Today's AFL-CIO press clips
BUDGET RECONCILIATION
In dramatic reversal, Senate votes to kill AI-law moratorium
The Washington Post
By Will Oremus
July 1, 2025
“The way these provisions are written, they’re very sweeping, and they would trip up almost any attempt to regulate the harmful use of AI,” said Ed Wytkind, interim director of the AFL-CIO’s technology institute, on Monday.
US Senate passes Trump's sweeping tax-and spending bill, setting up House battle
Reuters
By Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Bo Erickson
July 1, 2025
U.S. Senate Republicans passed President Donald Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill on Tuesday by the narrowest of margins, advancing a package that would slash taxes, reduce social safety net programs and boost military and immigration enforcement spending while adding $3.3 trillion to the national debt. The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for possible final approval, though a handful of Republicans there have already voiced opposition to some of the Senate provisions. Trump wants to sign it into law by the July 4 Independence Day holiday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that he aimed to meet that deadline.
What to know as Trump’s tax bill heads to the House
The Washington Post
By Marianna Sotomayor and Jacob Bogage
July 1, 2025
Now that the Senate passed President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act must pass the House. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and his lieutenants have a bumpy road ahead to meet their self-imposed July 4 deadline.
Republican Bill Puts Nation on New, More Perilous Fiscal Path
The New York Times
By Andrew Duehren
July 1, 2025
Washington has not exactly won a reputation for fiscal discipline over the last few decades, as both Republicans and Democrats passed bills that have, bit by bit, degraded the nation’s finances. But the legislation that Republicans passed through the Senate on Tuesday stands apart in its harm to the budget, analysts say. Not only did an initial analysis show it adding at least $3.3 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next 10 years — making it among the most expensive bills in a generation — but it would also reduce the amount of tax revenue the country collects for decades. Such a shortfall could begin a seismic shift in the nation’s fiscal trajectory and raise the risk of a debt crisis.
Despite last-minute changes, US Senate bill deals big blow to renewable energy
Reuters
By Valerie Volcovici
July 1, 2025
The U.S. Senate's massive budget bill that passed on Tuesday will make it harder to develop wind and solar energy projects, despite the removal of some contentious provisions, industry advocates and lawmakers said. The Senate dropped a proposed excise tax on solar and wind energy projects that don't meet strict standards after last-minute negotiations with key Republican senators seeking better terms for renewables.
At least 17 million Americans would lose insurance under Trump plan
The Washington Post
By Yasmeen Abutaleb
July 1, 2025
The Senate version of President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration spending plan would wipe out many of the gains made by the Affordable Care Act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their coverage, according to nonpartisan estimates and experts. The bill — which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday — would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do: unwind many of the key components of the ACA, which is President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement and which dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance.
Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history
The Hill
By Nathaniel Weixel
July 1, 2025
Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed the largest cuts to Medicaid since the program began in the 1960s, a move that would erode the social safety net and cause a spike in the number of uninsured Americans over the next decade. The tax and spending bill is projected to cost more than $3 trillion during that time, but would be partially paid for with about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid.
CNBC
By Annika Kim Constantino
July 1, 2025
President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” would make sweeping changes to U.S. health care, leaving millions of vulnerable Americans without health insurance and threatening the hospitals and centers that provide care to them. The Senate on Tuesday voted 51-50 to pass the spending measure after a marathon overnight voting session on amendments. But the bill will face another major test in the House, where Republicans have a razor-thin majority and some members have already raised objections to the legislation.
Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package
The New York Times
By Tony Romm
July 1, 2025
Millions of low-income Americans could experience staggering financial losses under the domestic policy package that Republicans advanced through the Senate on Tuesday, which reserves its greatest benefits for the rich while threatening to strip health insurance, food stamps and other aid from the poor.
'Direct attack': Major union comes out swinging at GOP bill
Raw Story
By Matthew Chapman
June 30, 2025
President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," currently in the middle of Senate amendment and rewrite, got a tongue-lashing from a major union on Monday. In a statement, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, or IBEW, President Kenneth Cooper slammed the bill as "a direct attack on working families" that funnels "tax breaks to the rich while turning its back on the people who power this country."
