The House overturned one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders for the first time, passing a bill that restores federal workers’ bargaining rights.
The bill passed in a 231-195 vote, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats. The vote was the result of a discharge petition brought forward by Democrat Rep. Jared Golden, who is retiring at the end of this term.
The vote is a rare rebuke of Trump’s policies; congressional Republicans have repeatedly capitulated to the president, even in instances when the White House was clearly encroaching on legislative power.
For the rank-and-file members who championed the bargaining rights bill, the effort shows there are some limits to Trump’s influence over the GOP conference.
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Specifically, the House overturned the executive order Trump signed in March that ended collective bargaining rights for most federal workers. In response, Golden, along with GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, introduced a bill in April to restore them.
Speaker Mike Johnson failed to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, prompting Golden to file a discharge petition in June. That petition obtained the necessary signatures to circumvent Johnson and force a vote on the legislation in mid-November.
“People are tired of leadership ineffectively leading and failing to govern,” Golden said of the effort, saying he wanted to prove bipartisanship could be accomplished in a hyper-divided Congress. “I don’t think that anyone anticipated that Congress would be a place where members of Congress sat around waiting for leaders to tell them what to do.”
The petition’s Republican supporters were lawmakers in vulnerable districts, some of whom are the more frequent critics of the administration.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon, who signed the discharge petition and voted in favor of the bill, told NOTUS that federal workers “had a contract. For the president just to rip up that contract, I don’t think was right.”
“Just because you do an executive order, doesn’t make it right,” Bacon, who is also retiring at the end of this term, continued.
“I just fundamentally believe in collective bargaining, and I also believe if you have previously negotiated collective bargaining rights, you can’t just take that away with the stroke of a pen,” Rep. Mike Lawler, a more moderate New York Republican, told NOTUS.
The White House did not immediately respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
Trump contended with a bigger faction of moderate and critical House Republicans during his first administration. His influence has only grown since winning the presidency a second time, partly due to how the new class of Republicans campaigned in his image and have arrived in Washington eager to usher in his agenda, as NOTUS previously reported.
Fitzpatrick attempted to downplay any larger political significance to this vote. He told NOTUS that this particular effort that repeals one of Trump’s orders, “it’s just a support for labor, we don’t get into the, you know, what it’s overturning. It’s just a pure policy question, right? We support them, we support collective bargaining, and any bill that’s brought up, no matter who the administration is, we’re going to support labor.”
Asked whether Congress has done a good job protecting its authority under this administration, Fitzpatrick demurred.
“I think everyone ought to be cognizant of the job we have, the role and responsibility we have,” he said. “You got to represent your district, you got to defend and protect the institution and Article 1.”
Some of those who supported the legislation were quick to reiterate their support for Trump’s White House.
Rep. Nick LaLota said that “in every healthy relationship, folks are going to disagree.”
“From time to time, the Republicans from the White House to the halls of Congress are in lockstep on matters regarding the border, the economy, conflicts internationally,” Lalota continued. “There may be some nuance with how we approach certain issues, specifically labor issues.”
Trump tried to tow the line with unions during the campaign. But his time in office has angered many union workers, particularly those in the federal workforce.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew said this is “the first time” he has looked to oppose Trump this way because his state, New Jersey, is a “pro-union state, a pro-labor state.”
“They should have the right to negotiate and also the right to unionize,” Van Drew told NOTUS.
But make no mistake, Van Drew, who changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican during Trump’s first term said he is not trying to send any message to the White House.
“If I have any messages, I speak to the president directly as a gentleman,” Van Drew said.
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