Skip to content
RollCall logo

Staff

Mark Bocchetti

The Latest From Mark Bocchetti
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia hasn't yet replied to Democratic senators asking for an accounting of fraud in the expanded jobless benefits Congress provided to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

After jobless cases soared, states seek to root out the fraud

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 24, 2020 at 5:05am
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said the court repeated the "false claim by Big Business" that OSHA has done what's needed to protect workers.

Court denies AFL-CIO request to require COVID-19 rule from OSHA

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 11, 2020 at 3:56pm
Senate Finance Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said at a hearing Tuesday that Congress didn't target a $600 a week jobless benefit well because it was a disincentive for some to return to work.

Scalia open to extending jobless benefits, but with changes

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 9, 2020 at 6:36pm
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia appears before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday in the wake of an inspector general's report of a risk of fraud in its handling of some COVID-19 relief payments.

Labor Department dodges IG plea to tighten jobless rules

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 8, 2020 at 5:48pm
Senate Labor Appropriations Chairman Roy Blunt, R-Mo., urged a speedy replacement of Dahl.

Labor IG departs amid fraud dispute over jobless benefits

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 3, 2020 at 7:00pm
The AFL-CIO cites data on health care workers who have been stricken with or succumbed to COVID-19 in the labor group's push to get an emergency standard for workers.

Workplace infection rule could backfire, Labor Department says

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 1, 2020 at 5:32pm
President Donald Trump announced a series of measures designed to punish Beijing for its treatment of Hong Kong and other actions.

Trump says he’ll begin removal of Hong Kong’s preferred status

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 29, 2020 at 4:01pm
OSHA head Loren E. Sweatt, left, testified along with John Howard, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health director.

Democrats press OSHA head over COVID-19 enforcement

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 28, 2020 at 5:21pm
A postal worker wearing a mask picks up mail from a sidewalk box in April. Union leaders say without a boost in federal funding, costs from the coronavirus pandemic could leave the Postal Service without funds to operate this fall.

‘Out of money by early fall’: Postal unions press for pandemic relief

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 27, 2020 at 5:10pm
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka accused the Labor Department of a COVID-19 response that was “delinquent, delayed, disorganized, chaotic and totally inadequate.”

AFL-CIO, Labor Department spar over workplace safety amid COVID-19

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 21, 2020 at 6:00am
More than 36 million people have filed for jobless benefits in the eight weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic brought widespread business closures.

Democrats, eyeing GOP, extend but don’t top up jobless benefit

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 14, 2020 at 6:14pm
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., has endorsed a special police force to investigate voter fraud, which critics fear will be used to intimidate people from voting at all.

Florida, Kentucky are slowest states in handling jobless claims

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 13, 2020 at 8:56am
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, shown at his 2019 Senate confirmation hearing, has defended the department's coronavirus response against the AFL-CIO president's charge it has failed to protect workers.

AFL-CIO’s Trumka, Labor’s Scalia clash over workplace safety

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 30, 2020 at 7:40pm
Businesses operating under different government jurisdictions fear varying reopening standards.

Chamber urges common federal, state, local reopening guideline

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 28, 2020 at 4:34pm
More than 26 million people have filed initial unemployment claims since the COVID-19 pandemic began closing down businesses.

States navigate jobless flood at different speeds

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 28, 2020 at 5:00am
AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, shown here, at a 2014 speech, criticized the White House for failing to include worker advocates on its coronavirus economic task force.

AFL-CIO’s Trumka rejects reopening without safety measures

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 21, 2020 at 12:57pm
Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., was among a group of Democrats who wrote to National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow over the weekend urging tariff relief.

Trump’s deferral of a few duties falls short for some importers

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 20, 2020 at 4:54pm
A sign is taped on a restaurant window with the reflection of an apartment building in the background on H Street Northeast in Washington on April 3, 2020.

Labor officials see uneven progress on jobless benefits

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 15, 2020 at 5:27pm
A closed for business sign is seen on the Wonderland Ballroom in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington on Tuesday, April 7, 2020.

States begin payment of new unemployment benefits

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 13, 2020 at 6:30am
The Federal Reserve building.

Institute sees Congress, Fed actions driving fast recovery

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 10, 2020 at 1:08pm
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia testifies during his nomination hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Sept. 19, 2019.

Senate Democrats press Labor secretary on benefits as joblessness rises

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 9, 2020 at 12:57pm
N95 face masks, seen here at a store in East Palo Alto, California, on Jan. 26, 2020, may be included in an exemption issued by FEMA on Wednesday for producers of personal protective equipment for health care workers.

FEMA allows export of health protective gear despite emergency

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 8, 2020 at 7:00pm
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Labor Department guidance is putting workers through "significant red tape" to get the additional benefits.

States have differing speeds on jobless pay boost

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 6, 2020 at 5:49pm

Unemployment claims surge as states await federal guidance

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted April 2, 2020 at 8:48am
Millions of people have lost jobs in the effort to fight the pandemic and will be eligible for the expanded benefits enacted by Congress.

Economic rescue package stretches jobless benefits

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted March 30, 2020 at 3:35pm
A worker at Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, a food pantry in Bloomington, Ind., distributes food to people experiencing food insecurity, during the coronavirus national emergency. Food bank officials say they are seeing more people arriving for emergency food after the mass layoffs of local workers.

Jobless claims soar as House considers added benefits

By Mark Bocchetti and Jim Saksa
Posted March 26, 2020 at 9:01am
The Port of Seattle cranes load freighters near Colman Ferry Terminal on Elliott Bay in the Seattle Harbor.

US ports did better with exports than imports as virus spread

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted March 20, 2020 at 5:46pm
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., speaks with reporters after a news conference in the Capitol on March 3, 2020.

