Over to you, Chuck
November 22, 2021PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for Thanksgiving this Friday but back to our normal schedule on Monday, Nov. 29.
SCHUMER VERSUS EVERYONE: Now that the House has passed the Biden administration’s $1.7 trillion social spending bill, the nation’s attention shifts to the Senate, where Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pledged to send the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk by Christmas.
Standing in his way: “The chamber’s long to-do list, its rules referee and — more likely than not — Joe Manchin,” our Marianne LeVine reports.
Obstacle one: “The defense policy bill, first on the to-do list, could take up much of the first week of December.”
Obstacle two: “The chamber also needs to fund the government past Dec. 3. Under that timeline, Democrats aren’t expecting the Senate to take up the social spending bill until the second week of December, at the earliest.”
Obstacle three: “And that’s assuming Manchin (D-W.Va.) agrees to move forward by then. Earlier this week, the key centrist did not indicate whether he would be a ‘yes’ vote for starting debate. With an evenly divided Senate, Democrats can’t pass the legislation without Manchin’s support.”
Obstacle four: “Timing for Biden’s signature legislation will also depend on when the Senate parliamentarian will finish the so-called ‘Byrd Bath’ process, under which she determines whether key components of the bill have direct budgetary effect and can therefore pass the Senate with a simple majority. Democrats will begin presenting their arguments to the parliamentarian [this] week, according to a Democratic aide.”
Staying positive: “White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said on Sunday that he was optimistic the Senate will pass [the bill] despite concerns from moderate Democrats,” our Catherine Kim reports.
What we’re tracking: Paid family and medical leave, which the House added back in but Manchin has opposed stalwartly. And provisions bolstering unions, which the House passed but critics say may not pass muster with the parliamentarian.
RELATED: “‘Whole different ballgame’: Dems vow they’ve learned Obamacare lessons in messaging $1.7T megabill,” from POLITICO
GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, Nov. 22, and this is Weekly Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news, where even Salt Bae is not safe from scrutiny over workplace discrimination. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @Eleanor_Mueller and @RebeccaARainey.
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OSHA PAUSES ROLLOUT OF PRIVATE SECTOR VAX RULE: OSHA will halt implementation of its vaccine-or-test rule for large employers amid a host of legal challenges, CBS News’ Aimee Picchi reports.
Checking in with the courts: “The agency’s decision to stop implementing and enforcing the new rule comes after a federal appeals court on Friday reaffirmed an earlier temporary halt to the Biden administration’s vaccine rule and ordered OSHA to stop enforcing or implementing the regulation,” Picchi writes. “The future of the government directive remains uncertain, with the case headed to the Sixth Circuit Court in Ohio, which the National Law Review says comprises a majority of Republican-appointed judges.”
Big picture: “Businesses across the nation have mounting questions over what this means for the new vaccine rule, a 490-page order with complex requirements that experts say will require time and effort to ensure compliance. Under the original plan, by Dec. 5, employers with more than 100 employees must choose whether their workers must get fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.”
BUTTIGIEG VOWS FEDERAL VAX RULE WON’T AFFECT HOLIDAY TRAVEL: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday that the White House’s vaccine requirements for government workers will not affect Thanksgiving travel, our Catherine Kim reports.
Almost there: “He said 99 percent of the Transportation Department’s employees have submitted information on their vaccination status,” ahead of the mandate that takes effect today, “including whether they’re in the process of completing inoculation or have received exemptions,” Kim writes.
EMPLOYERS SAY WORKERS PUSHING BACK AGAINST VAX RULE: Small businesses report heightened tensions among their workers as they push to comply with the Biden administration’s private sector vaccine-or-test regulation, The Wall Street Journal’s Ruth Simon reports.
For example: “At Dyco, which makes and installs equipment used to produce plastic bottles and containers, more than 40 of roughly 140 employees haven’t been vaccinated,” Simon writes. Dyco President Pete Yohe “expects at least two to quit rather than comply with federal requirements and says it will be harder to fill the company’s 14 open positions.”
Zoom out: “The vaccine mandate drew mixed reactions from executives after it was announced in early November, with some saying they welcomed the federal rules because they took the burden off companies to impose their own. Others said the mandate thrusts employers into a contentious issue in which any stance risks inflaming staffing challenges.”
RELATED: “Disney puts worker vaccine mandate on pause after Florida ban on restrictions,” from The New York Times
HOW TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES ARE SHAPING THE WORKER SHORTAGE: Trump-era immigration policies could be to blame for American businesses’ struggle to hire amid a record-high wave of people quitting, Business Insider’s Jason Lalljee and Andy Kiersz report.
Whoa: “The current dearth of workers is mirrored by the number of working-age adults who would have lived in the United States if pre-Trump immigration trends persisted, according to 2020 U.S. Census data,” they write. “We estimate that in all, about 2 million of America’s missing workers are immigrants who never came to the U.S.”
Compare and contrast: “The Census Bureau estimates that about 1.07 million people immigrated on net to the U.S. in 2016, while only about 480,000 people immigrated in 2020.”
TEAMSTERS PICKS NEW PRESIDENT: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has elected Sean O’Brien to helm the powerful 1.4 million-member union for the next five years, our Rebecca Rainey reports.
End of an era: “O’Brien will replace outgoing president James P. Hoffa, who has served as general president of the organization for more than two decades. He’ll take over in March, as the union prepares organizing drives at e-commerce giant Amazon and in the legal cannabis industry while trying to expand its membership in the face of dwindling union density across the country.”
Shifting winds? “O’Brien’s ticket beat out rival Steve Vairma by a 2-1 margin Thursday evening, according to unofficial results provided by the union’s election supervisor. Vairma is currently the international vice president at-large, and was endorsed by Hoffa and considered an extension of his administration.”
MORE UNION NEWS: “A union-backed trust is funding housing projects throughout the Twin Cities,” from Pioneer Press
AND: “A transit union wants to put unruly plane passengers on a no-fly list to stifle the increase of assaults on plane crews,” from Business Insider
— “Why Employers Need To Stop Asking Women About Their Salary History,” from Refinery29
— “So your employer is monitoring you. What you should know,” from the Los Angeles Times
— “Tesla worker files suit over ‘nightmarish’ harassment,” from BBC
— “White supremacist prison guards work with impunity in Fla.,” from the Associated Press
— “Helping workers readjust to office life with flex schedules, catered lunches and dogs,” from The San Diego Union-Tribune
— “Apple tells workers they have right to discuss wages, working conditions,” from Reuters
— “How to Keep Work Notifications From Taking Over Your Life,” from WIRED
THAT’S ALL FOR WEEKLY SHIFT!
Source: https://www.politico.com/