New Tips and Overtime Guidance, NLRB Circuit Split, and Stalled Nomination- #WorkforceWednesday® - Employment Law This Week®
Key Takeaways - The FY 2027 budget process is underway, with the president submitting his proposal April 3 and committees beginning hearings the week of April 13. Senate leadership is expected to move a budget resolution the...more
On April 14, 2026, the White House transmitted two nominations to the United States Senate that, if confirmed, would bring the National Labor Relations Board (“Board”) to four sitting Members and cement a Republican majority...more
Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session....more
The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship will hold a hearing on April 7, 2026, on “Fueling Innovation: The Role of Small Businesses in America’s Bioeconomy.” The Committee will hear from two panels of...more
Years after the Biden administration terminated the so-called China Initiative begun in 2018 by President Donald Trump during his first term, the question of whether foreign governments are inappropriately influencing and...more
On March 18, 2026, the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife convened a hearing to examine ongoing challenges and potential improvements in the implementation of the...more
Legislature Reaches First and Second Bill Deadline - The first and second committee deadline today (Friday) marks a key milestone in the 2026 legislative session. By this date, most policy bills must clear committees or...more
Both chambers will be in session this week, although congressional attention will likely be focused on activity related to funding the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)....more
Alston & Bird’s Legislative & Public Policy Group previews the week ahead highlighting anticipated federal legislative, regulatory, and political activity, and key upcoming actions in Congress, the Administration, and...more
White House Releases National AI Framework - On March 20, the White House released a national policy framework for artificial intelligence (AI) available at White House National Policy Framework for AI - Legislative...more
On March 10, 2026, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and its chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), hosted a roundtable on options for Congress, in the words of Chairman Cassidy, to...more
Industry Groups Petition NLRB for Rulemakings - Several industry groups submitted rulemaking petitions to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week. A Petition filed on March 12 requests that the Board commence a...more
No major healthcare legislation is currently scheduled for Senate floor consideration; healthcare policy activity is expected to remain concentrated at the committee level. Last week, the Senate Committee on Health,...more
It will likely be a slow healthcare week in Washington, DC. The House is out of session this week, and while the Senate is in session, most of its attention will be on immigration-related hearings, pending nominations, and...more
During the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing, Democrats discussed guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI) use in healthcare and legislative solutions that would use technology to...more
The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a hearing on a discussion draft of S.__, the Toxic Substances Control Act Fee Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2026 (Discussion Draft) on March 4, 2026....more
On March 4, 2026, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a legislative hearing to examine a discussion draft of the Toxic Substances Control Act Fee Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2026....more
The Senate Special Committee on Aging’s hearing on Feb. 26 examined a source of tension in American health policy under scrutiny this Rare Disease Week: How does a regulator designed to protect patients avoid becoming a...more
After 22 years as an NIH program officer, Elizabeth Ginexi reluctantly took early retirement in April, after witnessing a reduction-in-force of 40% of the staff at the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health,...more
On February 18, two groups of senators, both led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), issued letters to the Fed’s vice chair for supervision requesting information on recent reported actions that the senators contend may weaken...more
On March 4, 2026, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) will hold a hearing on a discussion draft of S.__, the Toxic Substances Control Act Fee Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2026....more
On Feb. 24, the Senate Armed Services Committee convened a hearing to confront the United States’ deepening reliance on China for critical minerals, a dependency both parties now view as a profound national security risk. ...more
Last year, the Senate Banking Committee passed the Road to Housing Act 24-0 and tried to attach it to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act. The ROAD amendment did not survive the House–Senate NDAA negotiations,...more
President Trump is set to deliver the State of the Union address on Tuesday at 9:00 pm EST, with Virginia Governor Spanberger confirmed to deliver the Democratic response....more