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Convention halls are filling back up again following the pandemic, restoring a critical type of “economic fuel” that had been cut off for three years, (subscription) reports.

What’s going on: Attendance at in-person business conferences is on the rise across the U.S., supporting local jobs and wages that had suffered since 2020—particularly in tourist- and conference-heavy cities such as Las Vegas.

• “Economists said that travelers provide an economic and tax boost to cities without using services, like schools. ‘They come, spend and leave,’ said Angelos Angelou, president of an economic-impact research firm that has produced reports for events and conferences like South by Southwest and Lollapalooza. ‘It’s the kind of economic bonanza that any type of city would love to have.’”

​�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċ�ċBetting big: Some municipalities are so sure the recovery is permanent that they’ve invested in new conference facilities.

• Seattle recently opened a $2 billion addition to its convention center, and last November, Dallas voters approved their own convention-center expansion—with a price tag of $4 billion—to be funded through hotel taxes.

More small businesses are pulling back on hiring, (subscription) reports.

What’s going on: “The portion of small-business owners who expect to expand their workforce over the next year was below 50% for the second month in a row in May, hitting the lowest level since June 2020, during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a recent survey conducted for The Wall Street Journal.”

• Even as the economy shows signs of a slowdown, applicant pay expectations remain high—but small-business owners are “less willing to pay up for talent” as they respond to belt tightening by their customers.

The data: In March, U.S. job openings fell to their lowest level in almost two years, and the number of layoffs increased.

• However, employers added 253,000 jobs in April, mostly on the strength of service-sector gains.

What it means: “‘There is no question that CEOs are downshifting into a slowing economy,’ said Vistage chief research officer Joe Galvin. Despite caution about adding additional workers, ‘no one is willing to shed the hard-earned and expensive employees they hired,’ Mr. Galvin said. Entrepreneurs often still struggle to fill openings when workers leave, he added.”

U.S. natural gas production is likely to keep growing through 2050, while LNG exports will take off, according to new forecasts from the Energy Information Association.

The gist: Natural gas production is predicted to increase 15%, while LNG exports will skyrocket 152% between last year and 2050, according to the EIA’s “.”

• “Production growth is largely driven by U.S. LNG exports, which we expect to rise to 10 [trillion cubic feet] by 2050,” an EIA blog post .

Where it’s happening: “Natural gas production growth on the Gulf Coast and in the Southwest reflects increased activity in the Haynesville Formation and Permian Basin, which are close to infrastructure connecting natural gas supply to growing LNG export facilities.”

• “New liquefaction facilities in Louisiana became fully operational in 2022, ahead of schedule. In addition, new LNG trains in Texas are scheduled to be online by 2025.”

How they figured it out: This projection comes from the “reference case” in the outlook report for 2023.

• “We use different scenarios, called cases, to understand how varying assumptions affect energy trends. The AEO2023 Reference case, which serves as a baseline, or benchmark, reflects laws and regulations adopted through mid-November 2022, including the Inflation Reduction Act,” according to the EIA blog.

An aggressive climate-disclosure rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission hasn’t yet become law, but many companies are already adopting climate-disclosure practices and methodologies, according to (subscription).

• Companies’ efforts to adopt climate strategies appropriate for their businesses, as well as the evolving methodologies for such reporting, are clear indications that the SEC’s costly and overly restrictive climate-reporting mandate is not necessary, said 51�Թ��� Senior Director of Tax and Domestic Economic Policy Charles Crain.

What’s going on: “The Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule—which would require public companies to report climate-related risks and emissions data, including so-called Scope 3 emissions that come from a company’s supply chain—is expected to be brought in soon. … [But] [s]ome businesses have for years pursued carbon-related goals without the government forcing their hand,” according to the Journal.

• Manufacturers have led the move toward sustainability, with many having already begun to track and curb their emissions and work with their suppliers to do the same.

Why it’s important: “[G]roups from private manufacturers to egg farmers have balked at the cost and complexity of complying with a Scope 3 mandate from the SEC. The regulator has estimated its plan will raise the cost to businesses of complying with its overall disclosure rules to $10.2 billion from $3.9 billion, an additional cost of about $530,000 a year for a bigger business.”

