Editor’s Note: Weekly Shift is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro’s daily newsletter on employment and immigration policy, Morning Shift. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that combines the news you need with tools to help you tackle the day’s biggest stories. Act in the news with POLITICO Pro.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Morning Shift will not be released from December 25th to January 1st. On Monday, January 4th, we will be back on our normal schedule.
After two additional days of negotiation Legislators tried Sunday night to pass a massive $ 900 billion Covid-19 stimulus package and a $ 1.4 trillion bill to keep government funding going through September.
Party leaders eventually agreed on more coronavirus aid to shore up the economy after finalizing negotiations between Senate Minority Chairman Chuck Schumer and Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), “On the GOP’s request to discontinue the loan programs established by the Facilitation. The law was passed in March, ”our congressional team reported. Congress had to pass a 24-hour spending patch last night to keep the federal shutdown and plans to take the action today.
Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Chairman, speaks at a press conference on Capitol Hill on December 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. | Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
The package includes “a $ 300 increase in weekly unemployment benefits, $ 600 relief checks for individuals, more than $ 300 billion for small business aid, and huge pots of money for schools, hospitals and vaccine distribution,” according to our convention team. The bill would also extend several unemployment benefit programs due to expire at the end of the week. But Washington is too late to prevent performance assessments from expiring for millions of the unemployed.
Omitted: Legislators have been unable to agree on provisions to protect businesses and schools from liability for coronavirus infections, as well as aid to state and local governments.
GOOD MORNING. It’s Monday, December 21st, and this is Morning Shift, your employment and immigration news bulletin. Send tips, exclusives and suggestions to [email protected] and [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter @Eleanor_Mueller and @RebeccaARainey.
A message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation:
Who doesn’t start a business in America? Six percent of the adult US population wanted it, but they ultimately chose not to. So why did they stop? Download the new Kauffman Foundation report to learn more.
SCOTUS rejects challenge to trump CENSUS MOVE: The Supreme Court declined a legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s offer to exclude all illegal immigrants from the 2020 census split data, ruling that it would be “premature” to rule on the legality of the policy, our report from said Zach Montellaro and Josh Gerstein.
“At the moment,” said an unsigned opinion of the majority in the court, “this case is full of contingencies and speculations that are hampering judicial review.”
The Details: The ruling “leaves unresolved the possibility that Trump, or a future president, might be able to exclude certain groups of non-citizens from the critical review used to allocate house seats,” write Zach and Josh. “The majority of the court did not deal directly with the legality to exclude all foreigners illegally in the country from the census, but said it seemed impractical.”
What now? It is unclear whether the Census Bureau would actually be able to produce the data needed to identify immigrants who could potentially be excluded in time for the Trump administration to remove them from the census, regardless of the legality of any Step. President-elect Joe Biden is also likely to stop the process of excluding such immigrants if it has not been completed by the time he takes office.
And then there were 2 … The FDA on Friday approved the emergency use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine and “increased national supply by millions of doses,” reports our Sarah Owermohle. “Like Pfizer’s vaccine, the Moderna shot uses messenger RNA technology, which instructs cells to recognize and fight the virus.”
Who will get it next? “People aged 75 and older and key frontline workers should be next when it comes to limited supplies of Covid-19 vaccines. This group of experts advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended on Sunday,” reported our Brianna Ehley.
The new recommendations are non-binding, “as states make the final decisions about who should prioritize vaccination,” Brianna writes. But they say 30 million key workers should get the second round of shooting – “including police officers and firefighters, school staff, grocery workers, and public transport and postal workers among others.”
The announcement was welcomed by the United Food and Commercial Workers, who argued that its members who work in meat packaging and food processing and those in grocery stores “put themselves at risk to feed our families during this crisis.”
MORE: “Big US companies are advocating early vaccine,” according to the Washington Post
SHIFT EXCLUSIVE – SEIU EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVES VACCINE PRINCIPLES: The Service Employees International Union developed a number of vaccine principles that were approved by its board of directors on Friday and made available exclusively to Weekly Shift. It mandates that employers provide the vaccine free of charge, prioritize the most severely affected workers, and not use the vaccine as a substitute for worker safety.
