“The purpose of this rule is simple. It is to significantly reduce the number of work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses suffered by workers who are exposed to excessive heat and exposed to these risks while simply doing their jobs,” OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor Doug Parker said on a call with reporters.

“Whether they are making deliveries, carrying mail all day, working construction, picking vegetables, repairing power lines, doing landscaping. It’s these things that put workers at risk.”

OSHA officials have been working on the proposed regulation for more than two years at the urging of public health and climate advocates.

The proposal comes as summertime heat envelopes the United States and the hottest month of the year gets underway. At the beginning of this week, over 60 million Americans were under heat alerts.

Excessive heat warnings now cover much of California, including in and around San Francisco, and the National Weather Service office that serves much of California’s Central Valley warned of a “dangerous, prolonged heat wave that will last several days.” Southeastern states are also facing hot and soupy weather and at least 45 million Americans will probably have to endure highs at or above 100 degrees this week.

Under the proposed rule issued Tuesday, OSHA would adopt two heat index thresholds that would apply nationally and would factor in humidity as well as temperature. One, at 80 degrees Fahrenheit, would require employers to provide drinking water and break areas that workers can use as needed. Employers would also need to have a plan for new and returning workers to gradually increase their workload so their bodies adjust to the heat.

More protections would kick in at 90 degrees, including monitoring for signs of heat illness and mandatory 15 minute rest breaks every two hours. Employers would be required to check on people working alone every few hours and to issue a hazard alert, reminding their workers of the importance of staying hydrated.

Juley Fulcher, a worker health advocate for the nonprofit Public Citizen, which has pushed for a national heat standard, said the proposal is based on scientific research on how the body responds to heat and borrows from state workplace heat safety laws. So far, only five states have such protections: California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington. Workers in Maryland could soon gain protections — there is a draft rule that is not yet final.

Fulcher praised the OSHA proposal, saying the agency had “done a really good job.” Although some Americans might balk at the suggestion they need protection from 80 degree weather, Fulcher said it’s important to remember that official temperature readings are taken in the shade. Once you factor in sunlight and humidity, an 80 degree day can feel more like 95 or 100, she said.

“If you’re doing really heavy work, you’re generating a lot of internal heat in addition to that external heat,” she said. “You’re not going to be able to cool off at those temperatures.”

The rule doesn’t cover everyone. “Sedentary” employees are exempt from the protections, as are those in indoor job sites kept below 80 degrees, emergency response workers and remote employees. And, because OSHA regulations do not extend to public employees, the regulation won’t apply to government workers and public school teachers, many of whom are confronting increasingly high temperatures in school buildings without air conditioning.

Some businesses and industry groups are gearing up for a battle over a regulation many see as burdensome, redundant and expensive.

Critics have made their displeasure known in letters to the agency. Some industries have argued they are already protecting employees from heat and that a new regulation would be duplicative or, worse, get in the way of what they’re doing. They have pushed back against the rule’s expected acclimatization requirements, which would mandate a gradual ramping up of work hours during high heat. Some have questioned the entire initiative, saying that a workplace heat rule is unnecessary because not many workers die of heat exposure.

From 1992-2019, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found there were an average of 32 heat-related workplace fatalities per year. There were 43 such deaths in 2022, up from 36 in 2021.

Agency officials and public health advocates say these numbers underestimate the scale of the problem, given underreporting and the difficulty of attributing a death to heat. Workplace data aside, deaths from heat in the U.S. have steadily increased in recent years, exceeding 2,200 last year.

“For all practical purposes, today’s decision almost certainly means that there are virtually no limits on what the president can do,” Biden said, adding that he pledges “to respect the limits of the presidential powers.”

The president also noted that the decision means that it is “highly unlikely” that Trump would be prosecuted before the election in November, which he called “a terrible disservice to the people of this nation.”

“So now, the American people have to do what the courts should have been willing to do, but will not,” Biden said. “The American people must decide whether Donald Trump’s assault on our democracy on January 6th makes him unfit for public office in the highest office in the land.”

