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NRCA Legislative Update: What Roofers Need to Know · RoofersCoffeeShop

• Karen Edwards: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations, and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seatbelts and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip. Hello and welcome to Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. My name is Heidi Ellsworth, and today I love this podcast. We are talking about advocacy, advocacy for the roofing industry and how we are making our voices heard at the federal level of government. And let me tell you, we are, and there's some great things going on. So we have brought our experts from the National Roofing Contractors Association. To visit with us today, Dwayne and Brad, welcome to the show. Thank you both for being here today. Wow, thank you, Heidi. Really appreciate the opportunity. It is so great to have you both. ⁓ so let's let's get right to it because we've got a lot to go over. As everyone knows, there's a lot going on. ⁓ so let's start out with some introductions. So, Dwayne, can you start us off and just introduce yourself and tell us what Tell us about what you do with NRCA and the importance of governmental relations in NRCA. Sure. ⁓ so yes, ⁓ Dwayne Musser, ⁓ I'm vice president of government relations at ⁓ NRCA. ⁓ been with the ⁓ association about ⁓ 18 years or so. And ⁓ I head up ⁓ our advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C., where ⁓ we work. on a daily basis on behalf of the roofing industry, of of of our members and the entire industry with respect to key federal ⁓ issues that that that impact the the roofing industry. And so it's a challenging ⁓ thing to be doing ⁓ in this day and age, as many other things are as well. ⁓ but ⁓ that's that that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I love it. Yeah. You do Joane, I just love visiting with you. It's one of my highlights of that being on the board every NRCA meeting, just kind of hearing everything what's going on. ⁓ I'm just, you know, really proud to be on the roof pack committee too. So I am really excited. Brad, relatively new to on the roofing world, but we have ⁓ we just love you, Brad, and we're so happy to have you. ⁓ can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do with ⁓ NRCA? Yeah. So ⁓ I That thanks again for having ⁓ me and Dwayne, ⁓ Heidi. I think this is my second podcast ⁓ since I've been N R C A with you all. ⁓ I I'm approaching my one year anniversary actually ⁓ with the organization. Right. Time flies. Yeah. ⁓ it's been great. ⁓ you know, I'm certainly no stranger to the association world. I was in the healthcare space ⁓ for over a decade ⁓ before coming to NRCA and before that I was, you know, ⁓ a congressional staffer, so for for many years. So I've seen both sides of of of you know things and ⁓ very much ⁓ appreciate my time here. I'm I'm really getting to learn, you know, the members, right? The volunteer members and in and that sort of thing with our committees. And so it's been it's been great. And I'm learning a lot through, you know, with Dwayne who's been here ⁓ a lot longer than I have. He's a institution of knowledge. So I I really appreciate his expertise as well. So much, you know, you know, I think Dwayne and I compliment each other on on the federal side. ⁓ you know, we we kind of you know sort of divide and conquer issues with respect to, you know, some of the issues that are important to our members. and so I think we we we've developed a pretty good team ⁓ over the last year and and we're certainly happy to continue the work that we do on behalf of of NRCM members. I love it. I love it. And we're so glad to have you and representing the roofing industry. It's so important. Yeah. So Dwayne, let's just kind of hop in. I would love for you to kind of describe the current state of advocacy for the roofing industry in one word. Now I know just one word. But also then why and w where are we? Well, y I've already alluded to this in my introduction. The one word I would use is challenging. ⁓ we do ⁓ in this day and age live in a ⁓ a challenging political and legislative environment ⁓ in Washington DC ⁓ so ⁓ our advocacy efforts have been have have become more challenging. We've kind of seen the the the federal congressional ⁓ process become somewhat more dysfunctional, which is a long time running over the past few decades. and ⁓ it it's a little bit more difficult to get good things done legislatively ⁓ in Congress ⁓ and in in Washington DC more generally these days. Because of the political polarization that exists in our society, ⁓ you know, ⁓ Congress is largely a reflection of society. ⁓ it really is. We're it's supposed to be. We're a representative democracy or republic, and ⁓ it it it does reflect ⁓ the rest of the country and and that's that's what we face these days. But ⁓ you know when something gets more challenging, what do we do? We s we step up our game. ⁓ so so advocacy has only become more important ⁓ as the challenges grow. And I think, you know, ⁓ the the biggest manifestation for the roofing industry of of the challenges is ⁓ difficulty of getting things done on workforce policy. ⁓ but we have made some significant progress and I will get into that a little bit more. ⁓ but ⁓ challenging is the one word that that comes to mind for me. Yeah, I I agree and I think a lot of people out there don't realize just how challenging it is. But at the same time, I think they probably don't always understand either that just like in the roofing industry, it's all about relationships and building those relationships between the people in the roofing industry and their representatives with what all of you do, building the relationships there. So much of that happens day to day on kind of human nature. But it's Yeah, absolutely. And with respect to roofing day and roof pack. Those are our key building blocks in our overall advocacy efforts to to to strengthening relationships with lawmakers and other stakeholders. Brad, with that, what Dwayne is saying about, you know, really that that word being challenging, what are you seeing? I mean, I he's I mean, he's spot on ⁓ obviously ⁓ on the challenging side of things. ⁓ you know, our our our day to day is is a bit ⁓ you know, venture at times and it is challenging. But I I will just say, you know you know, potential, right? That that that obviously comes to to me as well. ⁓ you know, I we stri I mean, there are some issues that are that are significantly polarizing that we advocate for that are really important our members, such as immigration, right? But there's also issues that are really important to our members that I think are a little bit more bipartisan. ⁓ you know, with respect to, you know, what Republicans and Democrats think about, you know, those issues on on Capitol Hill. ⁓ you know, a perfect example is that is career technical education. Right. ⁓ CTE, you know, we we obviously advocate for that. ⁓ members on both sides of the aisle are tripping over themselves to to promote the value of CTE and the skill trades. ⁓ and so when you hear that, you Dwayne and I have attended hearings this past year when we saw it firsthand. I mean, you had both sides of the aisle, everyone was in agreement on the value of of trying to build that pipeline and getting more workers into the skill trades, and CT is a big part of that. So when you hear that, you know, you obviously, you know. think, yeah, there's some potential there, right? ⁓ we've also seen an explosion on apprenticeships. There's a lot of discussion on Capitol Hill, a lot of chatter around the value of apprenticeships, right? And so I think we're starting to see more and more folks, both Republicans and Democrats, look at ways to address the workforce. Well and so we're certainly going to be talking about immigration because that's really important, right? ⁓ for our, you know, immigration reform and that sort of thing. I Dwayne's probably going to touch on that a little bit. But also there's other ways to address the workforce issues that we're seeing and and perfect example is is through CTE and in apprenticeships. And so ⁓ and I think those are issues are are extremely bipartisan right now. So in my eyes, there there's there's some potential there. So that's that's why that's why that work comes to mind for me. I like that. I like that. Challenging and potential. Those are two great ⁓ that's a great way to look at it. And I think that's probably really goes back to what we've seen for the last many years that we've been doing Roofing Day, that ⁓ it is challenging, but there is we're we're on the right side of things. As you said, Brad, I think that's that's a really great way of looking at that, that everybody is interested in the trades and CTE and growing the workforce on vocational. ⁓ so Duane, kind of looking at that, can you remind us of what the issues were we did discuss ⁓ with Roofing Day? And our legislators and how are we doing? Sure. Yes. ⁓ for Roofing Day in DC this past year in April when we had folks back here in town advocating, there were two major issues, ⁓ issue buckets, ⁓ workforce ⁓ solutions that address our workforce needs, and then also ⁓ housing ⁓ boosting housing supply to deal with affordable housing. On the workforce side, which of course has been front and center ⁓ since we started Roofing Day back in twenty eighteen, we've made ⁓ th there were two major ⁓ components to that. Number one, whatever we can do to get more Americans into our industry, and one of the big tools is career and technical education. So we advocated for ⁓ increased funding for what we call Perkins ⁓ career and technical education state grants. This is federal funding that goes to the state level for ⁓ state and local ⁓ CTE programs, which many of our members have found to be very valuable as a workforce development tool. ⁓ and we're the so the more funding we can get for that, the more effective those programs can be. We did have a House ⁓ committee ⁓ approve a $10 million increase in the budget for that. It's not quite as much as we want, but we got to rec recognize any increase in funding in the current budget environment that we face, which is very, very difficult, is a is a victory. ⁓ you have a lot of programs that are either actually being cut in terms of a percentage or even some programs being cut all all altogether. ⁓ but ⁓ we're there's strong bipartisan support for per for funding for Perkins grants. And so we've made some progress there. And then the other component of workforce solutions is immigration reform. And that's been that's been to go back to this word, more challenging. Yeah. to boil it down, Congress ⁓ and President Trump remain at an impasse on immigration reform. ⁓ there are two major bills that we advocated for during roofing day. Number one, the Dignity Act, which basically deals with various ⁓ immigrant workers in our workforce who have various ⁓ statuses ⁓ of of immigration. Number one, ⁓ those who have been here ⁓ legally working in our work ⁓ force ⁓ under temporary protected status. The Trump administration has ⁓ rolled back temporary protected status quite a bit. And so many people have lost their status. This led that bill would deal with them. It would also deal with those in the DACA program. The young adults who came to the U.S. as minor children are now undocumented adults. And then also certain other long-term undocumented workers who have no ⁓ any type of criminal record and and and strong workforce participation for ⁓ five years or more. that bill would deal with them and stabilize them, and then also the Essential Worker Act. legislation that would basically provide a new ⁓ visa system to allow ⁓ workers to come into the country when our economy demands it in a legal manner. And both of those bills, by the way, also combat illegal immigration by phasing in the e-verify program eventually to all employers. So again, that's the more challenging issue with respect to it hasn't been as ⁓ quite as much progress. I will say there is a glimmer of hope. ⁓ there have been some behind the scenes talks between a few key Republicans in the White House in recent months. And, you know, Hope Springs Eternal, probably not until after the elections at at least, and and maybe not until next year. But there's there there's some there's some positive conversations going on. That is incredibly interesting. And Brad, what did did you see ⁓ Roofing Day? No, it was, it was, I think we point out it was my first roofing day. I was, it was, it was really, really great to experience it firsthand. But, you know, We the s I think the second issue I think, you know, that Dwayne sort of mentioned was affordable housing, right? ⁓ and I think I think we all know that was a relatively new issue for the organization. ⁓ we had not really advocated for ⁓ you know, affordable housing policies in the past. And we were focused lar rightfully so on tax reform and and some of the other energy efficiency ⁓ provisions and that that sort of thing. And again, it it was very timely. back then, right? You know, but we've done tax reform, that's been enacted into law. So we were looking for ⁓ other issues that are, you know, applicable to what people were talking about on Capitol, because that's a big piece of what we do in Roofing Day. We want to be up there in a timely manner and talk about things that are on people's radar. And ⁓ I think I think we all came to the conclusion, you know, when we, you know, discussed it on a committee level that housing was one that, you know, I think roofers have a obviously have a story to tell with respect to housing. ⁓ and so we we sort of looked for legislation that that would allowed our members to talk about what they do in a positive manner, right? And so we we sort of zeroed in on two different legislation pieces of legislation. ⁓ one was the Revitalizing Downtowns and Main Streets Act, ⁓ and the other one was the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act. And these were both bills that would establish federal tax credits to incentivize the conversion of vacant or underly underutilized commercial property. in the construction and and upgrading of residential homes across the country. ⁓ and so again, bipartisan bills, right? It allowed folks to get into these offices and have discussions that weren't necessarily very polarizing, ⁓ timely, right? ⁓ and so we picked up you know, we picked up a few co sponsors, right, ⁓ you know, across, you know, over the last couple months. I think what was most encouraging on the housing side though, was that Congress actually did pass basically the most you know, significant housing policy reform bill ⁓ in decades over the summer. And and so, you know, we didn't necessarily advocate on that bill specifically during roofing day. ⁓ but, you know, that was a legislation we talked about it as an educational piece during Roofing Day on the panel, ⁓ for our members to be aware of that that was on, you know, that was in discussions. ⁓ it was bail ba it was about a year in the making. Well, they finally passed it in in Jul in J June or July of this year. and really it's it was large it's largely a deregulatory bill, right? And it's gonna build the pipeline of housing in the future. ⁓ it's a little bit more of a slow burn, you know, there's there's incentive there's they're looking to incentivize communities to sort of make it easier to to, you know, zoning and that sort of thing ⁓ and construction. ⁓ they're trying to get large institutional investors out of, you know, from buying single family homes. So there's there's things that that are that are that that they focused on. I again I think the the point that how it relates to roofing day though is there's more work to be done. Congress passed this bill. It's obvious on people's radar. So I think that the you know legislation that we advocated for the two different bills, I think there's a place for that, right? ⁓ in you know, you know, in the new Congress. And so, you know, I think that was the most encouraging, you know, piece to it. We knew housing was on their radar. ⁓ it's you know, it's it's can be of a challenge what you're gonna try to identify and what bills you're gonna talk about. But again, we wanna talk about legislation that were very bipartisan. ⁓ they added to the supply, you know, that was the whole goal. ⁓ and so, you know, we are we're we're encouraged, right, that with what Congress did, you know, did and obviously, you know, the housing crisis is still there. It's gonna be there for some time. And I think there's there's more opportunities to to sort of focus on some of these things moving forward. And Brad, you know, I wanna kinda continue with that thought because a lot of the things that Dwayne talked about and that you just talked about, it just seems like there's often a disconnect ⁓ from what the contractors of the roofing industry are experiencing in the field. How do you bridge that gap or how do we bridge that gap and make sure that the in d roofing industry's voice is being heard? Yeah. No, I mean it's a great question. I mean I I I ⁓ personally I I think I think to myself, Well, that's what Duane and I are here for, right? We kinda do our jobs, right? ⁓ but you know when you kind of take a step back, I mean, first off, we we need a strong turnout in roofing day for next year, right? In twenty twenty seven. So maybe that's a shameless plug for our next event, but it's April sixth and seventh, right in Washington, DC. ⁓ but really that that's sort of the foundational piece to what we do, right? When we talk about building relationships, when we talk about getting people excited about, you know, advocacy and advocating on behalf of the roofing industry. I mean, this is this is our Super Bowl, right? So, ⁓ Please come to DC, please participate. And by you doing that, that starts the relationship building side, even if it's your first time. That's the whole beauty of going, learning about some of these issues and taking that, you know, education and going to Capitol Hill and telling your stories to your legislators and their staff. I mean, that's really what it's all about. And so, you know, it makes our job, you know, yes, maybe less challenging, right? If we have those relationships, right, built. And the only way to do that is either you're coming to DC or doing something more locally, which we would encourage you to, you know, folks to do as well. But being able to come to this DC and Heidi, I know you participated in this event multiple times. There's really nothing like it, right? The the vibe, the energy. ⁓ it's just it's something different about actually going to these offices on Capitol Hill and and advocating for, you know, what you do and your workers and that sort of thing. ⁓ it's really neat to see. And so I think I will just make Again, another a plug for the value of that. And I think, you know, a strong turnout with Roofing Day allows Dwayne and I to sort of continue to bridge that gap throughout the year. Yeah. It really does. And I mean, it does make a difference. When I think about the number of years that I've been going, I actually, you know, some of the legislators know me and I and I even some of the staffers were like, ⁓ welcome back, you know. And so ⁓ it really does make a difference. And then you can start doing some of that on your own home turf. ⁓ and and making some differences for our industry. But I am also ⁓ interested in what is going on with ⁓ really policy development. So Dwayne, I know you spent a lot of time tracking this. ⁓ what issues are you seeing ⁓ that are flying under the radar or maybe we aren't all aware of, but we should be, that could impact the roofing industry, even five years from now. What what are you kind of seeing? Sure, sure. ⁓ I I think one thing that is somewhat flying under the radar has been for some time, ⁓ you know, for those of ⁓ folks who are not following the day-to-day