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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved by a vote of 4–1 the first licenses to build reactors in more than 30 years. The reactors will be built from a standardized design that promises to speed construction and reduce costs. NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko was the sole dissenter, objecting on the grounds that the NRC has yet to finalize post-Fukushima safety enhancements. Nuclear energy currently provides about 20% of the United States' electricity.

NSPE joined more than 1,000 professional, trade, and non-profit organizations; businesses; and labor groups in sending a letter to Congress urging expedient passage of a long-term transportation reauthorization bill. The current law expires on March 31. The letter, part of the U.S.

NSPE Senior Manager of Government Relations Sarah Ogden participated in a Council on Federal Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services meeting. NSPE is a founding member of COFPAES, an organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the Brooks Act (PL 92-582) and the use of qualifications-based selection.

NSPE submitted comments on the 2013 federal locality pay program at the request of the Office of Personnel Management. OPM solicits comments from NSPE annually, when the agency must prepare a congressionally mandated report to the president that compares pay rates for federal employees with rates paid to non-federal workers in each locality.

The Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Portfolio, a White House report cataloging all federal investments in STEM education, found that federal agencies are investing $3.4 billion in 252 STEM education programs, with only modest overlap in investments and no duplication in programs.

NSPE signed on to a joint letter with the American Institute of Architects, American Council of Engineering Companies, Associated General Contractors of America, American Subcontractors Association, and other industry organizations asking Congress and the president to enact legislation that would help create jobs in the design and construction industry.

The president signed H.R. 674 into law, finalizing the repeal of a requirement that federal, state, and certain local governments withhold as tax 3% of all payments made to government contractors.

After a five-year battle, NSPE helped overturn an onerous tax-withholding mandate that would have placed significant financial and administrative burdens on engineering firms and other businesses that contract with the government. H.R.

Senior Manager of Government Relations Sarah Ogden represented NSPE at a Coalition for National Science Funding meeting, where NSF Assistant Director for the Engineering Directorate Thomas Peterson discussed NSF programs that focus on innovation in engineering.

The Senate passed H.R. 674 by a vote of 95 to 0. H.R. 674 would repeal a requirement set forth in the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (PL 109-222) that federal, state, and certain local governments withhold 3% of all payments to engineering firms and other vendors as tax. If the requirement is not repealed, the tax will take effect on January 1, 2013. The House passed H.R.