No images? Click here 6th Circuit Chosen to Hear Challenge On OSHA ETS A conservative-leaning U.S. appeals court in Cincinnati was randomly selected on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, to decide challenges to the Biden administration's new rules requiring many employers to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid-19. Legal challengers have petitioned federal appeals courts around the country to review the rules, formally issued earlier this month by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The requirements, which apply to businesses with 100 or more employees and cover roughly 84 million workers, are to take effect Jan. 4. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation conducted a random lottery Tuesday to determine which of the nation's 12 regional appeals courts would be the designated home for the cases. The winner was the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The outcome means another appeals court that has thwarted a number of Biden administration initiatives -- the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit -- will have to cede control of cases filed before it. The Fifth Circuit had already issued a preliminary stay blocking the employer rules for now, before it was decided which court would retain jurisdiction. The Fifth Circuit in a Friday, November 12, 2021, ruling said the Biden rules exceeded OSHA's powers and would create economic upheaval. OSHA has officially suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation. The administration continues to argue its rules are on solid legal footing and a necessary step to prevent coronavirus transmission in workplaces. With a court assignment now completed, the Justice Department can ask the Sixth Circuit to lift the Fifth Circuit's stay. The matter could quickly land on the Supreme Court's emergency docket before the vaccine-or-testing requirement takes effect on January 4, 2022. GCCA has developed a Fact Sheet to help members understand the ETS. It can be found HERE. House and Senate Republicans Formally Challenge Biden’s OSHA Vaccine MandateOn Thursday, November 17, 2021, Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) and Congressman Fred Keller (R-PA-12) introduced companion Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to formally disapprove of and nullify President Joe Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate imposed on America’s job creators and workers. The Congressional Review Act can be used by Congress to overturn certain federal agency regulations and actions through a joint resolution of disapproval. If a CRA joint resolution of disapproval is approved by both houses of Congress and signed by the president, or if Congress successfully overrides a presidential veto, the rule at issue is invalidated. This move to overturn President Biden’s vaccine or test mandate for private employers is guaranteed a vote on the floor, which is tentatively scheduled for some time in early December. Read the joint resolution HERE. House Passes Biden’s Economic Plan, Senate Fate UncertainPresident Joe Biden’s signature plan to expand the social safety net, address climate change and rewrite tax policies passed the House Friday, November 19, 2021, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi united fractious Democrats to send the legislation to the Senate, where its fate remains uncertain. The 220-213 vote followed months of intra-party squabbling. It came only after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office delivered a cost estimate for the bill, which moderates had demanded before casting their votes. The CBO finding that it would increase the deficit by $367 billion over a decade proved acceptable to enough holdouts for the bill to pass. Maine Representative Jared Golden was the only Democrat to vote no, along with all Republicans. The House action is a political victory for Biden, but his agenda is still far from the finish line. Democratic senators are expected to make extensive changes before voting on it, potentially in December. Passage in that chamber will require unanimous support from the Democratic caucus, and two pivotal members, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have yet to give their full public support. Republicans are united in opposition. The Build Back Better proposal, as Biden’s plan is known, would spend $1.64 trillion over ten years, according to the CBO’s analysis. Biden Sends Kigali Amendment to Senate for RatificationThe Biden administration is taking steps to have the U.S. join over 120 other nations in pledging to scale down the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), widely used in refrigeration and comfort cooling. President Joe Biden sent the Senate the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, clearing the way for the chamber’s review of that international pact to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs. “The Kigali amendment has strong support from the U.S. business community and nongovernmental organizations,” Biden said in a formal message to the Senate. “Ratification by the United States would advance U.S. interests in remaining a leader in the development and deployment of HFC alternatives, ensuring access to rapidly growing refrigeration and cooling markets overseas and stimulating U.S. investment, exports and job growth in this sector.” Senate support of the amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol would allow the U.S. to join more than 120 other nations in agreeing to reduce HFCs. Under the accord, which was agreed upon in 2016 and ratified by China in June, countries are seeking to reduce HFC use 80% by 2047 - potentially avoiding as much as a half degree Celsius in additional warming by the end of the century. Labor Groups Urge Stricter Vaccine MandatesThree labor organizations are calling on the Biden administration to review its Covid-19 vaccine mandate, with some indicating the policy is too limited in applying to only large businesses. The AFL-CIO and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union filed a petition in federal court last week asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to review the new federal vaccine policy, which directs companies with 100 or more employees to require workers be either vaccinated or get regularly tested for Covid-19 and wear masks. SEIU, Local 32BJ, which is a part of the larger Service Employees International Union, also filed a petition in federal court last week. In its filing, SEIU 32BJ said the directive "fails to adequately protect all workers who face a grave danger from COVID-19 exposure in the workplace."
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