In April, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) launched a new initiative targeting employee safety when the heat index exceeds 80°F. The National Emphasis Program (NEP) for Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards expands on the agency’s ongoing heat-related illness-prevention initiative by adding a targeted enforcement component, emphasizing compliance assistance and increasing outreach efforts.

On April 19, 2022, the White House Council on Environmental Quality took the first steps to revoke a Trump rule reforming the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the first time and revert it to its original 1978 state. NEPA is the most significant environmental regulation when it comes to approval of infrastructure projects from highways to oil and natural gas, and even solar and wind. The Trump rule sought to reduce the environmental review period down to two years and limit the filing to 150 pages, down from 300 under the original NEPA, which could take five years.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) put the business community on notice that it intended to increase the overtime exemption threshold, which determines the salary level for when employees are eligible to time and a half based on a 40-hour workweek. In 2019, the Trump administration announced an increase in the overtime threshold from $23,660 to $35,568. Sources indicate the Biden administration could potentially raise the level to $53,000-58,000, with some outside advocacy groups calling for figures exceeding an $80,000 annual salary.

The U.S. Senate took steps on Monday, March 21 to formally move forward with the House-passed America COMPETES Act, paving the way for a formal negotiating conference between the two chambers. The Senate last June passed its bipartisan version of the massive China competition bill, spending over $250 billion to incentivize domestic semiconductor production, research and development for emerging technologies and advanced manufacturing, as well as billions for job training.

In an unprecedented step, the U.S. Congress is exploring legislation to revoke Permanent Normal Trade Relations status for Russia in an effort to remove them from the 164-member World Trade Organization (WTO). Legislation to effectively end all trade with Russia and Belarus has bipartisan support and would ban the little oil the U.S. imports from Russia and authorize the White House to impose tariffs on Russian-made goods. This is in addition to roughly $11 billion in direct financial support for Ukraine the U.S. Congress is expected to pass in the coming week.

A recent report showed that China only purchased 57% of the $200 billion worth of U.S. goods Beijing committed to buy in 2020 and 2021 under a deal reached by the previous administration. Signed in January 2020, the Trump administration agreed to not apply additional tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for the increased purchase of U.S. manufactured goods, agricultural products and American services. 

The U.S. House and Senate are officially moving forward with a Conference committee to reconcile differences between two bills each chamber passed to incentivize U.S. manufacturing, increase domestic semiconductor production and counter China’s technological rise. The House of Representatives, on Feb. 4, 2022, passed long-awaited legislation after the Senate passed its bipartisan version last summer by a 68-32 vote. 

President Joe Biden is marking the anniversary of his first year in office having the second-lowest approval rating of any Oval Office holder since World War II. Many political insiders blame the President’s popularity challenges more on poor messaging and high expectations than lack of legislative accomplishments. Some are arguing he should focus on the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure law now being implemented and its benefits for the average voter. Instead, this White House spent the past two months pressing forward on polarizing legislative proposals doomed to fail.

In a rare move, the U.S. Supreme Court scheduled an emergency oral-arguments hearing on Friday, January 7 for the OSHA employer workplace vaccine mandate and the health-care-worker mandate. The Court typically only accepts written briefs in place of oral arguments in emergency cases but accepted to hear from attorneys.

The U.S. Congress is packing it in for 2021 with Democrats having failed to agree among themselves to move President Biden’s $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had set a Christmas deadline to pass a bill the U.S. House cleared on November 19.