February 2024 - Federal Government Relations Updates

February 2024

		## Federal Government Relations Updates

	
	**Congress Passes Short Term, Stop-Gap Spending Bill**

Congress once again narrowly avoided a government shutdown by agreeing to a short term, stop-gap funding bill. Under the agreement, Congress now has until March 8 to fund half the government and March 22 to pass the remainder of the government spending bills. The previous deadlines were March 1 and March 8.  Congress has been in a six-month stalemate over FY’24 funding, due in large part to conservative House Republican demands for steep spending cuts plus controversial partisan policy demands that have little chance of being approved by the Senate.

Administration Advances Su Nomination for a Second Time

The Biden Administration for a second time nominated Julie Su, currently Acting Department of Labor Secretary, to be the permanent DOL Secretary. Last year, the nomination, lacking votes for Senate approval, never came up for a vote on the Senate floor. This past week, The Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee reported out Su’s nomination 11-10 on a straight party line vote. Much of the opposition to Su centers around her position on independent contractor and franchise issues when she was California Labor Secretary. Su remains in charge of the Labor Department in an Acting role until the full Senate acts on her nomination. Unless the Administration can find one or two more votes, though, it is likely that she will remain as “Acting” for the remainder of the year.