Murray, others urge sick leave in future coronavirus bill

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted March 18, 2020 at 6:44pm
The pandemic caused by the coronavirus is disrupting supplies.

Business group finds coronavirus disrupting supplies in South China

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted March 18, 2020 at 2:50pm
A worker collects grapes in September 2019 in a vineyard near Rauzan in the Entre-Deux-Mers region near Bordeaux, southwestern France. The U.S Trade Representative wants to impose tariffs on French products from wine and cheese to cosmetics and cookware because of a tax that France imposed on U.S. companies providing digital services. (Georges Gobet/AFP via Getty Images)

US wine and cosmetic importers fear harm in response to French digital services tax

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted January 7, 2020 at 9:50am
President Donald Trump and Apple CEO Tim Cook, to Trump’s right, tour the Flextronics computer manufacturing facility where Apple’s Mac Pros are assembled in Austin, Texas, in November. Apple has fared better than most companies in winning exemptions on tariffs on Chinese imports. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images file photo)

Long wait for China tariff exemptions pays off for some

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted December 23, 2019 at 10:00am
Eugene Scalia was confirmed Thursday as Labor secretary. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)

Senate confirms Eugene Scalia as Labor secretary

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted September 26, 2019 at 3:23pm
Eugene Scalia, left, pictured with then-Sen. Christopher S. Bond, R-Mo., at his 2001 confirmation hearing to be solicitor of the Labor Department, has a record of defeating labor regulations in court. (CQ Roll Call file photo)

Scalia, skilled at upending rules, may soon write them at Labor

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted August 5, 2019 at 11:25am
The office of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has processed approximately 700 requests for exclusions on the first $34 billion tranche of imports. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Trade Office works through tariff exclusions as requests mount

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted July 29, 2019 at 8:59am
Boeing 737 Max airplanes are stored on employee parking lots near Boeing Field in Seattle. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)

Boeing 737 Max grounded following international accidents, downs U.S. export numbers

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted July 24, 2019 at 5:03pm
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., joined a bill targeting low-cost foreign airlines seeking to fly to the United States. (File photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

House bill targets Qatar-linked ‘flag of convenience’ Italian airline

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted July 16, 2019 at 11:25am
President Donald Trump announced that no new tariffs will be imposed on Chinese imports during the U.S.-China trade talks. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Assessing the trade talks with China

By Ellyn Ferguson, Mark Bocchetti and Toula Vlahou
Posted July 5, 2019 at 12:24pm
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer identified possible tariff targets in response to a possible World Trade Organization ruling against Airbus. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Trade rep targets EU hams, cheeses, olives and pasta for tariffs

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted July 3, 2019 at 2:30pm
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., talks with reporters after the Republican Senate Policy Luncheon on May 14, 2019. Rubio filed an amendment to a defense authorization bill barring Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from pursuing intellectual property claims against U.S. Companies if the administration finds the company poses an "undue risk" to telecommunication systems. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Sen. Rubio wants to stop Huawei from filing U.S. patent lawsuits

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 19, 2019 at 11:38am
A shipping container is offloaded from the Hong Kong based CSCL East China Sea container ship at the Port of Oakland on June 20, 2018 in Oakland, California. U.S. president Donald Trump’s trade policy imposing escalating tariffs with China could impact the price of baby gates and child car seats, putting low-income families at risk, industry leaders said during testimony at the U.S. International Trade Commission. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Tariffs on Chinese-made car seats and baby gates could put children at risk, industry worries

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 18, 2019 at 11:04am
Shipping containers sit stacked at Dachan Bay Terminals on July 12, 2018, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China. The US government threated to impose 10 percent tariffs on thousands of Chinese products worth $200 billion on Tuesday. A new survey from the International Monetary Fund finds that China appears to be able to bear the cost of the Trump administration’s tariffs on imports. (VCG/Getty Images)

Trump’s tariffs on China won’t have much of an effect, IMF says

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 7, 2019 at 9:46am
Brand new Subaru cars sit in a lot at Auto Warehousing Company near the Port of Richmond on May 17, 2019 in Richmond, California. U.S. President Donald Trump says he will hold off on applying new tariffs on cars and auto parts for up to six months as negotiations on trade deals continue with Japan and the European Union. Tariffs could do wide-ranging harm to the U.S. economy, business representatives and think-tank observers warn. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Tariffs on Mexico could do wide-ranging harm to the U.S. economy, observers warn

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted June 5, 2019 at 11:18am
The Huawei Technologies Co. logo is displayed at the Huawei Technologies Co. headquarters on March 29, 2019, in Shenzhen, China. Huawei, the worlds largest telecommunication equipment maker, reported on Friday its annual profit rose 25% to 59.3 billion yuan ($8.7 billion) despite being at the center of global scrutiny. Huawei Technologies faces a barrage of legal and regulatory actions threatening its access to U.S. markets, but it is fighting back with a lawsuit in U.S. courts challenging congressional authority. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

Huawei accuses Congress of ‘tyranny’ in suit over federal contracting ban

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 31, 2019 at 10:58am
Brand new cars sit on a truck that is leaving a lot at the Auto Warehousing Company near the Port of Richmond on May 24, 2018 in Richmond, California. U.S. president Donald Trump has set a clock on possible trade action or tariffs against car imports from Japan and Europe. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Trump‘s car import move is getting panned

By Mark Bocchetti and Ellyn Ferguson
Posted May 17, 2019 at 12:55pm
A container ship sits docked at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, California. President Donald Trump and China traded barbs again Friday in an escalating trade battle that has prompted global recession fears. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Nearly half seeking exclusions from new Trump tariffs on China get preliminary OK

By Mark Bocchetti
Posted May 14, 2019 at 12:01pm