Democrats lost retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, now an independent of Arizona, and Sen. Joe Manchin, now an independent from West Virginia, from their party ranks some time ago.
The result was that party members lost no opportunity to trash them, their accomplishments, and their ideas.
Now, those two have responded with a parting gift to Joe Biden, who leaves office in a few weeks: A move to torpedo his choice for a spot on the National Labor Relations Board.
It is the Washington Examiner that notes up for a vote was Lauren McFerran, an activist who likely would have left the NLRB under Democrat control for years to come.
The report said, “McFerran’s term expires Monday. Her reinstalment would’ve secured a Democratic NLRB majority on the five-person panel tasked with protecting organized union labor until at least August 2026, at which point Trump could have replaced another expiring Democrat with a Republican. The NLRB’s current makeup is three Democrats, one Republican, and one absent Republican seat. The agency may not have more than a 3-2 partisan majority for either party. Each seat’s term runs five years, regardless of when members are seated.”
But Sinema and Manchin joined Republicans in a 50-49 vote to reject McFerran.
The reaction from Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who leads his party in the Senate, was expected: “It is deeply disappointing, a direct attack on working people, and incredibly troubling that this highly qualified nominee, with a proven track record of protecting worker rights, did not have the votes.”
Now Trump will have the opportunity to replace McFerran, as well as making a nomination to the open Republican seat, and the results could push the board to a 3-2 Republican majority.
The report noted, “Conservatives opposed McFerran over a range of NLRB decisions made under her leadership that they say have been anti-business, restricted employer free speech, undermined secret ballot union elections, and violated the Civil Rights Act from labor law interpretations.”
In one of their final acts in office, Sinema and Manchin nuke a Biden pick for the National Labor Relations Board in a big loss for organized labor.
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) December 11, 2024
A comment at RedState explained, “Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Joe Manchin (I-WV), both former Democrats who were savaged by their own party for not eliminating the filibuster, left President Joe Biden one final parting gift on Wednesday. Biden nominated Lauren McFerran to a five-year term on the National Labor Relations Board, which is essentially a federal agency dedicated to protecting big unions, and her confirmation was set to hand Democrats control of the body for the entirety of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.”
However, the plan failed.
Schumer was left “furious.”
“Someone should teach Chuck about sowing and reaping. He and his party members trashed Sinema and Manchin, with the former having to endure a Democratic Party-backed primary challenge that ultimately drove her to not seek re-election. Both were stalked and harassed for years, with left-wing protesters even following Sinema into the bathroom. Why? Because they had the audacity to not blow up an important Senate institution to allow a Democrat free-for-all, including the changing of voting laws to try to ensure a permanent majority,” the report said.
That institution was the filibuster, which Democrats treasure when they are in the minority and hate when they are the majority.
