(The Center Square) – The attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a new rule by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that they say could impose a national abortion regime.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court in Lake Charles on Monday that seeks to challenge a rule that would require employers to accommodate employees' abortions under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. 

This bipartisan bill was intended to provide protections for pregnant women in the workplace, including “reasonable accomodations” related to pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. 

The two Republican attorneys general are seeking an injunction to stop the rule, which goes in effect 60 days after it has been filed in the federal register. The rule is intended to implement the provisions of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed by Congress in 2022.

“This new action by the EEOC is another example of bureaucrats rewriting acts of Congress to their own liking, and it's unconstitutional,” Murrill said in a news release. “We will continue to challenge this administration's overreach and protect pregnant women.”

In the complaint, the two attorneys general say the new rule, which doesn't require employers to pay travel costs for an abortion or an employee's insurer to pay for an abortion, runs afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned the Roe v. Wade decision and sent abortion policy back to the states.

The rule requires employers in states that have largely outlawed abortion such as Louisiana and Mississippi to accommodate abortions or else face federal lawsuits for monetary damages and injunctive relief as any violation of EEOC rules can draw.

“The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was a bipartisan effort to help women in the workplace while they are pregnant and following childbirth,” Fitch said in a news release. “But the Biden administration is threatening to derail commonsense measures, like adequate seating, bathroom and water breaks, and relaxed dress codes, by reading into the law required accommodations for elective abortion, even where that overrides the will of the people or the religious liberty of the employer. 

“This administration will stop at nothing to undo the Dobbs decision, which gave the people back their power over abortion policymaking and to impose a national abortion regime.”

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of 26 U.S. senators from 17 states are urging leaders of the U.S. Postal Service to delay execution of its strategic plan.

“We call on you to pause planned changes to the U.S. Postal Service's processing and delivery network under the ‘Delivering for America' plan, until you request and receive a comprehensive Advisory Opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission to fully study the potential impacts of these changes,” according to a letter signed by the Senators and addressed to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the Board of Governors.

Democratic Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen signed the letter and highlighted ongoing demands to change the plan, made along with U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev. They highlighted planned changes to a facility in Reno, which will be downsized from a regional hub to a local center and its regional operations moved to Sacramento, Calif.

“We call on USPS to pause all changes, pending a full study of this plan by its regulator,” the letter stated. “While USPS claims these changes overall will improve service while reducing costs, there is evidence to the contrary in locations where USPS has implemented changes so far. USPS must stop implementation, restore service in those areas where changes were implemented, and fully understand the nationwide effects of its plan on service and communities.”

“Delivering For America,” a 60-page, 10-year plan published by USPS, states the organization is optimizing mail and packaging processing capabilities as it lost $87 billion during the last 14 years.

“The Plan's strategic initiatives are designed to reverse a projected $160 billion in losses over the next ten years by achieving break-even operating performance,” according to the publication.

Changes in how people use the Postal Service resulted in costly inefficiencies, according to the plan.

“Our processing network was originally designed to meet the demands of a robust, and ever-growing mail market,” the plan stated. “Similarly, our facilities were located geographically and set up operationally to facilitate the timely and efficient processing of mail. As mail volume has decreased, our machines and facilities have been left under-utilized, leaving us with a physical network infrastructure that does not correspond to the current and projected needs of our customers.”

In addition to the senators from Nevada, senators from Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming also signed the letter. It highlighted problems associated with moving mail processing away from local communities and reductions in transporting mail, leaving mail sitting overnight in local offices.

“We are concerned about the impacts these changes have had so far, and the potential impacts that further changes could have,” the senators wrote. “In regions where USPS has implemented significant changes, on-time mail delivery has declined. In addition, it is not clear these changes will improve efficiency or costs. Despite these concerns, USPS has moved forward with announcing and approving additional facility changes across the country.”

(The Center Square) – West Virginia and Indiana are leading a group of 25 states asking for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to declare the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new rule on coal, natural gas and oil power plants to be declared unlawful.

The new EPA rule will require coal and natural gas power plants to capture smokestack emissions or shutter.

“The EPA continues to not fully understand the direction from the Supreme Court—unelected bureaucrats continue their pursuit to legislate rather than rely on elected members of Congress for guidance,” West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey said. “This green new deal agenda the Biden administration continues to force onto the people is setting up the plants to fail and therefore shutter, altering the nation's already stretched grid.”

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming are part of the lawsuit.

Morrisey and the attorneys general argue Congress did not give EPA the authority to create rules to remake the electricity grid and the rules are taking to make broad regulatory authority away from Congress.

West Virginia successfully fought EPA rules in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 as the court said the EPA should not use its regulatory authority to create broad new regulations with the Clean Air Act.

West Virginia, Indiana and others have continued to fight several other EPA proposals including the “Good Neighbor Plan” and the EPA's new rule on electric vehicles.