Raj Nayak
rdnayak.bsky.social
Raj Nayak
@rdnayak.bsky.social
Personal account. Views my own. Likes aren’t necessarily endorsements. Over here, I’m not even sure if they’re likes?
This report is a tour de force and worth reading closely. This is one of my favorite sections, which captures an important lesson: if your risk tolerance is too low, you'll get a lot less done. That's not a reason to be reckless or act illegally, but at least to err on the side of action.
October 29, 2025 at 2:46 AM
I love @dougbloch.bsky.social, Sameera Fazili, and Pronita Gupta making the case for the stabilizing impacts of community bargaining agreements!

www.utilitydive.com/news/communi...
How community benefits agreements can reduce project delivery risk
Working with communities to develop energy or other projects can help developers deliver on-time and on-budget, and with a strong foundation of local support.
www.utilitydive.com
October 21, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Great op-ed from Seema Nanda on the DOL's attack on the homecare workers -- stripping wages from workers in one of the hardest jobs out there.
August 21, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
🚨Panel tomorrow🚨 Honored to join fellow panelists Julie Su and and Daniel Hornung.

The BLS is vital to our economy, plain and simple.

Join tomorrow to hear more about the agency, what it does, and why we need it.

groundworkcollaborative.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Trump’s Attacks on BLS: A Threat to Our Economy and Working Families. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Last week, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had fired Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), only hours after a government report showed hiri...
groundworkcollaborative.zoom.us
August 6, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Dr. Erika McEntarfer has devoted her career to public service. She has conducted herself as BLS Commissioner with great integrity. There is no evidence whatsoever that BLS data are politically biased.

#econsky
August 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Trump firing Commissioner of Labor Statistics Dr. Erika McEntarfer is completely consistent with how he behaves when presented with data he doesn’t like.

He did this with the sharpie hurricane and he did it with the pandemic.

Data are not political, they are data.
August 1, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
I have spent most of my life making government work for people. But the institutions I love have been losing faith with the public for a long time. If we love government, then when we rebuild it we’ll have to be willing to break some glass to make it deliver like FDR did.
Trump showed how easily the old guardrails of government could be shattered for the benefit of the few.

@elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social & Hannah Garden-Monheit remind us: those same rules can be rewritten to serve the many. @thehill.com thehill.com/opinion/whit...
thehill.com
July 23, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Very thoughtful piece by @elizabethwwilkins.bsky.social and Hannah Garden-Monheit on what it will take to rebuild the federal government -- which will include thinking big. thehill.com/opinion/whit...
thehill.com
July 24, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Justice Connection sent a letter signed by 900+ former DOJ attorneys urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to rigorously examine Emil Bove’s assault on the department and rule of law before voting on a lifetime judicial appointment.

Our full letter: bit.ly/3Ul58Ac
July 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Bossware is on the rise—and it’s threatening #WorkersRights.

Our policy agenda examines how unchecked workplace surveillance is degrading job quality & highlights worker-led solutions that use tech to empower, not exploit. It's time for lawmakers to follow their lead: www.nelp.org/insights-res...
When 'Bossware' Manages Workers: A Policy Agenda to Stop Digital Surveillance and Automated-Decision-System Abuses - National Employment Law Project
Our report highlights the problems posed by employers’ excessive and inappropriate use of technology to monitor and manage workers.
www.nelp.org
July 15, 2025 at 7:43 PM
I was excited to write this piece for Democracy Journal with my @cljeharvard.bsky.social colleauges @sharblock.bsky.social and Seema Nanda – explaining the attack on the National Labor Relations Act, and the stakes for workers and our democracy.
The NLRA is under attack, and it’s not just workers who would lose out. Unions are fundamental to a functioning democracy, and strong unions can mount a defense for workers and for democracy. Read our latest in Democracy Journal:
democracyjournal.org/magazine/77/...
The NLRA Under Attack
The historic labor act faces unprecedented assaults in the Trump era. Here’s what that means for our democracy.
democracyjournal.org
July 1, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
As Team Trump takes a bat to workers' rights, it's a “Which side are you on?” moment. Some Democratic leaders are waffling or worse. Instead they should unambiguously stand for workers every chance they get. My latest in @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/1972...
Democratic Governors, Why Are You Turning Your Backs on Workers?
Oregon’s Tina Kotek did the right thing this week. But other Democratic governors and leaders are opposing measures that would unambiguously help workers. Shame on them.
newrepublic.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
The sad and preventable return of black lung. And Trump just paused enforcement of a rule that would address it. A friend of coal miners? www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/w... @jbarab.bsky.social @aflcio.org @rdnayak.bsky.social
How Black Lung Came Roaring Back to Coal Country
www.nytimes.com
June 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
This great analysis by Sam Berger explains how the Republican Tax Bill makes it harder for families to access services and costs them benefits even if they qualify.