“The vaccine does not diminish our determination to meet the demands that essential workers continue to make: respect us, pay us, protect us. We will continue to put pressure on companies that are still not protecting workers The new Congress and the Biden administration will work towards a recovery that holds businesses accountable and prioritizes the needs of key workers and the black and brown communities. “
WHAT WE WATCH: “Amazon Prepares for a Union Vote at Alabama Warehouse,” from NBC News
HISPANIC CAUCUS PUSHES OFFERED FOR MORE LATIN NOMINATED: The Hispanic Caucus of Congress is asking Biden to choose two more Latinos – Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Education Commissioner, as Secretary of Education, and Stacie Olivares, a California pensioner, to lead the small business administration. This emerges from a letter sent to the Biden transition team on Friday evening.
WAIT ONE MINUTE … The caucus’ support for Cardona is a postponement of an earlier letter asking Biden to appoint former President of the National Education Association, Lily Eskelsen García, to the post, our Laura Barrón reports -López, although lawmakers said they remain “strongly supportive” of Eskelsen García. “Having multiple candidates supporting the job could improve the Hispanic caucus’ chances of seeing more Latinos in the cabinet,” writes Laura.
NOMINEES FACE SENATE SHOWDOWN: The Republicans plan to get Biden’s cabinet candidates to “lead the fight” in their affirmations if the GOP retains its Senate majority in January, our Jesse Naranjo reports. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) Warned on Sunday that Republicans “will not forget what happened to President Trump’s administration and the delayed process”.
Barrasso, the No. 3 Republican, said the candidates announced so far look like a “third term for the Obama administration,” Jesse said. “So it won’t be a garden party,” said the Senator on Fox News Sunday.
SHIFT EXCLUSIVE – MAJORITY OF VOTERS SUPPORT CHILD CARE EXPENDITURE, PAID LEAVING: According to a survey by Caring Across Generations, Paid Leave for All Action, and TIME’S UP, a majority of registered Democratic and Republican voters support ensuring workers access to paid sick and paid family and sick leave, as well as investing in the Childcare Foundation and exclusively for Weekly Shift provided.
Of those polled, 79 percent of Democrats and 69 percent of Republicans supported sick leave. A similar number of Democrats and more than half of Republicans were in favor of both paid family leave and paid medical leave. Three-quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans supported improving access to childcare.
Where they split: Only 40 percent of Republicans supported expanded unemployment insurance, compared with 65 percent of Democrats.
Similar but different: Findings are in line with another recent survey conducted by the SEIU and the National Domestic Workers Alliance and published on Friday. That poll found that 88 percent of voters support Biiden’s $ 775 billion care plan, which would make significant investments in childcare.
Important Context: The aid package distributed last week would not extend the emergency paid leave and paid family and sick leave programs established under the original Coronavirus Relief Act, meaning those pillows for millions of workers could soon expire. However, the latest coronavirus relief bill will set aside $ 10 billion for childcare facilities affected by Covid-19.
A message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation:
About six percent of the adult population in the United States have been keen to start a business in the past five years, but ultimately chose not to or decided to wait. So why did they stop?
For some, seeking advice or guidance can be challenging. For others, family considerations play an important role in the decision-making process.
The latest report from the Kauffman Foundation sheds light on the “subcontractor” to better identify, understand, and support them. Find out more and download the report.
– “Restaurant Safety Net Frays as Covid-19 Pandemic Advances Into Winter,” from the Wall Street Journal
– “Job Seekers, Beware of Scams” by the Los Angeles Times
– “Racism Targets Asian Food, Business During COVID-19 Pandemic” by The Associated Press
– “A company made PPE for the world. Now his workers have the virus “from the New York Times
– “Indian iPhone Factory Apologizes to Workers for Abuse of Wages,” by Wall Street Journal
THAT’S ALL FOR THE MORNING SHIFT!
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