House Republicans Siding With Union Bosses?

It’s been established that when the Obama administration can’t get part of its agenda legislated; they simply turn around and push it through the web-like bureaucracy at their disposal. Last year’s failed pro-union legislation was no exception; when ‘card check’ met a dead end in Congress, obscure government agencies like the National Mediation Board (NMB) put rules in place to ensure that unionizing elections swung in the unions’ favor anyway.

The NMB was created by that union-hating, capitalist pig Franklin Delano Roosevelt to oversee union elections in the air and rail industries. Under Obama, the board made its first pro-active rule in over 75 years of existence, changing the way union votes are counted to enable an entire workforce to be forced to unionize by a minority of votes.

The House has an opportunity to pass legislation that will turn back the clock on the administration’s overstepping of its boundaries, and send a strong “game over” message to the union bosses counting on the Democrats to line their pockets. Namely, the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act, which includes a provision to overturn the NMB’s new rule and re-instate the system that has worked for decades.

The airline workers want this, and with a Republican majority in the House it should be a sure thing, right? Well, it’s not that easy. A handful of House Republicans, largely in union-heavy districts, are clearly more concerned with their re-election than with the mandate of fiscal responsibility and smaller government that put them in power in the first place.

Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH), along with Democrat Jerry Costello, is trying to tack on an amendment taking the teeth out of the legislation. In a letter to the other Members, they claim that rolling back the new NMB rule “would jeopardize the fairness of union representation elections.” So essentially what they’re saying is that a policy upheld under such Presidents as FDR, Truman, Carter, and Clinton was somehow unfair to unions?

Other key Republican fence sitters include Reps. Mary Bono-Mack (CA-45), Ilena Ros-Lentinen (FL-18), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21), David Rivera (FL-25), Joe Walsh (IL-8), Robert Dold (IL-10), Judy Biggert (IL-13), Bobby Schilling (IL-17), Ed Whitfield (KY-1), Jo Ann Emerson (MO-8), Jon Runyan (NJ-3), Leonard Lance (NJ-7), Michael Grimm (NY-13), Michael Turner (OH-3), Steve Austria (OH-7), Steve Stivers (OH-15), Jim Gerlach (PA-6), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-8), Todd Platts (PA-19), David McKinley (WV-1).

UPDATE: Big Government has been informed that Rep. Michael Turner is not on the fence, is opposed to the amendment and is a co-sponsor of the legislation reversing the NMB’s rule.