Insights

On July 23, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an artificial intelligence (AI) action plan titled “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan” (the Plan) to guide AI innovation in the U.S. The Plan includes 90 policy recommendations that will shape future AI guidance and policies impacting a range of entities and industry sectors, including health care/life sciences and entities involved in clinical research.

On July 23, 2025, the White House released Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan (“the Plan”) the Trump Administration’s most significant policy statement on artificial intelligence to date.

On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the OBBBA) which amended a number of Internal Revenue Code provisions related to employee benefits and compensation. Although not an exhaustive list, below are the provisions we expect will have the greatest impact on compensation and benefits for mid- and larger sized employers.

A status update on certification and enforcement targets under EO 14173 and what employers should know. The Lightning Round podcast is Crowell’s biweekly rundown on developments and trends in the Labor and Employment space.

On July 4th, President Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (the “Act”), which included a phaseout of incentives for solar and wind generation projects. Projects must either begin construction within one year or be placed in service by 2027 to qualify for the Section 45Y Clean Electricity Production Tax Credit or the Section 48E Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit. The House’s version of the legislation required a more accelerated phaseout than the Act and only allowed projects that began construction within 60 days of enactment of the bill to be eligible for the tax credits.  In discussions last week with House conservatives who favored the faster phaseout of solar and wind tax credits, which was not adopted in the Act, President Trump promised strict enforcement of the rules, including the beginning of construction requirements, for solar and wind projects to qualify for energy tax credits.

On June 9, 2025, U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement guidelines (“the Guidelines”). DOJ issued the Guidelines in response to the Trump Administration’s February 2025 Executive Order (“EO”), which paused FCPA enforcement pending the issuance of new guidance from the Attorney General. The new Guidelines resolve lingering doubts about the future of FCPA enforcement under the Trump administration and provide important insights into the key factors DOJ will consider when deciding whether to pursue FCPA investigations or enforcement actions.

On June 6, 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order, Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144 (the “Trump Cyber EO”). The Trump Cyber EO rescinds and modifies select Biden administration guidance from EO 14144 covering several cybersecurity regimes, including digital identity verification, artificial intelligence, and secure software development practices, and it amends Obama administration guidance from EO 13694 authorizing sanctions on persons involved in malicious cyber activities. We have provided a summary of significant changes made by the Trump Cyber EO below.

Continuing to focus on the Trump Administration tariffs, in this session, Crowell hosts Nicole Simonian and Dj Wolff, Co-Chairs of the International Trade Group, talk with Daniel Wolff, Crowell’s Litigation and Trial partner, as they review and consider the impact of the Court of International Trade's recent decision on the tariffs imposed pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Global Trade Talks is a podcast that shares brief perspectives on key global issues on international trade, current events, business, law, and public policy as they impact our lives.

On May 28, 2025, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz sent a letter to select hospitals requesting information about the hospitals’ practices related to treatment for gender dysphoria in children. The letter also requests financial information related to pediatric gender-affirming care paid for “in whole or in part” by the federal government.

On May 12, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled "Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients," which aims to reduce the costs of prescription drugs and biologics for American consumers and other payers. This Order revives a plan from President Trump’s first term and follows his April Executive Order, “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First,” which also sought to reduce drug prices. With drug prices in the United States nearly three times higher than many other countries, this second Order asks drug manufacturers to adopt Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing for drugs sold in the United States or face potential regulation. MFN pricing would tether drug prices offered in the United States to the lower-cost prices offered in other comparably developed nations, such as Canada, Germany, or the United Kingdom.

This week’s episode covers a SBA notice relating to the mentor-protégé program, an Army memo about its transformation strategy, revisions to DCSA Form 328, DOD’s Software Fast Track Initiative, and revisions to DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, and is hosted by Peter Eyre and Yuan Zhou. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.

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Crowell hosts Nicole Simonian and Dj Wolff continue their conversation with Dan Cannistra on the Trump Administration tariffs. This session focuses on recent modifications to the automotive/auto parts tariffs, including discussion about the impact of the recent Executive Order “Addressing Certain Tariffs on Imported Articles” and other related guidance. Global Trade Talks is a podcast that shares brief perspectives on key global issues on international trade, current events, business, law, and public policy as they impact our lives.

In the wake of the Trump Administration’s recent scrutiny of various nonprofit organizations, including Harvard University, and threats to revoke organizations’ tax-exempt status, nonprofit organizations should take proactive steps in the event of an IRS audit that may target their federal tax-exempt status. Proactive planning and preparation measures are essential to being well-equipped to deal with potential IRS inquiries or an audit. The faster and more efficiently an IRS inquiry can be concluded, the better likelihood of avoiding a full audit or worse, revocation of status. An organization may be particularly vulnerable where there has been any level of political involvement that could be viewed as controversial, but also involvement with activities and efforts focused on renewable energy and diversity, equity & inclusion (“DEI”) may now cause additional scrutiny of an organization’s tax-exempt status. Common potential foot-faults that can bring an organization into the crosshairs (and which are oftentimes not fully considered in light of potential risk of revocation of tax-exempt status) include negotiating typical agreements, including commercial contracting and similar arrangements, where contractual provisions may call for representations and commitments from a non-profit around its DEI efforts or similar efforts. Extra care should be taken to review such instances and other potential activities that may increase the organization’s risk of IRS audit.

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order, Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy, declaring it the policy of the United States “to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals.” The order reasons that “disparate impact liability all but requires individuals and businesses to consider race and engage in racial balancing to avoid potentially crippling legal liability.”

This week’s episode features a discussion of several common government contractor questions involving payment delays, cost increases due to tariffs, and inability to obtain certain government approvals. This episode is hosted by Peter Eyre and Skye Mathieson. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.

This week’s episode features a deep-dive on Executive Order 14265, Modernizing Defense Acquisitions and Spurring Innovation in the Defense Industrial Base, which calls for a “comprehensive overhaul” of the DoD acquisition system to deliver state‐of‐the‐art capabilities at speed and scale. This episode is hosted by Yuan Zhou, Jon Baker, and Eric Ransom. Crowell & Moring's "Fastest 5 Minutes" is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.

On April 16, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“EO”), “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts,” requiring agencies to meet their needs with commercially available products and services to the maximum extent practicable. The EO reiterates and builds upon the requirements set forth in the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (“FASA”), which similarly encourages the use of commercial acquisition procedures. Specifically, the EO institutes a required review procedure for certain open acquisition actions and establishes an oversight procedure to be implemented for all acquisitions hereafter.

On April 15, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“EO”), “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement” calling for the reform of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) consistent with the aims of EO 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” which sought to eliminate perceived unnecessary regulatory burdens. Specifically, the April EO notes that the FAR should only contain statutorily required provisions or those “essential to sound procurement,” and it recommends the removal of any FAR provisions that do not advance these objectives.