Senate Democrats Fail To 'Trump Proof' NLRB
Former Democrats Manchin and Sinema joined the GOP in blocking the confirmation.
By Peter List, Editor | December 11, 2024
On Wednesday, Democrats in the United States Senate failed to advance the confirmation of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairperson Lauren McFerran to another term.
The narrow vote (50 to 49) resulted from two former Democrats-turned-Independent senators joining to vote against the effort.
Per CBS News:
In a 50 to 49 vote, Senate Republicans, joined by independent Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, blocked the nomination from advancing. Without the confirmation, the board is expected to swing to come under Republican control, with a vacancy for President-elect Donald Trump and the incoming GOP-controlled Senate to fill in the new year.
“This nomination was an inappropriate power grab by an outgoing administration and would have guaranteed ever-more radical interpretations of the NLRA,” stated Kristen Swearingen, chair of the pro-business Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. “By rejecting it, Congress has provided the new administration with the opportunity to stabilize labor-management relations, which is desperately needed after the last four years. CDW applauds the Senate for this decision.”
Had McFerran been confirmed, the NLRB would have been remained under Democratic control through 2026, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler noted on X (formerly Twitter) before the Senate vote was taken.
Vice President-elect JD Vance put transition duties on hold and flew up from Florida to be present for this vote, conservative activist Charlie Kirk explained on X
Democrat efforts to get McFerran another term as NLRB chair was part of a broader Democrat strategy to “Trump-Proof” the government from changes in policy due to incoming President Donald Trump in January.
Even before Trump was elected in November, Democrats had been working to “Trump Proof” the government.
However, since November 5th, those efforts have accelerated—from the Biden Administration giving billions more dollars to Ukraine to the Administration agreeing to a five-year contract with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) to allow telework through 2029.
On top of some major decisions (like the Cemex decision) over the last few years, from November 5th through now, the NLRB has issued additional decisions overruling decades of precedent, which will take a Trump NLRB longer to reverse in the next few years.
Those decisions include:
Had McFerran been confirmed for another term at the NLRB, if would have been difficult—if not impossible—for a Trump administration to affect change until at least after the mid-term elections
If Democrats were to retake the Senate in the 2026 mid-terms, like they did during George W. Bush’s second term, Democrats could have blocked any Trump NLRB appointments until after the 2028 elections.
