NEWS: Casar, Duckworth Call on Biden Administration to Include Common-Sense Labor Standards for Recipients of Federal Funds

WASHINGTON –Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas), along with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), led 59 of their colleagues in sending a bicameral letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) calling on the Biden Administration to empower states and cities with more flexibility to tackle their local economic challenges when carrying out federally-funded projects—allowing them to expand diverse job growth and community hiring, support workers and grow their economy.

In their letter, the lawmakers call on the Administration to act swiftly to update decades-old regulations, known as Uniform Guidance, that currently governs how federal grant recipients can use their funds for federally-assisted projects: “Updating the Uniform Guidance is a crucial step to bring good-paying, family-sustaining jobs to the communities that need them the most. We look forward to working with the Biden Administration to empower state and local recipients of federal funds as they take substantial strides in improving job creation, quality, and equity for workers in hundreds of critical industries across the United States.”

The lawmakers stressed that these updates are as important as ever as we continue to work to implement major federal legislation—such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.

A full copy of the letter is available here.

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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio.  A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.