Marathon Pundit: House moves to block NLRB power

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

House moves to block NLRB power

While President Obama continues to try to keep the NLRB radicalized, the House of Representatives has other ideas.

From the Washington Times:

President Obama made waves Tuesday by nominating three candidates to the National Labor Relations Board, even as the board's authority is being questioned by the courts and Republicans plot to shut it down.

The NLRB has been operating in limbo since January, when a federal appeals court ruled that President Obama unconstitutionally appointed two board members, leaving Mark Gaston Pearce, the current NLRB chairman and a Democrat, as the only legal member of the board. But the NLRB, which must have at least three board members to issue decisions, has continued to operate in defiance of the court order.

House Republicans are poised to vote this week on a measure that would effectively shut down the board for the time being. The bill would prevent the NLRB from taking action until the depleted five-seat board has a quorum of at least three members, or until the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the president’s controversial 2012 appointments.

"The American people deserve a board that will fairly and objectively administer the law," Rep. John Kline, Minnesota Republican, and Phil Roe, Tennessee Republican, said in a combined statement. "In recent years, the board has instead advanced extreme policies harmful to the rights of workers and job creators. We intend to closely follow the confirmation process and expect the nominees to demonstrate a commitment to abandon an activist agenda."