Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to run the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) for a second time, is expected to push a series of measures from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 deregulatory blueprint for the new administration to slash OSHA and other agencies’ budgets, as well as wider efforts to scale back the executive branch civil service.
President-elect Donald Trump has selected outgoing Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), a moderate who has sponsored union-friendly legislation, to head the Department of Labor (DOL), drawing skepticism from pro-business Republicans and cautious praise from organized labor -- though many are questioning whether the administration will allow her to maintain those priorities.
A fellow with the free-market American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is suggesting that Congress task existing offices with responding to the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision that overturned Chevron deference, as a way to balance Republicans’ interest in aggressive scrutiny of agencies’ handling of the decision with their reluctance to fund new programs.
Deputy OSHA chief James Frederick told members of the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH) that the agency plans to complete the realignment of its regional offices announced in May by the start of fiscal year 2025 on Oct. 1, amid concerns from both federal officials and panelists over continued impacts of funding cuts on federal and state safety work.
Top Democrats on the House workforce committee are calling on OSHA to investigate recent reports that claim officials with California and South Carolina’s state plan agencies have been “tipping off” employers on upcoming agency inspections targeting not only safety issues but child-labor violations and potential trafficking.
Lawmakers on the House workforce protection subcommittee used a recent hearing to express competing arguments about OSHA’s recent slate of regulatory actions including its controversial final rule on worker representatives in enforcement walkarounds and pending proposed safety standards for heat danger and emergency-response workers.
Two Democratic committee chairs are floating an amendment to the chamber’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to reauthorize the lapsed Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard (CFATS) program for two years, after a parallel measure in the House failed to reach a floor vote.
House lawmakers are planning a hearing next week to evaluate their options in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overruling the longstanding Chevron deference doctrine, with some seeking to bolster Congress’ resources and oversight to provide more-detailed legislation though many conservatives are pushing deregulatory measures to limit ISHA and other agencies’ authorities.
Sources with the chemicals industry say they are again looking for fresh legislative avenues to reauthorize the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program after an amendment that would have added it to the annual defense authorization bill failed to reach the House floor.
A bipartisan amendment to the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would have reauthorized the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) lapsed Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard (CFATS) has failed to reach the House floor, cutting off another avenue to revive the program almost a year after it expired.