Climate caucus pushes worker protection bills

E&E DAILY | The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition endorsed its first slate of bills for the 119th Congress, backing a half-dozen measures that focus on workers' rights and protections.

The six bills announced Wednesday include proposals to protect federal employees. The legislation picked by the caucus would also create protections for workers facing climate impacts, such as rising temperatures.

The first round of endorsements was put forth by SEEC’s Climate Jobs Task Force, and the caucus plans to endorse further bills in the coming weeks.

“The SEEC Climate Jobs Task Force is dedicated to advancing robust pro-worker, pro-climate policies to ensure that the American clean energy economy is powered by good-paying, family-sustaining jobs,” task force co-chairs Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

Though SEEC is composed entirely of Democrats, four out of the six bills it endorsed were bipartisan. All were led by Democrats.

“The bills we have endorsed confront the Trump Administration’s attacks on America’s federal workers, ensure that our workforce is protected from rising temperatures, and support future good-paying jobs in competitive American industries,” the lawmakers added.

Among the bipartisan bills the group endorsed is H.R. 4443, the “Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury and Fatality Prevention Act,” sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.). It would direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to establish new heat protection standards for workers.

The group is also pushing Budzinski's H.R. 1662, the “Leveraging and Energizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs (LEAP) Act," to provide tax incentives to businesses that hire people from apprenticeship programs, and Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott's H.R. 20, the "Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2025, to expand union protections.

SEEC endorsed H.R. 1989, the “Protect Our Probationary Employees Act,” which sponsor Rep. Sarah Elfreth (D-Md.) called the “first bipartisan anti-DOGE bill in Congress.” The Department of Government Efficiency worked to cut employees and programs across the executive branch, including the Interior Department and EPA.

The measure would ensure that government employees that were laid off and reinstated in the early months of the Trump administration do not have to restart their probationary period.

H.R. 3093, the “Restoring Employment and Hiring Incentives for Removed Employees (REHIRE) Act,” also looks to protect fired federal workers. The bill from Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) would give priority to laid-off federal workers when it comes to rehiring for federal jobs.

Perhaps the most explicitly climate-oriented of SEEC’s slate is H.R. 5104, the “Preventing Health Emergencies and Temperature-related (HEAT) Illness and Deaths Act,” which would expand federal efforts to address heat-related illness and give new funding for community projects that reduce heat exposure. The measure is led by Bonamici and has only Democratic support so far.

All six of the bills have yet to receive committee votes.