At a time when he is under scrutiny following a poor debate performance that has caused Democrats to question his stamina, Biden continued to focus on Trump and sought to crystallize the choice before the electorate.

“The American people must decide if Trump’s embrace of violence to preserve his power is acceptable,” he said. “Perhaps most importantly, the American people must decide if they want to entrust the presidency once again to Donald Trump — now, knowing he’ll be more emboldened to do whatever he pleases, whenever he wants to do it.”

The comments marked a rare rebuke of the justice system for Biden, who has sought to distinguish his presidency by attempting to restore faith in American institutions. But Biden — who, as a senator, was a longtime chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing Supreme Court nomination hearings — has also found himself at odds with some of its recent decisions, including most prominently the Dobbs decision that repealed Roe v. Wade and declared there is no constitutional right to an abortion.

“This decision today has continued the court’s attack in recent years on a wide range of long-established legal principles in our nation, from gutting voting rights and civil rights to taking away a woman’s right to choose,” Biden said in his White House remarks.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused Biden of improperly attacking the judiciary. “What we’re seeing tonight is despicable and dangerous,” Johnson told Fox News. “The president has been trying to undermine our legal system.”

At the start of his comments, Biden reflected on the potentially sweeping effects the decision could have on the conduct of future presidents.

“The presidency is the most powerful office in the world,” he said. “It’s an office that not only tests your judgment — perhaps even more importantly, it’s an office that could test your character. Because you’re not only faced with moments where you need the courage to exercise the full power of the presidency, you also face moments where you need the wisdom to respect the limits of the power of the office of the presidency.”

Toward the end of his remarks, Biden aimed to place the ruling in the context of history, reaching back to the founding of the nation.

“At the outset of our nation, it was the character of George Washington, our first president, to define the presidency. He believed power was limited, not absolute, and that power always resides with the people — always,” Biden said. “Now, over 200 years later today, the Supreme Court decision means that once again, it will depend on the character of the men and women who hold the presidency … because the law will no longer do it.”

He ended with a new line, saying, “May God bless you all. And may God help preserve our democracy.” Then, he added, “May God protect our troops.”

He then left the room, ignoring the shouted questions about the state of his campaign.

(On July 3, the Institute will stage its “NOI+F Takeover,” an all-day program of performances at the National Gallery of Art.)

The program paired Jennifer Higdon’s atmospheric, elegiac “blue cathedral” (which has received more than 1,000 performances as it approaches its 25th anniversary) with Beethoven’s own architectural wonder, his “Symphony No. 9 in D Minor” of 1824, for which the orchestra was joined by the Heritage Signature Chorale (directed by Stanley J. Thurston) and a quartet of soloists.

Of special note with this particular account of the Ninth was its replacement of Friedrich Schiller’s 1785 poem “Ode to Joy” with a new English text by former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith. Originally commissioned by Carnegie Hall for a program celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Smith’s adaptation of Schiller’s poem widens its scope while (for the most part) retaining its themes.

Anyone who has ever heard Jennifer Higdon’s “blue cathedral” has likely wondered for a moment how it might sound in such a setting. A musical remembrance of her younger brother Andrew Blue (who died in 1998 of skin cancer), it’s also an attempt by Higdon to evoke “a journey through a glass cathedral in the sky” — an effect achieved through a sustained lightness and translucence in the music’s textures.

Alsop gently roused the piece — its rustle of chimes and bleary strings. The flute (representing Jennifer, and played by Honor Hickman) appears first, trailed by clarinet (Andrew, played by Yoomin Sung), their melodies pointing up at the clouds. As the piece builds, it broadens, and Alsop kept tight control, leaving room for individual instruments to push through a glowing mass of strings and woodwinds. In the end, Higdon returns to a game of hide-and-seek that’s both playful and mournful, with strings that sag like willows and a low mist of returning/departing chimes.

It was a fine performance against steep acoustic odds. You’d never guess it was Alsop’s first time conducting here.