POLITICS
Labor Department Targets Dozens of Rules for Deregulatory Push
Bloomberg Law
By Rebecca Rainey
July 1, 2025
The Trump administration’s deregulatory push has landed at the US Labor Department, with the agency advancing a slew of proposals to tweak or scrap policies across several of its subagencies. Rules on the chopping block include minimum wage and overtime protections for certain health aides, anti-discrimination requirements for apprenticeship programs, union organizing protections for foreign farmworkers, and demands for employers to record work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
Buoyed by the Supreme Court, Trump to press forward on firings and social agenda
Reuters
By Jeff Mason, Daniel Wiessner and Nate Raymond
July 1, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump's team is moving quickly to challenge injunctions that thwarted implementation of his policies on social issues and firing federal workers after the Supreme Court limited lower courts' powers to block them. Friday's ruling was widely viewed as a victory for the president because it shifted power from the judicial to the executive branch. But Trump opponents said they still have legal options to impede his agenda.
Trump Withholds Nearly $7 Billion for Schools, With Little Explanation
The New York Times
By Sarah Mervosh and Michael C. Bender
July 1, 2025
The Trump administration has declined to release nearly $7 billion in federal funding that helps pay for after-school and summer programs, support for students learning English, teacher training and other services. The money was expected to be released by Tuesday. But in an email on Monday, the Education Department notified state education agencies that the money would not be available.
Exclusive: DOGE now targeting SEC policy, eyes SPAC rules, sources say
Reuters
By Douglas Gillison and Chris Prentice
July 1, 2025
President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency initiative has pushed the U.S. markets watchdog to loosen Wall Street rules around blank-check companies and confidential reporting by private investment funds, according to two people familiar with the matter. DOGE officials at the SEC, who have so far focused on cutting costs, have in recent weeks sought meetings with staff to explore relaxing what some companies have described as burdensome and unnecessary regulations, including reworking Biden-era rules adopted last year on so-called Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, or SPACs, and requirements that private investment advisers confidentially disclose more data so regulators can better spot systemic risk, the sources said.
Judge Halts Mass Firings and Organizational Changes at H.H.S.
The New York Times
By Christina Jewett and Zach Montague
July 1, 2025
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with a dramatic reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services, finding that the mass firings and organizational changes were probably unlawful.
US judge blocks Trump administration move to overhaul health agencies
Reuters
By Nate Raymond
July 1, 2025
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with plans to overhaul the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by reorganizing several of its agencies and substantially cutting their workforce. U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose in Providence, Rhode Island, issued an injunction, opens new tab at the behest of a group of Democratic-led states who challenged a plan HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in March to consolidate agencies and fire 10,000 of the department's employees.
Social Security Offices Brace for Birthright Ruling Fallout
The American Prospect
By Whitney Curry Wimbish
July 1, 2025
The administrative nightmare comes as Trump has already sought to crush the agency through a “significant workforce reduction,” despite it already operating at a 40-year staffing low, as the Prospect’s David Dayen has reported. The regime must cut another 3,000 workers to reach its goal of no more than 50,000 workers to administer benefits for more than 73 million Americans, said American Federation of Government Employees Social Security Council 220 president Jessica LaPointe in an interview. “We’re basically herding the public through like cattle and then we don’t get the back-end processing time to make sure the applications are processed accurately,” said LaPointe, who had been a bilingual claims specialist since 2009 before her election as president in 2022. “It’s lots of stress for the workers and long service delays for the American people.”
IMMIGRATION
SEIU protest in Jena against Trump’s immigration enforcement (Video)
KALB
June 30, 2025
Protestors gathered outside the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Jena on June 30, targeting President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement.
Judge blocks Trump’s early termination of temporary protections for Haitian immigrants
Politico
By Hassan Ali Kanu
July 1, 2025
A federal judge in New York has blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to strip immigration protections from Haitians fleeing instability in their country. The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan preserves, for now, the Biden administration’s 2024 extension of the protections, known as “temporary protected status,” for up to 500,000 Haitians living in the United States.