of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, is the is the federal government's debt. ⁓ now this was not flying under the radar in August when we saw a lot of press around the fact that the national debt had reached forty trillion dollars. ⁓ but And and and and and the reason we say that in terms of okay, how is it going to affect the roofing industry? ⁓ well, first of all, we're seeing that the level of debt that's n now existing, which which is unprecedented since World War Two, ⁓ is already ⁓ becoming a drag on economic growth, which of course is ⁓ im important to our our our industry as as it is to everybody. ⁓ you know, through through higher interest rates and some other factors, we're already seeing this in the bond market to some extent, and that may be spilling over into the stock markets and and and possibly other things. ⁓ we actually have been following this for some time. I mean ⁓ NRCA back in the twenty eleven, twenty twelve range when ⁓ former NRCA ⁓ CEO Reed Ribble was in Congress and he was working with his Wisconsin colleague Paul Ryan, another congressman who headed up the budget committee at that time, they They had some proposals to deal with the national debt, mainly deal with the entitlement programs that drive the debt, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid being the big ones. ⁓ but those those unique proposals that that we had endorsed at the time faced bipartisan opposition. Both Republicans and Democrats didn't want to make the hard choices back then and have not ⁓ since then. And ⁓ so ⁓ and and and ultimately in order to Do something about the growing federal debt, which again is only on track. If Congress does nothing, it only gets worse. Congress has to do something at some point. When that is, we don't know. But it's going to result in not only spending cuts, there's probably going to have to be tax increases. And of course, NRCA, one of our front and center things on advocacy is low pro growth taxes that allow our members to start and grow their businesses. And we've achieved that actually. ⁓ we th the the the one big beautiful bill act that passed last year ⁓ in Congress probably has the best ⁓ tax policy ⁓ for our industry ⁓ in in I would say in a generation in in in my time in Washington DC. ⁓ how but h however, there's gonna have to be compromise. It's gonna have to be bipartisan, it's probably gonna have to be both some combination of tax increases, and that's where we're gonna be in there to try and make sure whatever tax increases are, they don't ⁓ that that they're they don't affect growth. is is you know there they're hopefully tax increases that can be made ⁓ to address the debt ⁓ but not affect economic growth and and and our businesses as much as possible. But that's that's something to watch soon in terms of how it's going to affect tax policy. Wow. Yeah. That I the debt. ⁓ that's a whole thing. It's just really kind of scary. So you know and what we do see is obviously legislative ⁓ progress slows down during election year. And mean, I think Congress has been sent home. There's a lot of things that are going on. And so, Brad, how do we keep this advocacy moving forward during these times? Yeah, no, I I mean, as a former hill staffer when I I would get calls all the time about people saying, ⁓ you're on vacation when you're when when members of Congress go home into the district I will say I can at I can attest from a staffer standpoint that that's certainly not the case. ⁓ but from from you know, our perspective now, for Dwayne and I, ⁓ I mean our obviously we're here in DC year round, right? And so the work doesn't necessarily stop. It it will continue to go on. I mean, I've frankly, I mean, we find it a little bit, you know, when things slow down on the hill like this, it's a little their staff are a little bit more accessible this time year. Because most of them, you know, they're not doing the election stuff. That's for the campaign side of things. So their whole they're they're in their offices, they're getting caught up, right? And so in fact, Dwayne and I were just talking this week about I think we developed a short list of six or seven offices that we wanted to follow up with, right, in October. ⁓ you know, during the during the slow period, just ⁓ of things that just come up in casual conversations or we hear a certain thing or we want to get more, you know, ⁓ intel about a certain topic or that sort of thing. ⁓ so we have a slew of offices that that we're planning on going is going in and seeing and and just having casual conversations. I think staff have a little bit more time to talk. They they can breathe a little bit, right? So they're a little bit more accessible. So I love this time of year. ⁓ you know, but I'm a little bit of a I'm a little bit of a wonk when it comes to this stuff. So you have all the election news and everything, which is which is fascinating to to follow. But, you know, the it does allow us to to get in there and have some of the policy discussions that you know the NRCA has hired us to do. So ⁓ it's a good time of year. So much sense. I'm like, ⁓ okay. Yeah, that makes sense. ⁓ well, okay, Dwayne. I I'm along that line, so you have a little bit of time here, possibly, to meet with some folks, but ⁓ if we if policymakers gave NRCA the opportunity to solve just one workforce issue tomorrow, what would be the top of your list or the top of NRCA's list? That's kind of a no brainer. Immigration reform. I mean that's o that that's obvious. ⁓ there is broad agreement that among Republicans and Democrats ⁓ and various stakeholders that our immigration fro immigration system is broken, but there is not a whole lot of agreement on how specifically to fix it. ⁓ and that's been the situation now for 40 years. The last major immigration bill was nineteen eighty six, and there's Where there were a couple minor immigration bills, I think, in the nineties. ⁓ but there hasn't really been there hasn't been anything majors ⁓ in 40 years. And so, I mean, think about think about if you were using an IT system from 40 years ago. Yeah. And so unfortunately, from a workforce standpoint and a societal standpoint with respect to immigration, we're working on a ⁓ you know, we're working with a dysfunctional ⁓ immigration system and that has affected our workforce. So yes, if I could make ⁓ you know and and of course this the the issue is I mean immigration has always been ⁓ controversial in our country. I mean I've I've read a a fair amount of history. ⁓ immigration was controversial in the seventeen nineties. and and and it's been so ever since, ⁓ right regularly and and so it's always been tough. ⁓ it's now become a little maybe tougher just because our our our system, our political system is a little bit more dysfunctional. But the bottom line is ⁓ at some point the political stars are gonna align. And so we have to stay in there, ⁓ even though it's more challenging, stay in there, continue advocating through Roofing Day, through other efforts, through Roof Pack, and ⁓ and the stars are gonna align and we're gonna be ready and we're gonna make some progress at some point soon and and and have some type of solution. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I and of course I'm thrilled that that it's obvious that it's immigration, right? I mean, that is just to us so important. And really when you look at the full workforce that we that is what NRCA is just focused on is workforce. ⁓ but I think sometimes, and Brad, I'm gonna put this over to you. ⁓ when we're looking at the roofing day issues, housing, education, workforce development. People don't always understand how they all kind of go together. They seem like separate ⁓ issues, but really for us in the industry, there's a lot of long term success if we can kind of work on these. Can you explain that and kind of talk about that? Yeah, no, I I mean I I look at all I mean the all three issues that you mentioned housing, workforce development, education, those sort of things. I think they're all inter interconnected, right? ⁓ under or like around w roofing workforce. I mean I mean, for example, you need an adequate housing supply, right, to keep employees near the work sites and the businesses, right? And you don't really think of it that way. ⁓ and so for workforce development, you know, we you know, Dwayne and and I and and some of our other members, you know, obviously we need to work with Congress to reform and approve training programs under WIOA, the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act. That'll ensure more job creators and workers can benefit, right? ⁓ and so And then the career technical education, the education piece, right? We talked about CTE and Perkins funding and that sort of thing. I mean, that just builds the pipeline for future workers, right? So again, they're all interconnected, right? ⁓ with respect to to the workforce and and the roofing workforce in particular. So, ⁓ you know, so we're you know, so the housing you're like, ⁓ okay, I didn't really think of it that way. I mean, that's I mean, obviously you want all Americans to have ⁓ you know, affordable rent, affordable housing, right? But you know, from a business perspective. You need workers to live near the work sites, right? Or you're not gonna be at it. So it's gonna be a problem that's exasperated, you know, with a you know ongoing shortage as it is. But if there's no houses around your business, I mean, what do you do with workers? So ⁓ you know. Right. Interesting way to look at it. But that's that's kind of our mindset there. I can tell you we see that all the time in our local ⁓ economy, right? That people can't afford the houses, so they live forty five, fifty, you know, hour away. And that just makes it then with the price of gas, it it's just it's a real concern for our workforce and bringing all that together. ⁓ so one of the things I am of course, I think well, maybe not all Americans, but I definitely am watching the elections in the midterms. I think it's very interesting seeing what's coming up. and who knows what's gonna happen between the House and the Senate. ⁓ Who's going to be control after the midterms? But what Dwayne, I want to start with you and then Brad, I would love your thoughts too. ⁓ should contractors be watching beyond the headline to understand how the election outcomes could affect their business. Yeah, sure. it's a very timely question. I mean, we are just about a month or a little more out from ⁓ the November third ⁓ midterm elections. ⁓ and control of Congress is up in the air. ⁓ if you look at history, usually the the party opposing ⁓ the party that is in the White House ⁓ does make gains. And so Democrats need only three seats to to pick up the majority in the House. And I think given historical trends and given the polling that we are seeing, that's probably likely that the Democrats will take back the House majority for the twenty twenty seven Congress. And the Senate's very much in play. It's but that's pretty much more I would say fifty-fifty-ish, could go either way. And so but but either way, in order to get anything done, you're gonna have to have bipartisan support. We have seen Republicans who were in control with President Trump being in in in the White House, were able to get some tax policies and some other things done through reconciliation, which only requires ⁓ fifty-one votes in the Senate rather than the sixty on on most ⁓ issues. ⁓ But and one thing we're watching, we we continue to hear from our members that health care costs for in health insurance costs for their workers continue to skyrocket. And I think we all know that's happening everywhere. And so the the the you know, ⁓ they've ⁓ Congress has failed to deal with healthcare reform, ⁓ but it continues to bubble up from us and others ⁓ others and and and there we do think there is some bipartisan willingness to try to address some of these healthcare issues to help make healthcare more affordable or at least, you know, at least not as ⁓ much of an increase, you know, year over year. And so that's kind of what we're we're we're hoping for. That and and especially if Democrats take back the House and I think they will move on some type of healthcare proposal that maybe that could use lead to a bipartisan effort to to to get something done. And it does seem like just in listening to the town halls and a lot that's going out there, there is support. across ⁓ across ⁓ both parties. And so Brad, what are you seeing? Yeah, no, I think I think the challenge with healthcare though, I mean, if you remember correctly, the the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, however you want to reference it, you know, there was tax subsidies that expired. So they were subsidizing a lot of the premiums, right? ⁓ and so they expired at the end of last year or the end of, you know, twenty twenty five. ⁓ you know, Republicans aren't gonna give a win, right? They're not gonna vote to extend ⁓ anything with respect to ACA, but that, you know, whether you agree with it or not, I mean, the bottom line is people's premiums have skyrocketed from that, right? And so, I think maybe this is an issue post election that gets looked at a little bit more closely because, you know, whether it's in lame duck or in new Congress, people, you know, Republicans in particular aren't facing, you know, the voter ballots, right? And, you know, they're the ⁓ you know, for for another twenty three months after that. So ⁓ I I think You know, th that's obviously it's gotten very political. But I mean, you're I mean, affordability, everyone's talking about affordability, whether it's housing, education, right? ⁓ you know, utilities, that sort of thing. So healthcare's right in the middle of it. So yeah, Dwayne's right. I mean, I think ⁓ whether we see anything in lame duck or early in the new Congress, depending on who's running the show, ⁓ I think I think we should look out for healthcare and and and see where where you know NRCA could sort of weigh in on that on behalf of its members too. Yeah. Well, gentlemen, wow. So much information. I love these podcasts. I love hearing what you're all working on. I'd like to ⁓ just leave this podcast with ⁓ one issue that every con roofing contractor should be paying attention to right now. Even if they don't realize it, right? There's 'cause there's so much that you all see ⁓ so Joane, starting with you, what's that what's that one issue that really if you had to say to the roofing contractors, pay attention to this, what is it? Yeah, I think it'd be artificial intelligence and ⁓ generally and and data centers. And of course, you know, artificial intelligence is gonna have all kinds of impacts on our society and ⁓ and ⁓ and on the workplaces in in various industries, including ours, including the roofing industry, but there there hasn't been much effort At the federal level to date, ⁓ to deal with that in any way, in any type of regulatory aspect. We are