Situational Awareness
Over the weekend, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) unveiled a stopgap funding measure that would extend government funding for some agencies and programs until mid-January and continuing funding for others until early February. The proposed “laddered” spending bill would maintain funding at current levels and doesn’t include any policy riders (additional provisions added to a bill that direct the federal government as to how to spend federal funds). The proposal—which has been met with skepticism by lawmakers in the Senate—would need to pass before Friday evening to avoid an impending government shutdown.
The House is also slated to bring two additional spending bills to the floor for consideration: Labor-HHS-Education and Commerce-Justice-Science. The Labor-HHS-Education bill includes a provision that would block the Department of Labor’s implementation of its proposed independent contractor rule Last week, House GOP leadership was forced to suspend scheduled votes on the Financial Services-General Government spending bill due to a lack of support from more moderate members over controversial policy riders attached to the legislation.
Small Business Advocacy Review Panel Report on Federal Heat Standard
The Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration (OSHA) convened a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panel in August 2023 to assist in the development of a potential federal heat injury and illness prevention standard.
Bloomberg released the final report prepared by the SBAR Panel to OSHA that emphasized the necessity for providing employers with greater flexibility in coming into compliance with a federal standard. The report also details concerns from small business representations that proposed heat triggers were too low and confusing for employers. As such, the panel recommended that OSHA simplify the heat triggers. OSHA is required to address the panel’s recommendations before issuing a final rule.
House Natural Resources Committee Hearing on Water Management
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will hold a legislative hearing on several bills, including H.R. 6127, the Modernizing Access to Our Public Waters Act (MAPWaters Act). The Senate companion bill was introduced by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Angus King (I-Maine). The bill builds on the MAPLand Act, which was signed into law last year, by directing federal agencies to digitize water and fishing access and recreational use information on federal waterways and to make those resources readily available to the public. The digitized public information would include the areas of waterways with restrictions on motorized propulsion, horsepower, or gasoline fuel and types of watercraft that are restricted on each area of a waterway.
Senate HSGAC Hearing on COVID-19 Fraud
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will hold a hearing today entitled “Examining Federal COVID-Era Spending and Preventing Future Fraud.” The hearing witnesses include Hannibal ‘Mike’ Ware, the Inspector General of the Small Business Administration (SBA). In June, the SBA released a report detailing actions the agency deployed to restore fraud measures in pre-existing relief programs and enhance fraud controls in new programs. The report also provided a comprehensive analysis estimating the total impact of fraud across SBA’s four largest pandemic relief programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program.
Bicameral Resolution Disapproving NLRB Joint Employer Rule
Last week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Education and Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) new joint employer rule. The final rule provides an independent business entity may be deemed a joint employer of another company’s employees because it has authority or control over any essential term or condition of their employment.