and the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) once again partnered to release a series of fact sheets highlighting the economic impact of the higher education sector in the region. These updated resources highlight the economic impact that colleges and universities have in each state, as well as aggregate data for the entire New England region. Data points covered include total economic impact, federal tax revenue generated, jobs in the higher education sector, jobs created in the state, total number of institutions, total students, and students awarded a Pell Grant. Read the one pagers here.
• During the Washington Leaders’ Conference, the committee will meet with Sara Garcia, Senior Policy Advisor for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions for Ranking Member Bernie Sanders.

HOUSING WORKING GROUP

• On November 20, 2024, the Housing Working Group held a Post-Election Policy Outlook Discussion focused on Housing.  Mr. David Gasson from MG Housing Strategies discussed how housing policy will be impacted by the 2024 elections, including what to expect from the new Administration and the 119^th Congress. Watch Here.
• On January 30, 2025, the Working Group hosted a presentation from Andrew Mikula, Senior Fello on Housing at the Pioneer Institute.  Mr. Mikula briefed members on the Pioneer Institute’s research on the role of regulatory and permitting reform in alleviating New England’s housing challenges.  Watch Here.

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION WORKING GROUP

• On October 31, 2024, the Council hosted the latest installment of our popular “New England Innovates” series, this time focused on innovation in the field of robotics.  Representative Jim McGovern, co-chair of the Congressional Robotics Caucus, delivered keynote remarks.  Following the keynote, Tom Ryden of MassRobotics moderated a panel of Council members who discussed challenges and opportunities for continued innovation in the robotics sector and highlight how different industries are leveraging this new technology.  Watch program.
• In November 2024, the Council sent a letter to the New England Congressional delegation again urging them to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) in any year-end funding package.  Created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the ACP provides a monthly broadband subsidy for income-eligible households, with the goal of ensuring equitable access to high speed internet service for all Americans.  Read the Letter.  
• On January 15, 2025, the Tech and Innovation Working Group held a post-election policy outlook program featuring a presentation from with Alex Hecht and Bruce Sokler of ML Strategies. The presentation focused specifically on policy related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), and what types of policy proposals to expect from both the Administration and the 119^th Congress.
• On January 22, 2025, the working group hosted a webinar featuring a presentation from STEMatch, an organization that focuses on developing a diverse STEM workforce in the region.  Leaders from STEMatch provided an overview of the STEMatch COMPETE program, which matches lower-income community college students with IT internship opportunities. Learn More.
• On March 27, 2025, the working group hosted a virtual meeting featuring a presentation from NEC member Kids in Tech, who shared more about their organization’s mission to prepare students for careers in the STEM fields, and opportunities for fellow Council members to participate in their efforts. Learn More.
• On May 15, 2025, during the Washington Leaders’ Conference, the working group will meet with staff to Rep. Seth Moulton to learn more about the Congressman’s work on the China Select Committee.

TRADE WORKING GROUP

• The Trade Working Group held a post-election policy outlook program on December 16, 2024, featuring presentations by Kelly Ann Shaw, a former senior trade policy advisor to President Trump during his first Administration, and Sally Liang, former Senior Democratic Trade Counsel on the Senate Finance Committee.  The Trade Working Group reviewed what to expect in a new Trump Administration and a Republican-controlled House and Senate.
• On February 10, 2025, the Trade Working Group hosted a virtual briefing with a panel of trade experts from NEC member firm WilmerHale on the implications of President Trump’s trade policy.  Presenters included a former senior USTR official as well as former senior Senate and House trade staffers.  Over 100 members representing a wide array of industries participated in the briefing.  View Summary.
• On February 28, 2025, the Council sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to urge the Administration to reexamine imposing tariffs on products exported to the United States. The letter outlined the concerns registered by a number of Council members as to how tariffs would affect our region.  Read the Letter.
• On May 14, 2025, the members of the Council’s Trade Working Group are tentatively scheduled to hold an in-person meeting with Jennifer Thornton, General Counsel for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. This meeting will be in conjunction with the Washington Leaders’ Conference.

TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE

• The Committee held a meeting on October 9 to discuss the state of transportation funding, transit and other similar matters that may need to be addressed in either a stand-alone or omnibus appropriations measure prior to the end of the year. Jackie Miech, Legislative Assistant to Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), addressed the T&I Committee and provided her insight on the rest of 2024 and a preview of transportation and infrastructure into 2025. Senator Reed serves on the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, and is the #2 member of the Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over transit issues.
• The T&I Committee hosted a successful New England Innovates program looking at the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the transportation and infrastructure sectors.  The November 13, 2024, forum was hosted by ML Strategies at their Boston office, and Luisa Paiewonsky, Director of Infrastructure Systems and Technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center, delivered keynote remarks.  Following the keynote, a panel of Council transportation members from Keolis, MITRE, Autodesk, and HNTB discussed how they are leveraging AI technologies. View Agenda.
• On February 11, 2025, the T&I Committee convened a virtual meeting to discuss committee priorities for the coming year. Prior to that discussion, members heard from Ms. Katie Donahue, Transportation Policy Advisor to U.S. Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA), who discussed the need to reauthorize the existing surface transportation law, the future of appropriations earmarks, aviation safety, rail safety, Coast Guard reauthorization, and the outlook for transportation funding to name a few.
• During the Washington Leaders’ Conference, the T&I Committee will hold two meetings.  On Wednesday, May 14, the committee will meet with Abby Camp Wenk, Deputy Chief of Staff to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Jimmy Ballard, Director of Coalitions for the Committee.  And on May 15, the committee will meet with several senior officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation.