Alexander Votes Against Obama Nominee to NLRB

Washington, D.C., Sept. 17 –U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today voted against moving the nomination of Sharon Block, President Obama’s nominee for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), out of committee.

Alexander said today: “Ms. Block showed a troubling lack of respect for the Constitution, the separation of powers, and the Senate’s constitutional role of advice and consent by continuing to serve on the board and participate in hundreds of decisions after the D.C. Circuit and then the Fourth Circuit found her appointment unconstitutional. In those decisions where she did participate, she aligned herself with a disturbing trend of the board becoming more of an advocate than an umpire.

He added: “This isn’t the first administration where the NLRB appointees reflect the political biases of the President who appoints them, but the pendulum is swinging back and forth, and it’s whipsawing labor policy. Yesterday Senator McConnell and I introduced legislation to restore the National Labor Relations Board to its intended role of an umpire, instead of an advocate by having an equal number of Republicans and Democrats on the board and requiring four members to come to a decision. We would rein in the general counsel, and we would also encourage the NLRB to speed up decision making so people don’t have to wait years and years to settle workplace disputes.”

Click HERE for more information on S. 2814, the NLRB Reform Act, introduced yesterday by Alexander and McConnell.

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For access to this release and Ranking Member Alexander’s other statements, click here.