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News Sept. 22, 2022

This Week in D.C.

Congressional spending bill must pass soon to avoid federal government shutdown

With a couple short weeks remaining on the legislative calendar before November’s elections, congressional leaders are busy negotiating a short-term spending deal, known as a continuing resolution, to fund the federal government given Congress’ failure to pass appropriations bills before fiscal year 2022 ends Sept. 30. The continuing resolution is expected to fund the government until mid-December, and Congress will need to return to address the budget after the elections in a “lame duck session.” Current negotiations are focused on permitting reform championed by Sen. Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a potential increase of funding for disaster relief and the war in Ukraine.

Cap on H-2B visas was reached for the first half of fiscal year 2023

On Sept. 14, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it had received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap on visas for the H-2B Temporary Non-Agricultural Worker program for the first half of fiscal year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023). Sept. 12 was the final date to receive new H-2B visa petitions subject to the cap; however, USCIS continues accepting H-2B petitions exempt from the statutory cap, including current H-2B workers within the U.S. who extend their stay, change employers, or change the terms and conditions of employment. NRCA is aware of the strong demand for additional H-2B visas and continues urging Congress to increase the number of visas on an annual or permanent basis to help the roofing industry meet seasonal workforce needs.

President Biden gives rare “60 Minutes” interview

In a rare, wide-ranging interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley for “60 Minutes,” President Biden talked about Ukraine, Taiwan, the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy.

Notable moments included when Biden downplayed recent inflation numbers that continue to tick up, telling Pelley he needed to “put this in perspective” and that the inflation rate month to month was “up just an inch, hardly at all.” He cited energy prices coming down in his hopes the economy has a soft landing out of the current situation.

President Biden also was asked whether U.S. troops would defend Taiwan, and he replied “yes,” if there were “an unprecedented attack.” The president was pressed further by Pelley to clarify: “So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion?" Biden simply said “Yes.” These comments appear to contradict decades of U.S. policy toward Taiwan, which has been to recognize Taiwan as part of China and maintain a policy of strategic ambiguity regarding whether it would intervene with military if Beijing invades.

President Biden also toured the Detroit Auto Show to highlight his investment in clean energy. However, his statements regarding COVID-19 stole the show. He said: “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it ... but the pandemic is over.” Still, the current emergency declaration continues until at least Oct. 13, and many workplaces require a COVID-19 vaccine to receive or sustain employment.

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