The conditions of the cathedral may have worked more to Higdon’s advantage than Beethoven’s. Though Alsop masterfully marshaled focus and ferocity from her players, the spectacular heights of the space sometimes made for a sonic soup — long tails of reverb that complicated crisp intentions; fluid passages of strings often frothed into the equivalent of white water; and a powerful Heritage Signature Chorale couldn’t help but overrun the orchestra’s banks.

Still, the opening of the first movement (“Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso”) sounded particularly thrilling rushing through the nave like the forefront of a flash flood. Splendid flutes and oboes left dramatic trails, as did its declarative finish, which hung in the air and commanded a respectful silence.

Just after the iconic opening outburst of the second movement, Alsop put finger to lips, treading lightly with the orchestra into its thickening thicket before letting its free, whirling energy take over (i.e. the “Molto Vivace”). Bright plumes of flute lit up the place before a whiter-knuckled repeat that sounded like it was in a hurry. The cathedral blurs, but it also deconstructs: I’ve never heard the trumpets in this movement sound quite so distant (or full of character), or a single timpani sound so cavernous (or more like a void). I especially enjoyed nimble (if overly eager) playing from the horns and clarinets. Toward the movement’s end, things started to fray, and Beethoven’s call for unity felt suddenly more pressing.

Concertmaster Sultan Rakhmatullin brought naturalistic phrasing and endearing sensitivity to third movement solos, with Alsop keeping the back-and-forth between strings and woodwinds disarmingly conversational. Here, the space felt uncannily suited to the music’s slow dissolves and diffuse colors — the horns and clarinets were especially entrancing.

The chorus of responsorial cellos that open the fourth movement was exquisite — both ghostly and urgent, present and not. From here, the “Ode to Joy” theme begins its journey through articulations — not least of which is Smith’s.

Through the hand of the former poet laureate, Schiller’s call for all men to unite as brothers is refined into a more explicit desire to “bid us past such fear and hate.” His invitation to those who know “abiding friendships” is extended by Smith to anyone whose “spirit is invested/ In another’s sense of worth.” And Schiller’s embrace of millions is amplified and updated to terms decisively more grim: “Battered planet, home of billions/ our long shadow stalks your face.” Smith turns Schiller’s gaze from the “starry canopy” to the “fractured” planet below, and begs for forgiveness.

Of course, you might not have known any of this had you just been sitting and listening: The new text wasn’t supplied on paper nor projected through titles on any of the many screens installed around the nave. Smith’s adaptation is melodically (even syllabically) faithful to the original, but despite beautiful turns and ensemble singing from soprano Adia Evans, mezzo-soprano Jazmine Olwalia, tenor Lawrence Barasa Kiharangwa and bass Kevin Short, the words themselves were lost in the sonic wash of the cathedral.

Short’s introduction (“O friend, my heart has tired/ Of such darkness./ Now it vies for joy”) was a stunning display of his instrument and its ability to find every corner of the cathedral. An energized Kiharangwa delivered a steely solo over the movement’s “Turkish March.” Evans and Olwalia each gave brilliant turns, their voices often coiling into a golden braid. And the Heritage Signature Chorale illuminated the long choral corridors of the movement’s core — a monumental sound.

With everything turned to 11, Alsop and company barreled through the finish — at barely 60 minutes, this was a conspicuously brisk Ninth. And the sound of the extended ovation met the orchestra’s energy: With 2,300 tickets sold, this was the largest concert the cathedral has presented in at least a decade. Environmental penitence and fuzzy edges aside, the “Ode to Joy” remained the ecstatic cataclysm it can’t help but be.

(If you missed this concert and it’s just not summer without a dose of the 9th, the National Symphony Orchestra will offer its own account on July 12 at Wolf Trap, led by conductor Ruth Reinhardt and featuring violinist Njioma Grevious, soprano Keely Futterer, mezzo-soprano Gabrielle Beteag, tenor Ricardo Garcia, baritone Blake Denson and the Cathedral Choral Society led by music director Steven Fox.)