Republican Senators Kill Jobs Program
Senate Republicans turned their backs on workers one more time before they left town for the Nov. 2 elections when they refused to allow a vote to keep alive a jobs program that has created nearly a quarter of million jobs. Many of those jobs were in some of the communities hardest hit by the nation’s unemployment crisis.
The program was a small part of the economic recovery package known as the TANF Emergency Fund and it directly subsidized jobs in government, nonprofit organizations and small businesses for unemployed workers.
On Tuesday, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.)—with the backing of Republican leaders—used Senate rules to block an extension of the TANF fund. The program expired today and the layoffs are beginning.
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), the program subsidized jobs in 37 states for nearly
250,000 otherwise unemployed parents and youth—helping families, businesses, and communities across America weather the recession…. The fund has been a “win-win-win,” helping unemployed families find work, businesses expand capacity in a difficult economic environment, and local economies cope with the recession. Read the rest of this entry »
Senate Dem. Nelson Joins Republican Filibuster Against Obama’s NLRB Choice
With the nation’s capitol under two-plus feet of snow, Nebraska’s Sen. Ben Nelson (D) appears to have come down with a case of snow madness–a delirium that sometimes manifests itself in bizarre and illogical actions and speech.
Nelson announced yesterday that he would back a Republican-led filibuster against President Obama’s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board, Craig Becker. The vote is scheduled for later today. Call your senators today and tell them to stop obstructing President Obama’s nominees, starting with Craig Becker.
Nelson says he believes Becker, the Obama administration’s choice for the NLRB, “would pursue a personal agenda there, rather than that of the administration.”
As Michael Whitney on FireDogLake writes:
How does that make any sense, when it’s the Obama administration that nominated him twice?
Republicans First Slime, Then Maneuver to Block Labor Board Nominee
Republican Senate leaders are so frightened that a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) might actually have an open mind about workers’ rights, that in two purely partisan maneuvers, they’ve blocked a majority vote on one of President Obama’s nominees for an NLRB seat.
Craig Becker is a highly respected and experienced labor law practitioner and scholar. He has an impressive 27-year record of advocating for and representing workers, especially low-wage workers. He is currently an associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO and SEIU.
That experience—as opposed to being the type of management stooge favored by the Bush administration—is what has driven Republicans into a mouth-foaming frenzy.
Senate Breaks Blockade on Labor Solicitor Nominee
The Senate just now voted (60-32) to end debate on the nomination of M. Patricia Smith, clearing her way for confirmation as solicitor of labor and breaking the stranglehold Republicans had put on her to be the nation’s top labor lawyer.
President Obama nominated Smith, currently New York state’s labor commissioner, nine months ago, but Republican obstructionist tactics blocked a vote on the nomination.
The solicitor of labor oversees enforcement of the nation’s most important labor laws and sets enforcement priorities. During her confirmation hearing last year, Smith said she would bring to the job a “philosophy of proactive enforcement.”
That would be quite a change from the previous administration, writes Pat Garafolo in Think Progress Wonk Room.
Under the Bush administration’s corporate-friendly Labor Department, the solicitor’s office sat on its hands and failed to enforce even the most flagrant labor violations.
Late to the Game, Wyoming’s Enzi Seeks to Derail Labor Nomination
Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.)—who brags about blocking health care reform (more on that later)—now wants to block President Obama’s choice of Patricia Smith to be the top Department of Labor lawyer.
Earlier this week, Enzi apparently got around to reading the transcripts of Smith’s May 7 confirmation hearing for solicitor of labor. Now, some three-and-a-half months after sitting through the hearing and voicing no objections to Smith’s answers or nomination, he wants Obama to withdraw Smith’s name, reports BNA’s Daily Labor Report (subscription required).
Beware of the Big Lie Bill
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Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress made their Big Lie into a bill Wednesday, when Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Mike Enzi (Wyo.) introduced the so-called Secret Ballot Protection Act.
Before we go further, let’s clear up the bill’s false implication right now:
The Employee Free Choice Act would not—repeat after me—would not, take away the secret ballot National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process if workers seeking to form a union wanted to use it. The Employee Free Choice would ensure workers made the decision of whether to select a union via majority sign-up (card-check) or via ballot process. Choice is good. That’s one reason why we called it Employee Free Choice—because it would enable employees, not management, to make the decision of how to form a union.
The alleged goal of S. 478 is to:
amend the National Labor Relations Act to ensure the right of employees to a secret-ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
Solis Vote Postponed, But No Hold on Her Nomination
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee postponed a scheduled vote today on the nomination of Hilda Solis for secretary of labor. President Obama announced his choice of Solis in December, and the Senate committee held a hearing on her nomination Jan. 9.
Some news reports have pointed to Republican opposition to Solis over the Employee Free Choice Act—she was a co-sponsor of the bill in the U.S. House—and suggested there may have been plans to place a hold on her nomination by a Republican senator.
But in a joint statement, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee chairman, and Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), the panel’s ranking minority member, said the vote was postponed
to allow members additional time to review the documentation submitted in support of Representative Solis’ nomination to serve in the important position of labor secretary. There are no holds on her nomination, and members on both sides of the aisle remain committed to giving her nomination the fair and thorough consideration that she deserves. We will continue to work together to move this nomination forward as soon as possible.
