DOL to Rescind Biden-era ESG Rule. In a status report filed this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) stated that it will no longer defend a legal challenge to the Biden administration’s 2022 ESG (environmental, social, and governance) rule (formally, “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights”). Instead, the administration will pursue notice-and-comment rulemaking to rescind the regulation. The pending rulemaking will be the latest regulatory back-and-forth on this issue, as the DOL in 2020 finalized a regulation that limited the abilities of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plan fiduciaries to consider investment factors that “promote non-pecuniary benefits or objectives.” In turn, the 2022 Biden-era rule instituted an “all things being equal” standard that allows plan fiduciaries to consider such factors as “tiebreakers” in investing decisions. There is no timetable for the proposed rule, but the spring regulatory agenda—expected sometime in June or July of this year—should provide some clues.

USCIS Nominee Wants Restrictions on OPT. Last week, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Joseph Edlow to serve as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In response to a question from Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) regarding optional practical training (OPT), a program that provides F-1 students with up to three years of work authorization after graduation, Edlow responded with the following:

What I want to see would be essentially a regulatory and sub-regulatory program that would allow us to remove the ability for employment authorizations for F-1 students beyond the time that they are in school.

The statement clearly provides insight not just into the future of OPT, but also on the types of employment-based immigration policies that USCIS will pursue in the future. The committee has not yet voted on Edlow’s nomination.

Consulates to Pause Student Visa Interviews. According to media reports, the U.S. Department of State has instructed U.S. consulates to refrain from scheduling new interviews for applicants seeking visas to study in the United States in preparation for new social media vetting protocols. The State Department will reportedly be issuing guidance as to what such vetting will entail. The increased scrutiny of foreign students’ social media activities is likely rooted in President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” which instructs the secretary of state, the attorney general, the secretary of homeland security, and the director of national intelligence to ensure “that all aliens seeking admission to the United States, or who are already in the United States, are vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

House Committee Examines DEI on College Campuses. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing last week entitled “Restoring Excellence: The Case Against DEI.” The hearing primarily focused on fallout from the Supreme Court of the United States’ 2023 ruling prohibiting the use of affirmative action in college admissions, including alleged ongoing discrimination in the college admissions process. Witnesses and lawmakers also examined college accreditation standards and medical school curricula, among other topics. The Dismantle DEI Act, introduced in 2024 by then-senator J.D. Vance, was not discussed.

Republican Lawmakers Seek Input on Transparency Reforms for Union Members. Chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Tim Walberg (R-MI), along with Representative Rick Allen (R-GA), who chairs the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, sent an open letter to stakeholders soliciting feedback on potential revisions to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) “to inform Congress how it can reform the LMRDA to ensure labor organizations adhere to the highest standards of responsibility and ethical conduct.” The letter is divided into the following issue area categories:

• Strengthening Member Governance and Voting Rights (e.g., “Should a union be required to hold a secret ballot vote of membership to ratify a collective bargaining agreement or authorize a strike?” And, “What information should a union be required to share with membership during contract negotiations and before a strike authorization?”)
• Fiscal Transparency and Fiduciary Duty (e.g., “How can Congress clarify or strengthen fiduciary responsibilities of union officers?”)
• Political Expenditures and Member Consent (e.g., “What reforms would give members more direct control over the portion of their dues used for lobbying, campaign contributions, or ballot-measure advocacy?”)
• Digital Disclosure and Data Accessibility
• Enforcement, Compliance Assistance, and Whistleblower Protections (e.g., “Do current criminal and civil penalties under the LMRDA adequately deter embezzlement, vote rigging, and false reporting? If not, how should they be updated?” And, “Should Congress establish a private right of action or a more robust whistleblower protection program to assist members with reporting wrongdoing?”)

The letter requests that all stakeholder feedback be submitted by July 22, 2025. The Buzz expects that this information will eventually lead to the introduction of legislation amending the LMRDA.

Labor Secretary Outlines Priorities on Capitol Hill. As part of the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriations process, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer testified last week before the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. 

RIP, Harrison Tyler. Harrison Ruffin Tyler died on May 25, 2025, at the age of ninety-six. A chemical engineer and historical preservationist, Tyler was, quite amazingly, the grandson of our tenth president, John Tyler, who served as our chief executive from 1841–1845. How could someone who passed away this week have a grandfather born in 1790, just one year after ratification of the U.S. Constitution? Well, it helps that John Tyler fathered more children—fifteen—than any other president. It also helps that one of those children—Lyon Gardiner Tyler—was born to John Tyler’s second wife (Julia Gardiner Tyler) in 1853, when the former president was sixty-three years old. Like his father, Lyon Gardiner also married twice, and his second wife, Sue Ruffin, was thirty-five years his junior. Ruffin gave birth to Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928, when Lyon Tyler was seventy-five years old.