Category: News Line

Over the last week, the Trump administration initiated a review of U.S. financial regulations and secured the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
  
For an overview of administration activity to date and insight into potential legislative and regulatory actions, register for the Feb. 16 webinar “Learn the Latest on the Trump Administration” presented by ABC’s general counsel Littler Mendelson, P.C.

Financial Regulation
On Feb. 3, President Trump issued an executive order that directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in cooperation with the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to reexamine “existing laws, treaties, regulations, guidance, reporting and recordkeeping requirements” in light of the administration’s “Core Principles” of financial regulation. 

The president also released a memorandum on Feb. 3 that directs the U.S. Department of Labor to review the impact of the DOL fiduciary final rule on investors and retirees.  If the review identifies a negative impact on these groups, the memorandum directs the department to craft a proposed rule to revise or rescind the current final rule. 

Immigration
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington recently issued a temporary restraining order to prevent further enforcement of the president’s executive order that barred individuals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days.  During this time, the order directed the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of other relevant agencies to review and develop the screening process for entry. 

For more information on the suspended order, see this detailed analysis by ABC’s general counsel Littler Mendelson, P.C.

Nominations & Appointments
The U.S. Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education on Feb. 7.  

The Feb. 14 confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, Andy Puzder, has been postponed. Edward Hugler is currently serving as acting Secretary of Labor. 

For more information on the administration’s executive actions and appointments, visit the White House Briefing Room website.

For a recap of administration activity between Jan. 20 – Feb. 1, please read this Newsline article. 

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to block implementation of the Obama administration’s Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order 13673, commonly referred to as “blacklisting,” through the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The bill (H. J. Res. 37) was passed by a vote of 236-187 after ABC sent a letter to the House urging lawmakers to support it. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on a similar resolution the week of Feb. 13. 

Implementation of the blacklisting rule’s reporting and disclosure requirements was temporarily blocked on Oct. 24, 2016, when a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in favor of ABC’s lawsuit and granted a preliminary injunction against the reporting provisions of the rule, which were scheduled to take effect Oct. 25, 2016. Under the CRA, Congress may pass a resolution of disapproval to prohibit a federal agency from implementing a rule without congressional authorization with a majority vote in both houses of Congress. If President Trump signs the CRA resolution into law, it will block the blacklisting rule from taking effect and prevent future administrations from promulgating a similar rule—essentially permanently eliminating the rule.

ABC is encouraging all members to call on their Senators to support the Senate resolution (S.J. Res. 12), introduced Jan. 30 by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) along with 10 other senators.

“Associated Builders and Contractors has vigorously fought the Obama administration’s illegal blacklisting rule, which would have treated frivolous accusations of wrongdoing as grounds to prohibit qualified contractors from performing federal work,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “ABC commends the leadership of Reps. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) for taking action to protect contractors and taxpayers from the blacklisting rule’s burdensome and duplicative reporting requirements that would have discouraged qualified firms, particularly small businesses, from pursuing federal contracts, while also increasing costs to taxpayers.

“As the district court ruled in its preliminary injunction, treating non-adjudicated claims the same as actual wrongdoing denies federal contractors their due process rights,” said Brubeck. “ABC supports policies that increase fairness and competition in government contracting and looks forward to working with the Trump administration and Congress to pursue commonsense policies that hold bad actors accountable while attracting the best companies and trained workforce to rebuild America.”

Background
On Aug. 24, 2016, the FAR Council issued the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces final rule, commonly referred to as blacklisting regulations, implementing President Obama’s EO 13673, signed July 31, 2014. The rule was accompanied by a guidance document from the DOL and a White House amendment to Executive Order 13673. ABC issued a press release slamming the final blacklisting rule immediately afterward and for two years has been working with a coalition of business groups and federal contractors to find legislative, regulatory and legal solutions to overturn the flawed blacklisting regulation.

For more information, visit abc.org/blacklisting.

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ABC Member Natalia Luis of M. Luis Construction spoke about her meeting at the White House with President Trump on the difficulties small businesses face every day on Fox News earlier this week. After her meeting, Luis attended the signing of President Trump’s executive order on small business regulation.

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