ORGANIZING
What’s next for UW Health nurses’ effort to win union rights?
The Cap Times
By Erin McGroarty
July 1, 2025
Nurses at UW Health say they’re not giving up on a quest to gain union recognition after the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected their arguments on the matter. “We’re going to just keep fighting,” said Mary Jorgensen, who has worked as an inpatient operating nurse for UW Health for 20 years. “We were hoping it wouldn't go this way. But we're determined to restore our collective bargaining rights, if that's through either the Legislature or voluntary recognition, which was our original ask six years ago.”
UNION NEGOTIATIONS
WHYY
By Cory Sharber,Tom MacDonald and Maria Pulcinella
July 1, 2025
Philadelphia’s largest blue-collar union is on strike following weeks of negotiations over pay. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33 represents 9,000 city workers, including sanitation workers, city mechanics, 911 dispatchers and school crossing guards. This is the first time the union has walked off the job in nearly 40 years, when a 20-day strike led to trash piling up on city streets.
Philadelphia's largest blue-collar workers' union goes on strike for first time in nearly 40 years
CBS News
By Tom Ignudo, Bill Seiders and Kerri Corrado
July 1, 2025
Philadelphia's largest city workers' union is on strike for the first time in nearly 40 years on Tuesday after a deal couldn't be reached with the city. AFSCME District Council 33, which represents thousands of city workers including trash collectors and police dispatchers, is walking off the job after negotiations didn't end in a deal. The union last went on a strike in 1986. Here's what you need to know about the strike and how it will affect Philadelphia.
No negotiations expected until next year on 18-game NFL season, CBA issues
The Washington Post
By Mark Maske
July 1, 2025
The NFL Players Association is not expected to engage in formal negotiations with the NFL and its team owners on a potential 18-game regular season and other issues related to the sport’s labor agreement until at least early next year, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
Firefighters' union files unfair labor practice complaint over DC Fire and EMS wages
WJLA
By Katie Bourque
July 1, 2025
Local 36 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, which represents D.C. Firefighters, has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. The complaint, submitted to the District of Columbia Public Employee Relations Board, accuses the Department of failing to negotiate in good faith over critical compensation issues.
SF Opera Orchestra Signs New Labor Contract
San Francisco Classical Voice
By Janos Gereben
July 1, 2025
On Monday, June 30, San Francisco Opera announced that a new collective bargaining agreement had been signed by the company’s orchestra on Thursday, June 26, just a day before the Pride Concert closing out the 2025 summer season at the War Memorial Opera House. The two-year contract with the American Federation of Musicians Local 6 is set to run through July 31, 2026, assuring labor peace for next season. The agreement is retroactive to Aug. 1, 2024, the date the last contract expired; between then and now, the parties had agreed to temporary extensions to prevent a strike.
UNFI, Haug’s Cub Foods workers ratify union contract
Grocery Dive
By Peyton Bigora
July 1, 2025
Unionized grocery store workers at United Natural Foods, Inc. Cub Foods and Haug’s Cub Foods ratified their union contract over the weekend, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663, which represents the union, said in an emailed announcement. Securing the fair contract came after nearly 3,000 grocery workers threatened to strike. UFCW Local 663 also agreed to drop the unfair labor practice charges filed as part of the tentative agreement.
Allina doctors vote to authorize strike
Minnesota Reformer
By Madison McVan
July 1, 2025
Members of the nation’s largest private-sector doctors union voted to authorize a strike if its negotiating team can’t reach a contract agreement with Allina Health. There is no timeline for a strike, according to a press release from Doctors Council Service Employees International Union. If the negotiating unit decides to call a strike, they must give Allina a 10-day notice. The doctors’ vote comes on the heels of nurses recently voting to authorize strikes. Some groups of nurses opted to call a strike just days after the authorization. Doctors Council SEIU includes doctors, nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants at 60 Allina primary and urgent care clinics in Minnesota plus one in Wisconsin.
