President Biden last week submitted the Administration’s annual budget request to Congress containing the President’s recommendations for funding the federal government in the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022), which runs from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.
To no one’s surprise, the budget requests significant increases in the enforcement budgets for the agencies responsible for regulating the workforce, including a 33% funding increase for the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and more than a 10% funding increase for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Unlike traditional annual budget requests, President Biden’s budget also contains long term estimates for portions of two major White House initiatives, the “American Jobs Plan” and the “American Families Plan,” each of which if enacted would have a significant impact on worksite enforcement efforts.
Please keep in mind that a President’s annual budget request is essentially aspirational, and should be viewed as more of a wish list than a done deal. In the end, it is Congress, not the Administration, that decides on final government funding numbers, as well as implementing any proposed policy changes.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.