Plans to pare back a major social and environmental bill, a new deadline for infrastructure legislation, a potential downside of falling unemployment, booksellers face supply shortages, and a vaccine ultimatum in a major Connecticut health system are among the top business news items this morning.
National
Democrats are considering strategies for cutting down the cost of a $3.5 trillion bill concentrated on social and environmental initiatives after President Joe Biden said the legislation would need to be pared down. Lawmakers are likely to debate whether to eliminate programs entirely or to shorten their duration.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a new Oct. 31 deadline for the chamber to vote on a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. A vote on the measure was delayed due to an ongoing rift between moderate and progressive Democrats in the House, with the latter threatening to withhold votes from the infrastructure legislation if action is not first taken on the social and environmental bill.
Business trends
Some economists are concerned that the swift drop in the nation’s unemployment rate since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic could be masking a persistent issue with labor shortages. The decline in unemployment could be driven substantially by people staying out of the labor force, which would create further difficulties for companies seeking to fill open positions.
Booksellers are starting to feel the crunch of supply shortages, leading some publishers to postpone new releases. Printer shortages and ongoing shipping issues are causing the problem.
Connecticut
Employees in the Yale New Haven Health system who do not comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate will receive written warnings today and face termination if they do not comply with the requirement by Oct. 18. Of the system’s 29,000 employees, fewer than 400 have not been vaccinated.