www.cbpp.org/research/fed...
House Republican Tax Bill Would Create Costly Red Tape for Millions of Families | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
The goal is not to improve program efficiency, but to pay for tax cuts for the very wealthy by denying people benefits through frustrating, pointless paperwork.
www.cbpp.org
June 5, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Sometimes I feel like the Trump era has presented a kind of trolling, darkly humorous test to American liberals:

* Everything you have been skeptical of since the 1960s—or since you became a politically conscious person, with a sensibility shaped by that era—you will now be forced to _defend_. *
May 30, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Administrative burdens: policymaking by other means
In Arkansas, organizers working on ballot initiatives already face a mountain of technical rules to satisfy — down to the color of ink that notaries must use on petitions. The state this spring made the obstacle course even tougher. boltsmag.org/new-rul...
“It Just Feels Like Death”: Barrage of New Rules Target Arkansas Ballot Initiatives
Faced with popular initiatives to protect abortion rights and other measures they dislike, state Republicans are passing new bills that local advocates say will hollow out direct democracy.
boltsmag.org
May 31, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Kind of baffled by this passage. Starts off saying the funds were "wasted" on "equity projects". Then says that by equity she means making the system easier to use and more accessible, which sounds like a good thing to do. Then she says that didn't count as bad DEI.
May 28, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Check out my new piece on the dangers of the Supreme Court giving Trump the power to control independent agencies- scary, radical stuff.
Trump has decided that he has the power to remove members of independent boards and commissions whenever and for whatever reason he wants, writes Lynn Rhinehart. And the Supreme Court appears—wrongly, disastrously—ready to agree with the president. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power
The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.
www.thenation.com
May 26, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Friendly reminder that the most important things for most businesses to make decisions and investments are the rule of law and regulatory certainty.
Today in Central Planning: 🇺🇸

$AAPL
May 23, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
New, from me:
Quick explainer on why the Supreme Court (likely) decision to overturn Humphrey's Executor and move toward unitary executive theory will undermine any future efforts to rebuild state capacity.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/why-the-su...
Why the Supreme Court decision on firing independent agency heads is a big deal
The demise of Humphrey's Executor and the rise of unitary executive theory
donmoynihan.substack.com
May 23, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Read for yourself this provision of the reconciliation bill, which is the current text just released by the House Rules Committee.

Then read: Dean Erwin Chemerinsky's essay this morning in @justsecurity.org.

Chemerinsky's essay is titled: "A Terrible Idea"
www.justsecurity.org/113529/terri...
May 19, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
Our best chance to stop this thing is in the House.

Rs are trying to pass it though Budget tonight, through Rules Wednesday, and then through the full chamber on Friday.

It would kick millions off Medicaid and take food assistance away from households with kids as young as 7. Please help stop it.
This coming week is a crucial week of action.

By as early as Friday, House Rs are hoping to have passed their bill to kick millions off Medicaid and millions off SNAP.

Even with all Dems opposed this could pass both the House and the Senate - so we need to flip 3 in the House or 4 in the Senate.
May 18, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
BREAKING: Judge blocks President Trump’s unconstitutional campaign to radically restructure and dismantle the federal government.

This ruling is one of many that prove Elon Musk, DOGE, and even the president himself are not above the rule of law and the will of the American people.
May 10, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Reposted by Raj Nayak
This is a fantastic opporutnity to fund research on the Inflation Reduction Act, and a positive vision for creating jobs all around the nation!
How has the Inflation Reduction Act's design affected job creation, domestic manufacturing, and clean energy investment? 🔎

We just launched a Request for Proposals 📊 to find out!

🗓️ Deadline to apply: May 22, 2025

🔗 Learn more on how to become an #EGgrantee:

equitablegrowth.org/research-pap...
Request for Proposals: The economic effects of the Inflation Reduction Act
Equitable Growth's announces its RFP on the Inflation Reduction Act and equitable economic outcomes related to clean energy transition. Apply now!
equitablegrowth.org
April 3, 2025 at 2:13 AM