The Supreme Court has raised questions about how and why "agencies" and "commissions" and "Boards"––none of them mentioned in the Constitution––have seized and abused powers that usurp the role of Congress, Presidents, and the courts.
One of the most powerful alphabet soup boards is the NLRB, or the National Labor Relations Board. They have power over American workers and can force them to join unions and pay dues, as well as deny them the right to be self-employed or independent contractors. The NLRB gives union bosses power over workers.
The Democrat Party has always appreciated the power of the NLRB.
To maintain their power over American workers, Democrats are rushing a vote on the renomination of Lauren McFerran, the current Chairwoman of the NLRB whose term is set to expire in December. Worse yet, they are attempting to hide this process from the American people, pushing the vote through without any public hearing. Democracy may die in darkness but the NLRB thrives there.
Here is how it works.
The NLRB is a five-member quasi-judicial agency which regulates labor relations, including collective bargaining issues and union elections. The President nominates both Republican and Democratic members to the Board to serve five-year terms, but unlike most agencies, the members cannot be removed by the President at will.
As explained by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) last year, “The Senate’s long-standing practice is to fill Democrat and Republican vacancies… in tandem.”
Instead, in September 2023, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) brought the renomination of Democratic NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox to the Senate floor by herself. In order to gain the vote of Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and drag Wilcox across the line in a 50-49 confirmation vote, Schumer promised that he would soon bring a Republican nominee to the floor as a pairing for Wilcox.
Schumer humiliated Murkowski. She trusted him. Schumer's promise was a lie. Murkowski was fooled.
A Republican nominee was never brought forward, and the NLRB has now had a 3-1 Democratic majority and a vacant seat for nearly two years. Today, the Biden-Harris administration and Senator Schumer have made a new offer: confirm Lauren McFerran, and they will pair her with Republican Joshua Ditelberg.
Legislators should not accept these dishonest bait-and-switch tactics. Because the Wilcox nomination went forward without the promised Republican pairing, confirming both McFerran and Ditelberg today would solidify a 3-2 Democratic majority on the NLRB until August 2026 when the term of the third Democratic member, David Prouty, expires.
Whereas President Trump, if elected, could nominate a Republican and have an NLRB majority to enact sound pro-worker policies on day one, confirming McFerran today would mean extending her own radical leftwing policies nearly halfway into the Trump presidency.
During her tenure under the Biden-Harris administration, McFerran has used the NLRB as a tool to serve the interests of union bosses at the expense of both workers and employers. Decisions handed down by McFerran have sped up union election timelines so that workers cannot be properly informed and have empowered unions to bypass secret ballot elections altogether. McFerran’s NLRB has prevented employers from protecting their workers from discriminatory language and harassment by union organizers, deeming such conduct protected. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) last year also highlighted efforts by NLRB officials to bias individual elections around the country in favor of labor union representation.
Just days ago, McFerran’s NLRB was also forced to withdraw its illegal joint employer rule after successful court challenges. If allowed to stand, the rule would have decimated the franchise business model and forced even more workers into the palm of union bosses against their will.
Lauren McFerran is Kamala Harris’s insurance plan. If McFerran is confirmed, she will be able to establish an outpost in the federal government for Biden-Harris administration policies to continue flowing even after President Trump is elected, undermining his pro-growth, pro-worker agenda.
The Senate should allow voters to make their voices heard. The 2024 election is a referendum on the Biden-Harris administration and the policies they have enacted. If voters choose to reject the disastrous Big Labor agenda pushed by Biden, Harris, and McFerran, then the country should not continue to be saddled with those same policies for years afterward.
Senators should reject Lauren McFerran’s nomination and allow our next President to appoint a sensible nominee instead.
Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform.