Your Congress in Action: June 15, 2026

In 1846, two divinity students at Cambridge University attempted to form a football club. Although variations of the game had been played in England since medieval times and was a staple of private boarding schools since the early 1800s, each school played by its own rules (some even allowing the use of hands). This made it impossible to field a cohesive university club.

So John Charles Thring and Henry de Winton set out to write a common set of rules. Sadly, their club didn’t catch on. But the rules they developed became the basis of what were later called the “Cambridge Rules,” which in 1863 inspired the creation of the Laws of the Game adopted by the newly formed Football Association. In that era, as England went, so did much of the rest of the world, and so the Laws of the Game spread across the Empire.

Messrs. Thring and de Winton likely could not imagine that their efforts would evolve into a sport that is played on every inhabited continent on Earth, whose centerpiece is a tournament in which teams from nearly one-quarter of the world’s nations compete before packed stadiums and a global audience numbering in the billions.

As the 2026 World Cup gets underway in North America, it’s easy to dwell on the negatives, from corruption scandals engulfing FIFA, to excessive ticket prices, to the fact that the three host nations aren’t exactly getting along right now. And of course, the world itself is not in a peaceful state of mind.

But the competition still has a way of bringing people together to cheer a game that transcends cultures and languages – and make even partisan brawlers wave the same flag, even if temporarily.

The World Cup won’t solve our nation’s problems or heal our divisions. But it won’t hurt, either. Go Team USA!

SBA Proposes Changes in 8(a) Program

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has proposed eliminating the “rebuttable presumption” of social disadvantage that has historically made members of certain racial and ethnic minority groups automatically eligible for the 8(a) Business Development Program.

The 8(a) program gives socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses, including CRM firms, access to set-aside and sole-source federal contracts along with counseling and training.

Under the SBA’s June 11 proposed rule, individuals would no longer be considered “socially disadvantaged” simply because they belong to a racial minority group, nor could anyone be excluded for being white; instead, every applicant would have to prove disadvantage by submitting verifiable, fact-based evidence under what the agency describes as a single standard. The change applies only to individually owned firms — eligibility for entity-owned participants such as those owned by Indian tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and Community Development Corporations is unchanged.

The move builds on a 2023 federal court ruling that found the race-based presumption unconstitutional. It echoes changes that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is making that end the use of race- and sex-based presumptions of disadvantage for establishing eligibility under the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and Airport Concessions DBE (ACDBE) Programs.

The SBA is accepting comments on its proposed rule until July 13, 2026 at regulations.gov.

House Committee Approves Rule-of-Two Legislation

The House Small Business Committee unanimously approved legislation late last month that would codify into U.S. law the longstanding “Rule of Two.”

The Rule of Two requires agencies to set aside contracts for small businesses if two of more of them could provide the products or services that they need at a competitive price. The Rule helps give small businesses access to federal contracting opportunities. Although a centerpiece of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) for decades, the Rule of Two has never been codified into law for most procurement vehicles.

There has been concern that the administration’s Revolutionary FAR Overhaul effort would lead to the end of the Rule of Two. While that process has kept the Rule in place, the legislation, H.R. 2804, the Protecting Small Business Competitions Act of 2025, would enshrine it into law.

The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.

FERC Proposes Allowing Certificate Holders to Act as its Representatives for Section 106

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued proposed regulations that revise its blanket certificate regulations to expand the scope and scale of projects that interstate natural gas pipelines may construct with blanket certificate and without a case-specific authorization.

As part of the proposed rule, FERC is seeking to clarify that, upon acceptance of the blanket certificate, the certificate holder will act as the Commission’s non-Federal representative for purposes of complying with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). FERC notes that this is similar to the approach it currently takes with Endangered Species Act compliance.

FERC’s current regulations require a finding by the relevant State or Tribal historic preservation officer that a project will have “no effect” on historic properties prior to proceeding under a blanket certificate.

FERC notes that the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), which represents  pipeline companies, has asked FERC to change the regulations so that only a “finding of adverse effects” by the S/THPO should preclude a project from proceeding under a blanket certificate. FERC states, however, that this would “change the program’s underlying protections for historic properties because a ‘no effect’ finding typically only occurs where no historic properties are present” and that taking such action would require the development of a new programmatic agreement for the program that would delay other changes. FERC therefore says does not intend to make that change.

Comments on FERC’s proposed rule are due by July 27, 2026, at regulations.gov.