With help from Julia Arciga and Doug Palmer
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President Joe Biden spent the weekend working the phones to try and lock down GOP support for a bipartisan infrastructure deal, after Republican lawmakers soured over Biden’s requirement that the package be accompanied by a Democrat-only spending bill.
Why the drama? Biden infuriated Republicans later last week when he said would not put his signature on the bipartisan infrastructure plan unless Congress also delivered to him a bill that included the green infrastructure, child care, paid leave and other Democratic priorities he called for in his American Families Plan. (Democrats will only be able to pass that second bill on a party-line vote, using a Senate procedure called reconciliation.)
So the president had to do some cleanup, our Natasha Korecki and Christopher Cadelago report, and “issued a complete reversal to his previous comments.”
“In calls, Biden relayed that he wouldn’t veto the infrastructure bill if the other spending package, the so-called Families Plan, didn’t end up passing in Congress,” they write.
Reaction: Biden seemed to repair the cracks in support for the package, our Burgess Everett reports, and some Republicans are confident it could now draw even more GOP votes. “I am glad they have now been de-linked and we can move forward with a bipartisan bill,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a GOP negotiator, on ABC’s “This Week.”
ON THE ROAD: Biden heads to Wisconsin on Tuesday to sell the plan. According to Burgess, negotiators will start drafting the legislation over the two-week July Fourth recess.
GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, June 28, and this is Morning Shift, your tipsheet on employment and immigration news. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @Eleanor_Mueller and @RebeccaARainey.
SU, FINALLY: “The U.S. Senate could soon vote on the nomination of Julie Su to be deputy Labor secretary, closing the book on a nearly five-month wait for the California official tapped for the job in early February,” our Alexander Nieves reports. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on Su’s nomination Friday, but the vote is still likely to be weeks away as the Senate is off for its two-week July 4th recess.
Tight vote? “Su, a longtime advocate for low-wage workers who has served as California’s labor secretary since January 2019, has faced stiff opposition from Senate Republicans who have criticized the state’s handling of unemployment benefits during the pandemic,” Alex writes. “Republicans in Washington have argued that California’s labor department should not be a model for the rest of the country and raised concerns that Su would be a negative influence on Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.”
MUST-READ: “Inflation summer vs. recovery summer: Biden fights to win the narrative,” from our Ben White
UNIONS FILE SUIT OVER OSHA RULES: The United Food and Commercial Workers union and the AFL-CIO filed a petition Thursday asking the D.C. federal appeals court to review the Biden administration’s recently issued emergency Covid-19 workplace safety rules, on the grounds that they don’t do enough to protect workers.
Background: The Biden administration earlier this month released a long-awaited Covid-19 workplace safety rule that require health care employers to take certain precautions to protect their workers from exposure to the virus. But unions, which wanted the standard to cover all sectors, are disappointed that the protections only apply to health care workers. The emergency temporary standard went into effect on June 21.
The suit: The United Food & Commercial Workers and the AFL-CIO requested court review of the rule because the emergency standard “fails to protect employees outside the healthcare industry who face a similar grave danger from occupational exposure to COVID-19.”
ANOTHER CHALLENGE? The National Nurses United also filed a petition for review Thursday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, Bloomberg Law reports.
MOVEMENT ON JOINT EMPLOYER: The White House budget office is reviewing a final rule that would rescind Trump’s business-friendly joint employer standard, the last step before the new regulation is published and the Trump rule is voided. The new rule, proposed in March, seeks to undo the Trump administration’s joint employer rule, which made it harder for businesses to be held liable when their franchisees or contractors violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Timing: The Office of Management and Budget received the final rule last week, though the OMB review process can span weeks.
UNEMPLOYMENT PAYMENTS CUT OFF: “The number of unemployment-benefit recipients is falling at a faster rate in Missouri and 21 others states canceling enhanced and extended payments this month, suggesting that ending the aid could push more people to take jobs,” Eric Morath and Joe Barrett report for The Wall Street Journal.