Knoxville Area Transit workers picket amid ongoing contract negotiations
WTAE
By Gregory Raucoules
July 1, 2025
Knoxville Area Transit employees took to the streets on Tuesday to voice their displeasure over ongoing contract negotiations. Employees and members of the local 1164 chapter of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) picketed outside the Knoxville station on Church Avenue. ATU International Senior Organizer Ismael Rivera told 6 News that their contract with KAT expired Monday and negotiations remain ongoing.
Snopes workers announce intent to unionize, citing majority support
Editor & Publisher
By Staff
July 1, 2025
Employees of the oldest fact-checking organization on the internet, Snopes.com, announced their intent to form a union on June 30. The Snopes Guild seeks voluntary recognition from CEO Chris Richmond, CFO Drew Schoentrup, Executive Editor Doreen Marchionni and Director of Accounting Amber Marsowicz after 80% of eligible staffers — and counting — signed union cards authorizing representation by the Media Guild of the West.
Local dispensary fighting for union bargaining rights
WMDT
By Leila Weah
June 30, 2025
Apothecarium Employees, like Brian Guldan have been weathering the heat since Saturday, holding signs and garnering attention. For three days, he, and his colleagues have been picketing outside, calling for, what Guldan said, is their right to fair bargaining. “Most of our employees worked here before TerrAscend bought this place, and since then, we’ve seen a change,” said Guldan. In October, Apothecarium employees voted to unionize under United Food & Commercial Workers International Union Local 27.
IN THE STATES
Guest column: Michigan’s future depends on clean energy investments — the proposed budget destroys them (Opinion)
Macomb Daily
By Ryan Charney and Frank Houston
June 30, 2025
The “Big Beautiful” Budget Bill passed by the U.S. House last week did a lot more harm to Michiganders than cut Medicare and SNAP, it also tanked Michigan’s pursuit of clean energy jobs and environmental efforts — putting good-paying jobs for electrical workers and our state’s future at risk. The House-passed budget guts clean energy tax incentives established by the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which have made major clean energy investments in Michigan possible.
'People will die': Maine nurses protest Medicaid cuts in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
Fox23 Maine
By Aysia Reed
July 1, 2025
Nurses from across the state will be outside of Senator Susan Collins’ district office in Portland on Tuesday to protest the proposed medical cuts under Trump’s bill. This is part of a nationwide effort held by the group National Nurses United, which is the nation's largest union of registered nurses. New estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office show nearly 12 million Americans could lose their health insurance if Trump's "big, beautiful bill" passes.
Feds side with union in legal dispute with Brightline Florida
Orlando Weekly
By McKenna Schueler
July 1, 2025
In a June 26 letter to TWU international president John Samuelson, signed by the FRA’s chief counsel, the federal agency confirmed (with Brightline copied) that Brightline should be aware of its obligations if it wants to continue receiving taxpayer dollars. “DOT and FRA in recent years have awarded significant grant funding to improve infrastructure which is shared or exclusively operated over by Brightline Florida. This grant funding has helped fuel Brightline Florida’s success and growth of intercity passenger rail transportation in Florida,” the letter from the FRA, obtained by Orlando Weekly, reads. “However, in receiving Federal financial assistance, Brightline must meet its obligations as a grant recipient.”
Nurses rally against ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Medicaid cuts
WDTN
By Emily Lewis
July 1, 2025
Registered nurses are teaming up across the nation to push for change. National Nurses United is the nation’s largest union of registered nurses. On Tuesday, they planned rallies at lawmakers’ offices in eight different states, urging lawmakers to vote against proposed Medicaid cuts in the GOP reconciliation package.
Nurses protest proposed Medicaid cuts at Rep. Michael Cloud's office
KRIS 6
By Kensi Bryce
July 1, 2025
Registered nurses gathered at Representative Michael Cloud's district office today to protest proposed Medicaid cuts that could affect millions of Americans. The demonstration was part of a nationwide mobilization organized by the National Nurses Union targeting elected representatives across the country.