By Darlene Superville and Zeke Miller
President Joe Biden met Wednesday with the CEOs of Walt Disney and Columbia Sportswear, and other business executives and leaders, to discuss his recently announced vaccine requirement for companies that employ at least 100 people.
The White House meeting comes less than a week after Biden said that the Labor Department is working to require businesses with 100 or more employees to order those workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or show a negative test result at least weekly.
Some 80 million workers would be subject to the requirement, Biden said. The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is working to issue an emergency rule to implement the requirement in the coming weeks.
Biden said it would “take a little while” for the agency to put the new requirement “on the wall” alongside other health and safety policies, but noted that employer moves toward mandates are already moving to improve the nation's laggard vaccination rate. His administration hopes that the announcement of the rule-making will jumpstart the business community's embrace of vaccinate-or-test requirements even before the OSHA rule is implemented.
Biden noted that Fox News, many of whose hosts have sharply criticized his policy, has required its employees to report their vaccination status and is moving to require testing for its unvaccinated staffers.
Just over half, or 54%, of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden announced the new requirements and several other steps last Thursday as part of a tougher effort by the administration to curb the surging delta variant of the coronavirus, which is responsible for surge in U.S. infections, hospitalizations and deaths. He also sharply criticized the tens of millions of people who remain unvaccinated, despite the fact that the shots are free of charge and widely available.
“We’ve been patient. But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us,” Biden said.
The business leaders and CEOs Biden met with at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex, either have put in place vaccine requirements or are working to implement such rules, the White House said.
Some business groups, including the Business Roundtable, welcomed the president's announcement, while some Republicans accused Biden of overstepping his authority and have threatened to sue the administration over the vaccine mandate.
Numerous corporations, including Amtrak, Microsoft, United Airlines and Walt Disney issued vaccine mandates for their workforces before Biden's announcement last week.
Also scheduled to attend Biden's meeting were representatives from health insurer Kaiser Permanente, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream and Louisiana State University.
Josh Bolten, president and CEO of the Business Roundtable, was also scheduled to attend. The Roundtable represents more than 200 businesses that employ some 20 million people. Last week it issued a statement welcoming Biden's announcement.
“America’s business leaders know how critical vaccination and testing are in defeating the pandemic,” Bolten said in a statement.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
At the core of the ongoing government shutdown is a fight over the decision to end subsidies that let some 12 million Americans get health coverage.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
