As Daily Labor Report's new congressional reporter, I get a lot of email, most of it from the offices of House and Senate leaders. As you can imagine, much of the communications over the past few weeks have been about the so-called fiscal cliff, with Democrats and Republicans going back and forth over what to cut, what to spend, and how to get it all done by the end of the year. Although much of the discussion doesn't have much to do directly with labor and employment matters, Democrats in Congress are pushing for an extension of unemployment insurance benefits, and President Obama mentioned that an extension was necessary in his Dec. 21 press conference before leaving for Hawaii for Christmas.

But there are also a few congressional emails not related to fiscal matters that come across my desk. Last week, a group of House Democrats put out a letter to Ron Kirk, the U.S. Trade Representative, about labor conditions in Bangladesh.

International media covered the Nov. 24 fire at a clothing factory there, which killed 112 people, and the incident is starting to attract Congress's attention. The letter released this week asked Kirk to complete an investigation of labor practices in the country. The AFL-CIO previously has urged Kirk to withdraw Bangladesh from the Generalized System of Preferences, a program that allows certain imports from designated developing countries to enter the United States duty-free, and the latest letter asked him to complete the investigation he started in response to that request.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats recently wrote to President Obama, requesting that he look into the supply chains of federal contractors. That request stemmed from the fact that the same Bangladesh factory was found to have been making U.S. Marine Corps-branded apparel. It's unclear what action the administration will take in response to either of the letters, but lawmakers are taking notice of the issue.

This is just one example of a labor issue that doesn't get much mainstream media attention. As we gear up for the new Congress set to start in January, it's a good bet we'll continue to see lots of back and forth over budget and tax concerns. But if the year-end attention to Bangladeshi labor conditions is any indication, lots of labor and employment issues are probably coming down the pike too.