WASHINGTON (AP)—In an attempt to secure a majority at the federal agency for the first two years of President-elect Donald Trump’s term, Senate Democrats were unable to confirm a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday due to opposition from independent Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.
A vote to proceed with the nomination of the NLRB’s incumbent chair, Lauren McFarren, was defeated 49–50. The agency’s board would have had a Democratic majority for the first two years of the Trump administration if she had been confirmed to a second five-year term. Trump will probably be allowed to choose McFarren’s successor now.
The NLRB has the authority to look into unfair labor practices and supervises union elections and labor disputes. Businesses and labor organizations vigorously dispute the NLRB’s leadership’s partisan split since the board’s majority sets the agenda and decides how easily the agency can use its authority to look into and enforce labor laws.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that the lack of support for this highly qualified nominee with a track record of defending worker rights was extremely alarming, deeply disappointing, and a direct attack on working people.
Manchin and Sinema, who acted as significant restraints and even outright barriers to a large portion of their legislative agenda throughout the first two years of Biden’s presidency, dealt Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden yet another setback with the rejection of McFarren.
Sinema resigned from the Democratic Party in 2022, and Manchin did the same in May. Both will be departing the Congress in January after deciding not to seek reelection to the Senate.
Republicans in Congress applauded Manchin and Sinema for blocking the confirmation.
President Trump and the incoming Senate should occupy this NLRB seat. Following the vote, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana stated, “This is not a historically unpopular president and a Senate Democrat Majority that has lost its mandate to govern.”
In a statement, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said, “Big Labor knows the days of having the federal government do its bidding are numbered.” The new Trump administration would prioritize implementing a real pro-worker agenda, according to Foxx, the leader of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Business associations also applauded McFarren’s refusal. According to Kristen Swearingen, a vice president of the trade association Associated Builders and Contractors, McFarren’s policies are detrimental, and the nomination process was defective.
Swearingen contended that under McFerran’s direction, the NLRB has rendered rulings and broadened its interpretations of the National Labor Relations Act, which have been disapproved of by Congress, the business community, and federal courts.
The vote was criticized by labor unions. The senators who rejected McFarren’s nomination, according to Liz Shuler, head of the AFL-CIO, the largest coalition of labor unions in the country, voted against the nation’s working class and threatened to order the NLRB to support management over employees under the upcoming Trump administration.
Don’t be misled: this vote was all about undoing centuries of laborers’ advancements in creating a more equitable and just economy, not about blocking Chair McFerran’s reelection, Shuler stated.
Schumer and other Democratic members saw the decision negatively. Some aimed their ire at Sinema and Manchin specifically.
Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat from Wisconsin, stated on social media that shortchanging employees is a poor way to leave.
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