hearing calls now for that. And also, you know, ⁓ obviously data centers are important to the roofing industry. It's a big source of work for us. Those are becoming much more controversial just in the last ⁓ a year or so. And so ⁓ Congress has started to address that. There was a ⁓ a bill to address issues with ⁓ electricity rates and other issues with data centers that passed the House but failed in the Senate. That was a very modest proposal and of course as many things do right before election, it got caught up in election year politics. ⁓ but you're gonna see more on that and that's gonna impact our industry in one way, shape or form. And so so that's that's that's something to keep an eye on, ⁓ in a in a lot of respects. That's a great one. Brad, thoughts? No, I Totally agree. I mean AI is is I mean, you're even I mean, you're seeing President Trump meeting with the execs in the White House about AI regulatory reform and you know, even that's becoming a little more political, unfortunately. You have one group saying, Well, let them police themselves and then you have other folks saying, Well, you know, the government needs to have some sort of oversight into this, especially with the reports coming out of of reckless spots and that sort of thing, which is kind of scary. ⁓ so yeah, certainly ⁓ I think Dwayne is spot on there. I think, you know, AI and in, you know, the data centers. I mean, that's you know, you need those ⁓ with the with the AI boon, right? And so yeah, it's puts us in a little bit of an interesting spot, you know, as an organization because Dwayne mentioned it's great for business, it's great for roofing business. But even now you're seeing political, you know, blowback on the data centers, right? And no construction moratoriums and that sort of thing. So it'll be interesting to see. I'm also curious to see what it what the what the temperature is. after the elections because you know I've heard people say, well this is no one's gonna be talking about data centers, you know, after November third. So we'll see. ⁓ we'll see. ⁓ but yeah but the use of AI that's not going away. I mean that is something that you know our members need to obviously I'm I would I would imagine many of them are, you know, in the know already with respect to how it can help their business and and you know that sort of thing. But ⁓ you know I think there's gonna be a lot of discussion around AI moving forward in in in the new Congress. Well, everyone will be happy to know that NRCA actually just put together an AI committee. So they are in on the in the front of this and making sure to understand how it impacts our industry. ⁓ because we are just at the very beginnings when you think about AI robotics and everything else that's coming along. So great answer. I love it. I love everything. Thank you so much for on this awesome podcast. And we will be watching. We will be watching the midterms coming up. And again, I would really like to just encourage every roofing professional out there, whether you are a contractor, manufacturer, distributor, technology, consultant, whatever you may be, ⁓ you need to look at attending roofing day. It not only is good for the industry and good for ⁓ the roofing industry in particular, but it is a great opportunity for you to really be engaged. and to see behind the behind the curtain a little bit of what goes on and how you can have a major influence. So and these gentlemen along with Terry Dorn make it happen every single year. So thank you so much. Absolutely. Yes. And just want to ⁓ all also recognize in addition to Roofing Day that roof pack ⁓ participation is, you know, front and center, especially now ⁓ for the ⁓ upc upcoming elections. We've been very involved in supporting ⁓ members of Congress and other candidates and ⁓ our our director of political affairs, Terry Dorn, who has who couldn't be here today, is ⁓ really active ⁓ you know, in in moving that ball forward. And of course we're gonna have more opportunities for Roofpack coming up at fall meetings and ⁓ IRE as well. Yeah. As an NRCA member, it is so easy to donate to Roofpack and so essential. So please you can find all that information on Roofers Coffee Shop, on the NRCA directory, the roofpack, ⁓ And and the NRCA roof pack directory specifically. You can get all that information on please donate today and please be a part of everything that's coming up. In fact, there's a big auction at the IRE. So hopefully you can all attend and support them that way up too. So gentlemen, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. ⁓ heidi appreciate it. Thank you. And thank you all for listening. What great information. Please Be sure to check out all of our podcasts. We have many NRCA podcasts out there that will help you be in the know. Be sure to subscribe and set those notifications so you don't miss a single episode. We'll be seeing you next time on Roofing Road Trips. If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next roofing road trip.