It's All About Portion Control. (Beltway Buzz, January 5, 2018)

The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what's happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.

Welcome to the first edition of the 2018 Beltway Buzz. While political and policy discussions are beginning to heat up again in our nation's capital, the weather is not. In fact, it is so cold in D.C. that senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) were seen hugging each other for warmth. Hopefully we will all survive the "bomb cyclone" to bring you another edition of the Buzz next week. In the meantime . . .

It's All About Portion Control. Members of Congress might be rethinking their New Year's resolutions to lose weight, as they returned this week for the second session of the 115th Congress to find a lot on their plates. For starters, the federal government is currently operating under a third "continuing resolution," which will keep the government running through January 19. Figuring out how to fund the government beyond this date will consume a significant amount of time and resources in the next couple of weeks, particularly if Democrats continue to push for inclusion of a fix to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) issue in any final spending bill. Also on their plates are reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and shoring up healthcare insurance markets, among other matters. Hopefully this leaves at least some time for the Senate to approve nominees to significant labor and employment posts.

Update on Nominees. Speaking of nominees, in our last edition of the Buzz, we discussed the game of musical chairs that results when presidential nominees aren't acted on prior to the adjournment of a Senate session. Just getting in under the wire and avoiding this whole rigmarole were Kate O'Scannlain and Preston Rutledge, who the Senate confirmed on December 21, 2017, to be Solicitor of Labor and Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), respectively. Stuck in purgatory are Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nominees Janet Dhillon, Daniel Gade, and Chai Feldblum, who have not yet been confirmed but have at least been permitted by Senate Democrats to maintain their current positions. They just await a final vote by the full Senate. The last and most unfortunate group includes the nominees who Democrats have decided must start again from scratch, much like the...