Government Affairs
By Andrew
Brackbill CLDA Manager , Government Affairs
Federal Advocacy
On February 1 , Senator Joe Manchin ( D-WV ) said that the Build Back Better Act , which was hiding the PRO Act labor provisions we have been fighting to prevent , is effectively dead . As a result , the focus on Capitol Hill shifted away from the Build Back Better Act to the passage of a continuing budget resolution to keep the U . S . Federal Government funded and finalizing an omnibus spending agreement .
Be sure to look for continuing Government Affairs updates via the CLDA Twitter account (@ theCLDA ) as well as on the CLDA website and email alerts . If you have any questions on the CLDA Government Affairs activities or would like to become more involved , please contact Andrew Brackbill at
andrew @ clda . org .
While President Biden has not given up the fight on his domestic agenda , other world events , such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the attendant global economic crisis , have sucked the oxygen from the room . Domestically , Democrats lack the votes to get much of their economic and social policy agendas past the Senate – so the Build Back Better bill has effectively lost momentum and is not likely to pass any time soon without significant revisions . In addition , since this is an election year , as we approach the mid-year mark , House offices are going to have to begin focusing on re-election campaigns , so the political clock is ticking , and every passing day makes passage of the PRO Act less and less likely .
While Democrats are advancing a pro-labor agenda through other means , like NLRB rulings and DOL actions , there are hiccups there as well . Republicans in the Senate have so far been effective at stalling the confirmation of important Democratic policymakers in key agency positions . A good example is President Biden ’ s nominee to run the Department of Labor ’ s Wage and Hour Division ( WHD ). The WHD enforces federal minimum wage , overtime pay , recordkeeping , and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act , and Biden has nominated an academic named David Weil to run the WHD . Weil is a veteran
8 customized logistics & delivery Magazine spring 2022