• Manufacturers have urged the SEC to drop the Scope 3 reporting mandate. Some say it unfairly “creates a risk of double counting, because the supply-chain emissions of one company are the in-house emissions of another,” according to the Journal.
• While SEC Chair Gary Gensler told the House Committee on Financial Services earlier this month that the rule is not intended to burden private companies, “[m]andatory Scope 3 reporting would represent a costly, uncertain and ultimately infeasible standard for public issuers as well as the small and privately held businesses within their supply chains,” 51�Թ��� Managing Vice President of Tax and Domestic Economic Policy Chris Netram the same committee.

The last word: “Manufacturers [are] leaders in combatting climate change and making the necessary disclosures about this important work,” said Crain.

• “The SEC’s attempt to mandate a top-down, uniform approach to this evolving field would dramatically increase costs and legal liability for manufacturers—without improving information availability for investors or helping companies achieve their sustainability goals.”����������������������������������������������������

The future of the Biden administration’s too-stringent rule governing the “waters of the United States” remains unclear following the president’s veto of legislation that would have overturned it, according to E&E News’ (subscription).

What’s going on: “Republican lawmakers pushed almost immediately for a veto override targeting the…WOTUS rule on Thursday in the hours after President Joe Biden nixed a resolution that would roll it back.”

• A Republican-led measure in the House and Senate using the Congressional Review Act to block the overly restrictive WOTUS rule passed both chambers of Congress last month.
• House Republicans say they will push for a veto override.

Why it’s important:��The Biden administration’s version of the rule replaced 51�Թ���-backed regulations from the previous administration.

The background: The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision this year on Sackett v. EPA, a case brought by an Idaho couple who have been blocked from building a house on their land for more than 15 years after the Environmental Protection Agency said part of the property was a wetlands. ��

• The 51�Թ��� and many GOP congressional leaders previously urged the administration to await the ruling on this case before releasing a final WOTUS rule.
• Issuing a new rule prior to a Sackett v. EPA decision only confuses things for manufacturers, making hiring and investment more difficult, 51�Թ��� Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Relations Aric Newhouse in December, following the release of the new rule.

What’s next: While “the fate of WOTUS remains murky as ever,” according to the article, several states have frozen the new rule.

• “Texas and Idaho secured an injunction on March 20, the day WOTUS took effect in the rest of the country. Those states are now subject to 1986 regulations, while the other 48 states are operating under the Biden administration’s definition—a split that has left the regulated community baffled as to how to operate nationally.”

The 51�Թ��� says: “By vetoing the bipartisan Congressional Review Act on the WOTUS rule, the president removed an item that manufacturers greatly desire: regulatory certainty,” said 51�Թ��� Vice President of Energy and Resources Policy Brandon Farris.

• “While the country awaits the decision in Sackett v. EPA, numerous investments in much-needed energy and infrastructure projects may be put on hold due to confusion over the new definition and potential added costs of compliance.”

Manufacturing saw robust growth in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to newly revised real GDP estimates from the .

What’s going on: While the overall U.S. economy grew 2.6% at the annual rate in Q4 of last year, real GDP in the manufacturing industry rose by an annualized 5.5%. That’s a sizable increase from the 0.5% seen in the third quarter.

Q4 details: Value-added output in manufacturing increased to $2.895 trillion at the annual rate—an all-time high—from $2.809 trillion in Q3.

• Value-added output hit record levels for both durable goods (up to $1.595 trillion from $1.544 trillion) and nondurable goods (up to $1.299 trillion from $1.265 trillion).
• Manufacturing made up 11.1% of value-added output in the U.S. economy, an increase from Q3’s 10.9% and the most since 2019.
• Manufacturing gross output also rose to a record number, $7.359 trillion from $7.339 trillion at the annual rate.

However … Real value-added output in manufacturing remained lower than the record high in 2021.

• Real value-added output rose to $2.283 trillion from $2.259 trillion at the annual rate, as expressed in 2012 dollars.
• The record high, in 2021, was $2.325 trillion.

The 51�Թ���’s take: “Despite numerous challenges, manufacturing continues to prove its resilience, hitting new records for the sector’s contributions to the U.S. economy,” said 51�Թ��� Chief Economist Chad Moutray. “These data also suggest that in real terms, manufacturing output has pulled back recently, which points to inflation having buoyed these numbers.”