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Welcome back to this week's edition of the Washington Weekly newsletter - bringing you the latest and greatest policy updates from Washington, D.C.
Supreme Court Casts Doubt on Biden’s Workplace Shot Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court cast doubt on the linchpin of President Joe Biden’s push to get more people vaccinated amid a Covid-19 surge, questioning whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had authority to require that 80 million workers get shots or regular tests. In a special oral argument Friday, January 7, 2021, the court’s conservative justices voiced skepticism about the rule, which business groups and Republican-led states say exceeds the workplace-safety agency’s authority. The pandemic “sounds like the sort of thing that states will be responding to or should be, and that Congress should be responding to or should be, rather than agency by agency the federal government and the executive branch acting alone,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. The initiative represents the heart of Biden’s plan to increase the country’s vaccination rate as the omicron variant propels a spike in cases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says only 62% of the country is fully vaccinated and of that group just 35% have received a booster shot. The questioning was more mixed on a separate administration rule that would require shots for workers in nursing homes and other facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid payments from the government. Roberts suggested he saw a “close connection” between the vaccine and the goals of those health-care programs. The OSHA rule requires employers with 100 or more workers to make them get vaccinated or be tested regularly, potentially at their own expense. The rule is set to kick in Monday, January 10, 2021, though OSHA has said it won’t issue citations until at least Feb. 9 to employers who are trying in good faith to comply with the testing requirements. The court could rule in a matter of days. The showdown marks the first time in decades the court has heard arguments on emergency requests for a stay without ordering the full briefing that occurs when cases are heard on the merits.
Spending, Tax Fights Loom as Congress Returns
Congressional Democrats enter 2022 with a big to-do list after their tax and social spending package stalled in December. The Biden administration successfully got some major legislation through Congress in its first year: a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package in March and a bipartisan infrastructure bill in November. But Democrats were unable to pass a budget reconciliation package that was meant as the centerpiece of their economic agenda. The legislation passed the House but doesn’t have enough support in the Senate. It includes a variety of tax hikes to fund investments in health care, clean energy, and other priority areas. The path forward on reconciliation is unclear entering January. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he intends to bring the legislation to the floor for a vote, but Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has said he won’t support it. With an evenly-divided Senate and a united Republican opposition, the legislation can’t pass unless every Democrat votes yes. To gain Manchin’s support Democrats will need to retool their wide-ranging social policy bill, scaling back some elements and cutting other programs entirely. Government funding is also an open question entering the new year. The government is currently funded through Feb. 18, but lawmakers haven’t yet reached an agreement on full-year funding for fiscal 2022.
USDA and DOJ Issue Shared Principles and Commitments to Protect Against Unfair and Anticompetitive Practices
On Monday, January 3, 2021, while Speaking at a White House event focused on competition in agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick B. Garland expressed their shared commitment to effectively enforcing federal competition laws that protect farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural producers and growers from unfair and anticompetitive practices, including the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Department of Justice are already working together to support their respective enforcement efforts under these laws. As one step in that continuing process, today they released the following statement of principles and commitments:
- Farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers deserve the benefits of free and fair competition. The Justice Department and USDA therefore are prioritizing matters impacting competition in agriculture.
- The agencies will jointly develop within 30 days a centralized, accessible process for farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers to submit complaints about potential violations of the antitrust laws and the Packers and Stockyards Act. The agencies will protect the confidentiality of the complainants if they so request to the fullest extent possible under the law and also commit to supporting relevant whistleblower protections, including newly-applicable protections for criminal antitrust complainants against unlawful retaliation.
- The agencies will work together to promote effective information sharing and case cooperation, including processes the agencies will follow to efficiently address a complaint.
Both agencies commit to vigorously enforce the laws that protect farmers, ranchers, and other producers and growers from unfair, deceptive, discriminatory, and anticompetitive practices. As appropriate, USDA will make reports or refer potential violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act to the Justice Department to better enable its Antitrust Division to pursue meritorious competition-related cases and to allow the agencies to collaborate on issues of mutual interest. Additionally, The Justice Department and USDA will work together to identify and highlight areas where Congress can help modernize these toolkits.
Join Us for Our Upcoming Advocacy Webinar This Week!
Join us on Thursday, January 13, 2021, at 11:00am ET for our monthly update on Advocacy Efforts, including government and industry affairs. Get the latest information on the state of the cold chain industry, including updates on COVID-19. We will conclude with a Q&A session so come with your questions! Register here.
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