The economy may “plunge into an immediate recession” should Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling this fall, forecasts a recent analysis by Moody’s Analytics.  Congress suspended the debt ceiling — a statutory limit on the amount the Treasury is authorized to borrow — three times during Trump’s presidency (the most recent of which expired last month).  Yet Republicans lawmakers have not exhibited much appetite to do so again.  Failing to increase the limit would cause the federal government to default on its obligations, a dramatic development that could extinguish millions of jobs and trillions of dollars from an economy still struggling to recover from the pandemic.

In entertainment news, months of negotiations between IATSE and several major film studies are unraveling.  The studios neglected to respond to the union’s latest proposals, allowing the contract to expire and prompting a strike authorization vote on Monday.  The stakes have been dramatized in recent weeks, as testimonials have gone viral exposing the often grueling conditions many of these workers — whose behind-the-scenes labor is essential to our favorite movies and shows — face.  A strike in the industry would be historic and could be disruptive.  Hollywood’s last major work stoppage was nearly eight decades ago.

As congressional Democrats’ ideological battle over their “big, bold” budget reconciliation blueprint continues to unfold, major labor groups have begun lobbying fiercely and spending liberally to mobilize support for the package.  The groups are aiming to secure not only the thousands of union jobs the sweeping legislation would create but also a string of less visible measures it includes which would facilitate labor organizing.  For instance, the package would allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to the NLRB and, significantly, empower the agency to impose civil fines on employers — an upgrade labor activists have sought for years.  The bill would also enhance the remedies available to OSHA and the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division.

Needless to say, these reforms fall short of the statutory regime change many labor advocates view as necessary to resurrect the labor movement.  Still, they would amount to the most significant prolabor shift in federal law in generations.  And union leaders appreciate that.  “Labor is not only all over supporting [the budget bill],” AFT President Randi Weingarten has remarked; labor “has helped craft it.”