The Policy Week in Review, prepared by Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), sets forth WPI’s updates on federal, state, and local matters.
Federal Government Shutdown Continues
The federal government shutdown continues with no end in sight. Both Republicans and Democrats are dug in their positions, i.e., Senate Republicans continue efforts to advance the House-passed clean continuing resolution (a stopgap measure allowing additional time to clear individual spending bills) that would reopen and fund the government through November 21, and Democrats want to negotiate the inclusion of the expiring Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies as part of a deal to reopen the government. Neither side is gaining traction. The House remains out of session. Senate Republicans met with President Trump at the White House for lunch on Tuesday as a show of unity. On Wednesday, the Senate voted down the continuing resolution for the 12th time, with a final vote of 54-46, falling short of the 60-vote threshold. Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and John Fetterman (D-PA) and Independent Senator Angus King (I-ME) voted with Senate Republicans to advance the bill. Given the impasse and the fast-approaching November 21 deadline, Republican leaders are now saying the bill may need to be extended.
Senate HELP Committee Holds Second Hearing on Labor Law Reform
On October 22, 2025, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held its second hearing on...
"I think that there is a more nefarious strategy": Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, on the agency changing its websit...