Capitol Correspondence - 06.17.19

Media Reports DOL Staff Limited to Secretary Acosta and Rulemaking Process

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As we see Congress slowing down as elections near, ANCOR’s focus is even more on the Administration’s regulating and deregulating trends. Which is why this Politico news about Secretary Acosta from the Department of Labor stuck out – read more below.

From Politico’s Morning Shift:

“DICTATORIAL ACOSTA?: Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta is limiting staff access to his office suite and cutting key DOL personnel out of much of the agency’s rule and guidance drafting, Bloomberg Law’s Benn Penn reports. “Acosta’s top policy official, acting assistant secretary for policy Jonathan Berry, said this system facilitates fast and legally defensible rulemaking,” Penn writes. “But some employees said it delays rules, dismisses expertise, muddles communications, and wastes taxpayer dollars with duplicative efforts.”

Kate O’Scannlain, the solicitor of labor, ‘has been marginalized into an advisory role even though she is supposed to oversee all its legal work under a policy in place for almost 80 years.’ More from Bloomberg Law here.”