For much of President Obama's administration, the various fed eral labor and employment agencies and departments have aggressively pursued a pro-labor regulatory agenda. The pending election, however, has resulted in a notable slowdown. As one national paper recently observed, "[t]he pace of regulations issued by the Obama administration is receding as the nation's economy falters and the 2012 election approaches."1 The federal judiciary, as well, has slowed the pace of agency rulemaking. Most notably, courts have stopped both of the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB's) attempts to engage in rulemaking which it had not done for more than 20 years. Nonetheless, these agencies continue to advance the president's agenda through aggressive enforcement of current rules, precedent-overturning decisions, interpretive guidance, and, occasionally, new regulations.
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