Beltway Buzz, August 29, 2025

NLRB Chair Kaplan Departs. Marvin Kaplan, chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), departed the agency this week, as his term expired on August 27, 2025. Kaplan had served on the NLRB since August 2017. During his initial years on the NLRB, Kaplan formed a Republican majority that largely focused on decisions issued by the Board during the Obama administration. During much of the Biden administration, however, Kaplan was in the minority, and during 2023 and 2024 served as the only Republican on the Board. Kaplan’s dissents during this most recent period are expected to serve as roadmaps for future decisions reversing Biden-era rulings when Republicans achieve a majority on the Board. In the meantime, David Prouty remains as the sole member on the Board, while nominees Scott Mayer and James Murphy await their confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate.

ICE Proposes Fixed Period of Stay for F-1 Students, J-1 Exchange Visitors. On August 28, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published a notice of proposed rulemaking, entitled, “Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media.” The proposal would change “the admission period in the F, J, and I classifications from duration of status to an admission for a fixed time period.” Currently, F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors are permitted to remain in the United States as long as they are pursuing a full course of study at an educational institution or participating in an authorized program. (J-1 students engaged in authorized practical training following the completion of their studies may also remain in the United States.) ICE now proposes to set the authorized admission periods for F and J nonimmigrants up to the length of the particular program, with a four-year maximum period (at which time they can apply for an extension of stay). ICE also proposes new limitations on F-1 students’ abilities to transfer or change programs, as well as the collection of biometric information from these visa holders. ICE maintains that the changes are necessary because the increase in individuals residing in the United States on these visas, combined with the indefinite period of admission, “poses a challenge to the Department’s ability to monitor and oversee these nonimmigrants while they are in the United States.” A similar proposal was advanced during President Trump’s first administration but was withdrawn by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. Comments must be received on or before September 29, 2025.

Republican Senator Sponsors Bill to Revive OSHA Ergonomics Standard. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act (S.2613) was recently reintroduced in the 119th Congress. Readers may recall that, among other provisions, the bill would establish a Fairness and Transparency Office within the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, would create a new unfair labor practice for certain productivity quotas, and would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to promulgate a “standard for ergonomic program management.” OSHA finalized an ergonomic standard in 2000, but it was rescinded in 2001 pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. The action has since prohibited the agency from issuing a regulation that is in “substantially the same form,” unless specifically authorized by Congress.

Once again, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) is a cosponsor of the bill, and it is a feature of his labor reform framework. The Buzz previously examined another pillar of Senator Hawley’s framework, the Faster Labor Contracts Act.

Bill Would Increase Penalties for Willful Wage/Hour Violations. Representative Seth Magaziner (D-RI) has reintroduced the Don’t Stand for Taking Employed Americans’ Livings (Don’t STEAL) Act (H.R. 5048). Pursuant to the bill, employers that willfully fail to properly pay employees wages, overtime pay, or tips could face up to five years in prison. Magaziner introduced the same bill in the previous Congress, with twenty-four Democrats joining him as cosponsors.

Administration Pauses Issuance of Visas for Commercial Truck Drivers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the United States will pause the issuance of visas for commercial truck drivers. The pause follows a crash in Florida that killed three people, after a truck driver—whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) states was in the country illegally—made an unlawful U-turn. Commercial truck drivers seeking to enter the United States on H-2B visas will be most affected.

Political Pitch. World Series champion, three-time All-Star, and five-time Gold Glove winner, Mark Teixeira, announced this week that he will run for Congress in Texas next year. Teixeira hopes to fill the seat currently occupied by Republican Chip Roy, who will be running for Attorney General of Texas. Should Teixeira win, he won’t be the first former major leaguer to go from the baseball diamond to the halls of Congress. For example, the Buzz recently wrote about John K. Tener, the professional baseball player–turned–Pennsylvania representative, who organized the first Congressional Baseball Game in 1909. And Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell pitched for three major league teams from 1952 to 1962 before serving as a Republican representative from North Carolina from 1969 to 1975. But perhaps the most famous baseball player–turned–politician is Jim Bunning, who pitched in the major leagues from 1955 to 1971 before representing Kentucky in the U.S. Congress as a Republican from 1987 to 2011. Bunning served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the U.S. Senate. On the baseball field, Bunning tossed both a no-hitter and a perfect game (one of only twenty-four perfect games in Major League Baseball history), and his 2,855 career strikeouts currently rank him twenty-second on the list of Major League Baseball’s career strikeout leaders. Not surprisingly, Bunning was the only person to serve as a U.S. senator and be a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.