Alexander Statement on President’s Nominations to National Labor Relations Board

Washington, D.C., April 9 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, today released the following statement on the president’s announcement that he intends to nominate Harry I. Johnson, III and Philip A. Miscimarra, and renominate Mark Gaston Pearce, to the National Labor Relations Board:

“As tradition requires, the president has properly nominated two Republicans to serve on the National Labor Relations Board. It is now the Senate’s role to exercise advice and consent on the nominees. As the Senate considers the nominees, the two individuals who were unconstitutionally appointed should leave, because the decisions in which they continue to participate are invalid.”

On February 13, Alexander called on Sharon Block and Richard Griffin to “leave the board,” after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in January ruled their appointments to the NLRB by President Obama during a so-called “recess” session of the United States Senate were unconstitutional. 

Since January’s federal court ruling that the alleged appointments were invalid, the NLRB has issued 35 published decisions and 86 unpublished.

Alexander introduced a budget amendment last month with 17 cosponsors to defund decisions and regulations made by the unconstitutional NLRB “quorum.”

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