By ELEANOR MUELLER and NICK NIEDZWIADEK
09/07/2022 10:00 AM EDT
Updated 09/07/2022 10:19 AM EDT
2022-09-07T10:19-0400
With help from Shayna Greene
SCHUMER’S BLIND SPOT? It’s true that this week is the first time in a long time that lawmakers have returned to the Hill post-recess without an exceptionally long to-do list yawning before them.
Yet there may be one exception: labor.
Not only are several of President Joe Biden’s nominees to the Labor Department still languishing in the Senate, as Nick breaks down below — but there are a handful of work-related measures also stagnating beneath the shadow of spending bills, FDA reauthorizations, same-sex marriage, judicial nominees and more.
Chief among them: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which the House passed last May and has been backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the ACLU alike. Unlike the PRO Act, the legislation, which would require employers to provide pregnant workers with reasonable accommodations, is bipartisan — and by no small margin. Indeed, it has seven GOP Senate cosponsors, and 99 Republican members voted for its passage in the House.
But advocates say they’ve received no indication from Senate leadership that it will be considered this month — or even during the so-called lame duck session post-elections.
“This is not a controversial bill,” A Better Balance’s Dina Bakst told Eleanor. “Passing PWFA should be a no-brainer.”
“Instead, we’re in the position...
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