AND YET… “Where Jobless Benefits Were Cut, Jobs Are Still Hard to Fill,” from The New York Times
BIDEN SIGNS EQUITY ORDER: The executive order signed Friday aims to “advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility across the Federal Government,”Joe Davidson reported for The Washington Post. “The directive builds on Biden’s Inauguration Day promise for “an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda.”
“At the border, Harris emphasizes her focus is on ‘root causes’ of migration,” from Maeve Sheehey
COLLEGE CREDIT FOR APPRENTICESHIPS: Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) are making a push this week for a new Senate bill that would boost efforts for workers to receive college credits for their apprenticeship training. The measure, called the Apprenticeships to College Act, would codify the Registered Apprenticeship-College Consortium, a network of colleges and businesses that have registered apprenticeship programs through DOL that have set up agreements to award college credits to those with apprenticeship certificates.
The bill would also “make improvements to the program to generate new agreements with two- and four-year colleges,” according to Klobuchar’s office. The bill was introduced in the Senate last month, a Klobuchar aide said, and was passed the House earlier this Congress as part of the National Apprenticeship Act.
SHIFT EXCLUSIVE — IG BILL GOES TO HOUSE: This week, the House is slated to take up the IG Independence and Empowerment Act, a bill from House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) that seeks to protect inspectors general and give them additional authorities in light of the Trump administration’s ouster of a few IGs during his term. The committee, together with House Majority Leader and bill co-sponsor Steny Hoyer, shared a video with Morning Shift urging their colleagues to pass the measure.
According to the chair, Republicans in the committee had refused to support some of the bill’s most “critical reforms” — “for-cause removal protections” and giving IGs the ability to subpoena witnesses — even though these provisions had GOP support in the past.
“Republicans supported substantially the same [subpoena provision] language as recently as 2018, when a standalone subpoena authority bill passed the House unanimously,” she said, adding that she was “hopeful” that previous GOP support for certain provisions would draw Republicans to back H.R. 2662 as the bill moves forward.
UAW’S GAMBLE RETIRES: “Rory Gamble, the first African American president of the United Auto Workers, will retire on June 30 — a year earlier than planned, opening the way for the union’s fourth leader in three years,” Breana Noble, Daniel Howes and Robert Snell write for The Detroit News.
UNITE HERE DRIVE IN: 1,500 UNITE HERE union workers from 21 states bussed into D.C. this past weekend as part of a “Freedom Ride for Voting Rights” to join Black Lives Matter demonstrators in a march across D.C. The union says its members, who are majority Black and Latinx, “will be the most impacted by the anti-democratic legislation currently moving through state legislatures.” More from the union.
Recap: “Senate Republicans block Dems’ sweeping elections reform bill,” from POLITICO
“Biden administration sues Georgia over its GOP-enacted voter restrictions,” from POLITICO
FIRST USMCA LABOR COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY: The United States, Mexico and Canada will hold their first meeting to discuss implementation of the trilateral trade deal, which turns 1 year old on Thursday. Tuesday’s virtual meeting also includes a two-hour public session.
Deputy Labor Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee and Acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Labor Josh Kagan will lead the meeting for the United States. USTR has recently initiated a pair of labor cases against Mexico using the USMCA’s new “rapid response mechanism,” but those are not expected to be discussed.
— “Rush to close vaccination gap for Hispanics,” from POLITICO
— ICYMI: “Laid-off DC restaurant worker renews effort to increase minimum wage for tipped employees,” from WTOP
— “Southwest Airlines to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour to attract and retain workers.” from The New York Times
— “TSA will resume defense training for airline employees,” from The Washington Post
— “The remarkably unremarkable White House Pride ceremony,” from The Washington Post
— “Case files on 1964 civil rights worker killings made public,” from POLITICO
— “During Covid-19, Most Americans Got Richer—Especially the Rich,” from The Wall Street Journal
— “6 Years After Same-Sex Marriage, Now What?” from POLITICO Magazine
— “How Two Start-Ups Reaped Billions in Fees on Small Business Relief Loans,” from The New York Times
— “There Are Jobs in the Hamptons. If Only Workers Could Afford The Rent.” from The New York Times
THAT’S ALL FOR MORNING SHIFT!
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