The American Public Health Association sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain its opposition to the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
About two weeks ago, federal health officials released a new funding announcement for the nation’s Title X family planning program, which serves millions of women each year. In the entire 60-page document, you won’t find the words “contraception” or “contraceptive” mentioned even once.
Striking West Virginia educators are inspiring teachers across the country; U.S. appeals court rules that bias laws also prohibit workplace discrimination against transgender people; Austin extends its new paid sick leave rule to city temp workers; and congressional Democrats introduce legislation to protect workers’ tips.
Affordable Care Act
Trump’s new short-term health plan could destabilize the ACA market (which is probably the point)
For now, it seems congressional leadership has given up on a full-throated repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Their new, less-visible repeal strategy is just ignoring the health reform law altogether.
US Government
Business group testifies: “Congress, we want OSHA regulations and don’t cut funds for training grants
The Tree Care Industry Association has a refreshing message for Congress: OSHA is not our enemy. They want an OSHA regulation for their industry and think OSHA grants for safety training should be preserved.
It’s unusual for a notice of proposed rulemaking to not include any quantitative analysis. Did the Trump administration not want to acknowledge that their proposal could lead to workers losing billions of dollars in tips each year?
It’s time for federal lawmakers to catch up with the quickly changing relationship between employers and workers; an upcoming Supreme Court case could upend public-sector unions; New York farmworker loses court case to gain organizing rights, but vows to appeal; and the country’s biggest janitorial company faces new allegations of sexual abuse in the workplace.
Affordable Care Act
After years of steady progress, America’s uninsured rate begins climbing back up
Despite constant undermining from the Trump administration, nearly 8.8 million Americans got covered during the last open enrollment period on HealthCare.gov. That’s nearly as high as the previous enrollment period, and a testament to people’s desire for health coverage. Still, it seems the administration’s actions didn’t go without impact.
Sanitation workers in the meatpacking industry face life-threatening dangers on the job; number of OSHA inspectors down under Trump; truckers feel the pressure to work while sleep-deprived; and despite increased demand for sexual harassment training, there’s little evidence it actually works.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled late last month to uphold an OSHA rule to protect 2.3 million workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica. A three judge panel was not convinced by any of the arguments to reject the OSHA rule that were made by attorneys for the National Association of Home Builders, American Foundry Society, and other industry groups. The judges’ 60-page opinion had this bottom line: “We reject all of Industry’s challenges.”