Senate Democrats are racing to cement President Joe Biden’s labor agenda with a vote on a controversial nominee slated to occur later this week.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to expedite National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) chair Lauren McFerran’s nomination for a second term Monday evening with a procedural vote likely to be scheduled for Wednesday.
If McFerran clears the procedural vote hurdle and a majority of senators vote in support of McFerran’s renomination, Democrats will secure a majority on the five-person NLRB until 2026, preventing President-elect Donald Trump from selecting his own pick as chair.
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The NLRB is an independent federal agency that resolves labor disputes and oversees elections in workplaces attempting to unionize. Republicans have sharply criticized the NLRB under McFerran’s leadership over allegations of “misconduct” in administering secret ballot elections and the board’s attempts to increase union activism in private sector workplaces.
Democrats currently command a 3 to 1 majority on the NLRB with McFerran’s term set to expire this month and one of the board’s Republican seats unfilled.
To win confirmation, McFerran will likely need the support of all Democratic senators, including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, assuming all GOP senators are present and oppose McFerran. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who voted in favor of McFerran’s confirmation in 2020, opposed the current NLRB chair’s renomination during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee business meeting in August that advanced McFerran’s nomination on a party-line vote.
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Influential conservative and libertarian-aligned groups, including Americans for Tax Reform, Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, authored a joint letter today calling on Senate lawmakers to oppose McFerran’s nomination for a second term as NLRB chair, citing voters’ rejection of the Biden-Harris administration’s labor agenda.
“Under Ms. McFerran’s leadership during the Biden-Harris Administration, the NLRB has advanced a destructive and legally questionable labor law regime,” the groups wrote. “This lame-duck Administration and Senate majority should not be permitted to extend their failed policies via the NLRB majority deep into President Trump’s term – until August 2026 – and deprive him of an appointment to the Board by reconfirming Ms. McFerran.”
“This [Biden-Harris NLRB] dreadful track record should be contrasted against that of the Board majority during President Trump’s first term in office,” the groups added.
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Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy has led Republicans’ opposition against McFerran from his perch as ranking member of the Senate HELP Committee. The Louisiana Republican criticized Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate HELP Committee, for refusing to hold a public hearing on McFerran’s renomination, infuriating GOP senators who were not able to question McFerran about her record in a public forum.
“The weaponization of NLRB under Ms. McFerran’s leadership is deeply troubling. Her clear bias against employers and workers’ rights deserves accountability,” Cassidy said in a floor speech on Aug. 1 following the Senate HELP Committee’s party-line vote to advance McFerran’s nomination. “Unfortunately, shielding Democrat nominees from scrutiny has been the norm of the HELP Committee under Chair Sanders.”
Manchin and Sinema’s offices did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s inquiries regarding how the two retiring senators plan to vote on McFerran.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.