What the 2016 Election Means for Your Industry

Arent Fox’s Government Relations practice of attorneys, former elected officials, and political insiders have published a forecast for the legislative and regulatory agenda in 2017 that offers insight into how it could impact key industries and sectors.

Our post-election analysis highlights priorities for the new Congress and new Administration and delves into the expected ramifications on Health Care, Tax, Tech and Communications, Transportation and Infrastructure, Energy, Trade, Campaign Finance and Election Law, while providing a DC Election Snapshot.

Read the analysis here. [UPDATED: November 18, 2016]

Our Former Members React

Senator Byron Dorgan: This election has produced a stunning result surprising the pundits, pollsters and many Americans. Despite the often bitter campaign, the tradition in this country is to come together and pledge to work together for the benefit of the country. That has happened very quickly with President-elect Trump, President Obama, and Hillary Clinton pledging, the day after the election, to work together and help in the transition to a new Administration.

I expect that the agenda proposed by President-elect Trump in the campaign will provide a roadmap for the issues he will send to Congress in the early days of next year. Repairing our nation’s infrastructure with legislation that will put people back to work and boost the economy will likely be one of his first initiatives. There will be disagreements between the political parties about both the size and the funding source for the proposal, but it is likely that there will be some bipartisan cooperation to enact this legislation.

In addition to that, there will likely be work to reform our tax code by broadening the base and lowering the individual and corporate tax rates. It is difficult but not impossible to make progress on tax reform. There will be vastly different proposals for reform, but the American people are demanding reform and both political parties have promised to get make an effort to do comprehensive reform. Even if the tax reform falls short of being “comprehensive,” some smaller adjustments could be made that would improve the fairness of the tax code.

Legislation will undoubtedly be offered to repeal the Affordable Care Act and I expect the new President to stop work on the Clean Power Plan. Both actions will be controversial and it’s not certain how and when the new Administration will fulfill these campaign promises.

Representative Philip English: This election has displaced the status quo in Washington in a very fundamental way. While political alignments in the Senate and House were largely undisturbed, the replacement of the current progressive Administration with an insurgent populist presidency with potential differences with their own congressional party will scramble traditional calculations. The Trump Administration will be under enormous pressure to deliver early results, both symbolic and substantive, to fulfill their commitment to change Washington. 

The new White House will need to move fast to solidify their coalition in Congress, build channels to negotiate support from the Democratic minority, and launch an agenda built around a claimed electoral mandate. The new regime will likely move to enlist the public behind a center-right reform agenda that speaks to voter discontents with both policy and procedure, incorporating issues touched upon during the campaign: tax reform, health care, trade policy, and immigration. This White House, like its predecessor, will ramp up aggressive regulatory initiatives where legislation bogs down, many of them rolling back Obama initiatives.