While an economically crippling national rail shutdown hangs in the balance, progressive resistance is hardening on Capitol Hill as President Biden maneuvers to secure statutory implementation of the tentative agreement his administration helped hammer out last month.

Among other liberal voices, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said that if Congress intervenes it should be to “have workers’ backs and secure their demands in legislation.”  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) encouraged his colleagues to “stand with rail workers.”  Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) announced that he “can’t in good conscience vote for a bill that doesn’t give rail workers the paid leave they deserve.” And Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) insisted that she “will not support a deal that does not provide our rail workers with the paid sick leave they need and deserve.”

Interestingly, a measure of bipartisan support for the rail workers has emerged, as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) indicated he too would reject a deal that “doesn’t have the support of the rail workers.”

Yet congressional leaders are undaunted, forging ahead with their plan to use their legislative powers to forestall a shuttering of the nation’s railways.  The House is poised to approve legislation implementing the agreement as soon as today, and Senate leaders signal they have the votes necessary to surmount a filibuster. All told, President Biden conveyed confidence on Tuesday that his maneuvering would manage to avert a rail strike. 

In regulatory news, following a series of delays, the Senate HELP Committee voted on Tuesday to advance Biden’s nomination for Administrator of the DOL’s Wage and House Division, the top enforcer of the FLSA and other workplace laws. President Biden nominated Jessica Looman, a former labor lawyer and union official, to the role in July after the Senate rejected his first pick.  Looman has been leading the agency as its Principal Deputy Administrator since Jan. 2021.

Lastly, the NLRB extended the deadline for submitting comments on its proposed rulemaking regarding blocking charges to Feb. 2, 2023. The rule would rescind a regulation issued by the Trump Board in 2020 and restore the longstanding approach to “blocking charges” it displaced, under which regional directors may delay processing election petitions in the face of pending unfair labor practice charges.