18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies · Notable · Needs Congress
Repromulgate and codify the Trump-era Wagner–Peyser staffing flexibility rule
Printed page 606 18. Department of Labor and Related Agencies
“DOL should repromulgate the Trump-era staffing flexibility rule, and Congress should codify it.”
What has happened
- Partially done
ETA published the final rule removing the state merit-staffing requirement outright, effective 2026-10-19: states may now use whatever staffing model delivers the required Employment Service services most efficiently. The repromulgation half of the ask is delivered. Congress has not codified it, so a future administration can reverse it by the same route — which is precisely what the Quote's second limb was asking Congress to prevent.
- Attempted
With the 2023 rule's compliance date about to bite, ETA delayed by one year — to 2027-01-21 — the date by which state grantees must comply with the merit-staffing requirements, keeping the flexibility in place while the rescission rulemaking ran.
- Attempted
The Employment and Training Administration proposed to remove the requirement that states use state merit staff to deliver Wagner-Peyser Employment Service services, restoring the staffing flexibility the 2020 rule had allowed before the 2023 rule reimposed merit staffing (RIN 1205-AC22).
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Two-object ask (§3b): “DOL should repromulgate the Trump-era staffing flexibility rule, and Congress should codify it.” DOL’s object is delivered; Congress’s is not, and no bill of the 119th Congress codifies Wagner-Peyser staffing flexibility. partial.
- Effective date read from
federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents/2026-16982.json. - One further ETA rulemaking on the same statute is announced and unpublished: RIN 1205-AC34, Revising Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service Monitor Advocate Provisions (reginfo.gov, pubId 202510).
- Action
- reinstate
- Object
- Wagner–Peyser staffing flexibility rule
- ID
- 1669