No images? Click here GCCA Meets with White House on OSHA ETS On Monday, October 18th, representatives from GCCA participated in two meetings with officials from the White House and Department of Labor regarding the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring COVID vaccinations and testing for companies with 100 or more employees. The ETS currently under review at the White House before it is finally published and the Administration is taking a limited number of meetings with stakeholders regarding the policy. GCCA participated in two of these meetings, one with a food industry coalition and another with a broader business coalition. In both meetings, GCCA stressed the current labor challenges facing the food supply chain and cautioned that imposing vaccine and testing requirements on the food industry would place additional strains on the supply chain. Both coalitions advocated that companies in the food supply chain should be exempted from the ETS to avoid further disruptions caused by labor constraints. Once the White House review is complete, the ETS will be returned to OSHA and could be finalized at any point after that. GCCA will continue to engage with the Administration and coalition partners as the process moves forward. Democrats Scale Back Biden Spending PlanCongressional Democrats emerging from meetings at the White House late Tuesday, October 19th, signaled they are closer to an agreement to scale back President Biden’s spending plan. One source familiar with the negotiations said Democrats are considering extending the child tax credit for only one year instead of until 2025. The move would shave hundreds of billions of dollars of spending from the legislation. A one-year extension costs $106.5 billion, compared to $556 billion for four years, according to estimates. Democrats are also close to agreeing to drop two years of free community college from Biden’s plan and discussing keeping health care expenditures under $250 billion. Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal said the spending bill’s final cost would be $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion, down from the original $3.5 trillion. The caucus has been divided over the size and scope of the reconciliation package, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) calling for much less spending and objecting to the inclusion of a key climate program. Senate Bill Would Boost OSHA Funding and Direct New Hiring A Senate spending bill released Monday, October 18th, would provide the U.S. Labor Department’s workplace safety agency with an extra $74.1 million, and appropriators called for the agency to use the rise to hire 200 additional workers for enforcement activities. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s proposal would increase Labor Department discretionary funding for fiscal year 2022 to $13.8 billion, $1.3 billion over the current level. That’s roughly $900 million less than the House’s proposal, of $14.7 billion, and $400 million below what President Joe Biden requested in his first budget recommendation. The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill proposed to give the Occupational Safety and Health Administration $665.9 million for fiscal 2022, boosting its efforts in Covid-19 response as it develops an emergency rule to implement Biden’s directive for businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure workers are vaccinated or tested weekly. In the committee’s bill summary, appropriators specifically directed OSHA to hire more workers and develop rules to protect workers against infectious disease, workplace violence, and heat stress. Democrats Overhaul IRS Bank Reporting PlanDemocratic lawmakers and the Biden administration on Tuesday, October 19th, unveiled an updated plan to require banks to report account information to the IRS. The proposal includes a $10,000 annual threshold for accounts—up from $600 in the initial White House plan—and new exclusions for wage deposits and federal payment programs. The idea is one of several strategies the White House is pushing to help the IRS crack down on tax evasion. The changes are an attempt to narrow the bank reporting plan in the face of criticism from Republicans and the banking industry, who have argued that the requirements are overly burdensome and would hit too many accounts. The goal is to include the reporting requirements in the budget reconciliation package that Democrats are negotiating. Treasury said Tuesday that banks would only have to provide two new data points on an existing form used to report interest and other account data to the IRS. The proposal would require the sum of all deposits and total value of withdrawals from accounts to the form. GOP lawmakers raised a host of concerns with the bank reporting proposal, including concerns about the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to protect taxpayer information. On October 14, 2021, GCCA joined 100 other trade association in sending a letter to congressional leaders opposing this new tax information reporting proposal. Read the letter HERE. FDA and USDA to Host Virtual Cybersecurity Summit for Private Industry Partners in Food and AgricultureOn Tuesday, October 26th, from 3:30pm-5:30pm ET, FDA and USDA will be hosting a Cybersecurity Summit for Private Industry Partners in Food and Agriculture. They will discuss what steps industry can take to harden their systems, reporting mechanisms, and resources available to mitigate existing threats. In addition, they will encourage dialogue that ensures attendees are familiar with the roles they each play in ensuring the safety and security of our shared industries. The Cybersecurity Summit will provide a forum for sharing information among food and agriculture industry Chief Executive Officers (CEO), Chief Information Officers (CIO), and Chief Information Security Officers (CISO). For those interested please see the zoom information below: https://www.zoomgov.com/j/16003703579 Passcode: cspi135! If you have not yet participated in our grassroots campaigns, but would like to take action to oppose the PRO Act or oppose the harmful tax hikes in the American Job’s Plan, click the Take Action tab above now.
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