Representative Kiley, Senator Cassidy Introduce CRA to Reverse Biden Regulation Limiting Independent Contractors

WASHINGTON – Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) introduced, with 54 cosponsors, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final worker classification rule that seeks to destroy the gig economy and jeopardizes the ability of 27 million Americans to work as independent contractors. This comes as the DOL final rule was released earlier this year. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the companion CRA resolution in the U.S. Senate.  

“Gavin Newsom and Julie Su’s AB 5 severely restricted independent contracting in California, destroying thousands of livelihoods and harming California’s economy. As Acting Secretary of Labor, Su and the Biden Administration have announced a new Department of Labor rule, modeled after on the same job-killing AB 5 that will cost millions of independent professionals across the country their livelihoods while restricting the freedom of many millions more to have flexible work arrangements. Our legislation under the Congressional Review Act nullifies this terrible regulation and protects independent contractors,” said Rep. Kiley. “Washington should support workers, not regulate them into oblivion.”

“Independent contractors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses are fed up with the Department of Labor continually breathing down their necks,” said Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx. “The bicameral Congressional Review Act resolution led by Representative Kiley and Senator Cassidy offers Congress the opportunity to take a unified stand against the Department’s thirst for more government control over America’s workforce. Entrepreneurial opportunities and flexibility should be encouraged, not extinguished with heavy-handed mandates from the federal government.”

“The Biden administration’s priority should not be to do whatever makes it easier to forcibly and coercively unionize workers. It should be to increase individual freedom and opportunity,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This new Biden rule does the opposite, jeopardizing 27 million workers’ ability to make their own hours and make a living without being pressured into joining a union.” 

Click here to read the resolution.

Cosponsors include Virginia Foxx, Elise Stefanik, Warren Davidson, Michelle Steel, John Moolenaar, John Curtis, Darrell Issa, Michael Cloud, Ashley Hinson, Rick Allen, Lance Gooden, Scott Perry, Jay Obernolte, Adrian Smith, French Hill, Andy Ogles, Julia Letlow, Byron Donalds, Tracey Mann, Drew Ferguson, Gary Palmer, Joe Wilson, Mike Flood, Mary Miller, Barry Loudermilk, Daniel Webster, David Rouzer, Ron Estes, Ben Cline, Bob Good, Glenn Grothman, Young Kim, Neal Dunn, Burgess Owens, Debbie Lesko, Keith Self, Brett Guthrie, Tom Kean Jr, Lisa McClain, Glenn “GT” Thompson, Aaron Bean, Russ Fulcher, Brandon Williams, Brian Babin, Tim Walberg, Eric Burlison, Nathaniel Moran, Ralph Norman, Claudia Tenney, Steve Womack, William Timmons, Austin Scott, Roger Williams, and Matt Rosendale.

Background:

A Congressional Review Act, or CRA, is a tool that Congress can use to examine and overturn federal agency rules. The Biden Administration rule attempts to restrict the ability of American workers to classify as an independent contractor and take advantage of the flexibility it provides. The rule creates a non-exhaustive, six-factor litmus test for unelected bureaucrats to interpret and decide who is and who is not classified as an independent contractor. It also casts as large a net as possible and gives less legal certainty to independent contractors impacted by the regulation. A recent study out of George Mason University concluded that AB 5 “was associated with a significant decline in self-employment and overall employment in California.”

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