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.
DHS Reopens. On April 30, 2026, President Trump signed into law a funding bill that reopened the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after the agency had been shut down for seventy-five days due to a funding lapse. The enacted legislation funds all of DHS’s subagencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), through September 2026, but it does not provide funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Those agencies have been operating by using funds appropriated by 2025’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Republicans plan to further fund ICE and CBP by using the reconciliation process, which would allow them to pass such legislation without any Democratic votes in the U.S. Senate.
EEOC General Counsel Nominee Withdraws. This week, the White House withdrew the nomination of Carter Crow to serve as general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after the management-side attorney pulled his name from consideration for the position. Crow was nominated in November 2025 but had yet to have a confirmation hearing in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). The road from nomination to Senate confirmation is certainly often rocky and unpredictable. In the meantime, Catherine Eschbach continues to serve as acting general counsel.
SCOTUS Hears Challenge to TPS Rescission for Haiti, Syria. On April 29, 2026—its last scheduled day of arguments for its current term—the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in cases challenging then-secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem’s termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti and Syria. The federal government argues that the applicable provision of the TPS statute renders Noem’s determinations to end the TPS designations unreviewable (the statutory provision reads, “There is no judicial review of any determination of the [Secretary] with respect to the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state under this subsection”). On the other hand, the challengers argue that their issue isn’t with Noem’s determination itself, but with the process she used to make the determination. For example, the challengers claim that Noem failed to consult with appropriate agencies (such as the U.S. Department of State) prior to making the determinations, which is a statutory requirement. They further argue that Noem based her determinations, at least in part, on the “national interest,” which is not a factor for determining whether to continue or terminate TPS status. Rather, they argue, a review of the “conditions in the foreign state” is what is required by the statute. The Court is expected to issue a decision in June.
Republican Senators Introduce Bill to Prohibit OSHA Heat Standard. Eight Republican senators, including the chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, Bill Cassidy (R-LA), have introduced the Heat Workforce Standards Act. The bill would prohibit the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing its 2024 proposal, “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings,” or any “substantially similar standard.” The bill follows on the heels of Chair Cassidy’s recent letter to then-Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer, raising concerns about the proposal, which is still being pursued by OSHA.
DOJ Lawsuit Alleges Employer Discriminated Against U.S.-Based Workers. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against a U.S.-based technology company, alleging that it violated the Immigration and Nationality Act by failing to recruit U.S. workers as required by the permanent labor certification process (PERM). DOJ alleges that the employer instructed U.S. workers to apply for PERM-related jobs via a dedicated email address that did not work, and that the employer did not attempt to understand why it did not receive any applications through that email address. The complaint asks the court to order the employer to cease and desist the alleged recruitment practices and also requests back pay for individuals who were allegedly discriminated against, along with civil penalties. According to an accompanying press release, the lawsuit is part of the DOJ’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, which “focuses on companies that illegally discriminate against U.S. workers in favor of those with temporary employment visas.”
RIP, Vice President Barkley. Alben W. Barkley, vice president to Harry S. Truman, and former U.S. senator and congressman, died on April 30, 1956. A Democrat, Barkley had just finished delivering a speech at the Washington and Lee (W&L) University Mock Convention, a mock presidential nominating convention held every four years by the students of W&L, in Lexington, Virginia, when he collapsed on stage and died of a heart attack at the age of seventy-eight. Barkley began his political career by representing Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1913 to 1927. During his time in the House, Barkley served on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, where he introduced the Howell-Barkley bill, a precursor to the Railway Labor Act of 1926. Before he was tapped as vice president for Truman’s second term, Barkley served as a U.S. senator from Kentucky, from 1927 to 1949, serving as Senate majority leader for ten of those years. During that time, Barkley was a staunch ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was instrumental in passing New Deal legislation. Barkley also helped secure passage of the Hatch Act (limiting the political activities of federal employees and certain state/local employees), as well as the Lend-Lease Act, while opposing the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. Barkley also holds some unique records as vice president:
- Barkley remains the oldest person to have served as vice president, both at the time of the start of his vice presidency (seventy-one years old) and at the end of his term (seventy-five years old).
- Barkley is the only vice president to have married while in office. He married his second wife, Jane Hadley Barkley, in November 1949. Barkley was seventy-one years old; Hadley was thirty-eight.
Barkley is the last Democratic vice president never to have received the party’s presidential nomination.
