President Can Protect Taxpayers by Revoking Biden Executive Order
On March 26, 2024, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed after being struck by a cargo ship.
Within hours, then-President Joe Biden, arguably the most rabid proponent of forced unionism ever to occupy the Oval Office, put federal taxpayers 100% on the hook for the cost of the bridge’s reconstruction.
And roughly a week later, Mr. Biden publicly vowed that the project would be union-only.
In 2024, reconstruction was projected to cost no more than $1.9 billion, and perhaps as little as $400 million. The new bridge would be finished by 2028, public officials said.
By November 2025, as a recent Washington Post editorial noted, the projected reconstruction cost had soared to “between $4.3 billion and $5.2 billion,” and the projected completion date had fallen back to 2030.
Bid Under PLA Reportedly Exceeded Highest Previous Estimate by Nearly $4 Billion
Unfortunately, under Biden Executive Order 14063, only contractors who were willing to impose union monopoly bargaining on their front-line employees and hire new workers through union boss-controlled hiring halls were allowed to submit bids for the Key Bridge reconstruction project.
As a consequence of the Biden order’s mandate that all bidders agree in advance to submit to a union-only “project labor agreement,” or PLA, the nearly 90% of American hardhats who are union-free were effectively excluded from competing for the jobs on this major federal contract.
National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad commented:
“Given that the bidding was rigged by Biden’s actions, no one should have been surprised this spring by reports that the winning bidder, Nebraska-based and forced-unionism-friendly Kiewit Infrastructure, had told Maryland officials the cost of the Key Bridge reconstruction would be not $5.2 billion, but $9 billion.
“While Maryland politicians refused to go officially on the record about how much this proposed PLA deal would cost, they admit it ‘far exceeded’ all state estimates.”
Facing pressure from the Trump Administration not to blow the bank, in late April Maryland cancelled its contract with Kiewit and rebid the reconstruction without a union-only PLA.
On May 19, the Maryland Transportation Authority estimated the work could now be completed for $4 billion to $4.8 billion.
Misguided Decision to Let Biden Order Stand Wastes Federal Taxpayers’ Time
While it is good news that the Bidenera plan to saddle federal taxpayers with an exorbitant PLA for the Key Bridge reconstruction has been kiboshed, observed Mr. Mourad, it is “scandalous” that so little has been accomplished in the more than two years that have passed since the bridge collapsed.
He explained:
“If Donald Trump had repealed Joe Biden’s folly early last year, as the Committee recommended, then the original bids for the Key Bridge project could have gone out without a union-only PLA, and the work could be well underway by now.
“In June 2025, Office of Management and Budget [OMB] Director Russ Vought issued a memorandum modifying the terms of the Biden order, but continuing to require PLAs that cost taxpayers up to 10% more than a non-PLA deal would.
“This disappointing memo gave Big Labor bosses a green light to continue ripping off taxpayers, as long as they don’t go ‘too far.’
“And even if the Vought memo blocks a wasteful PLA, as it evidently did in the case of the Key Bridge, it drags out the bidding process.”
Committee Supports Legislation to Ban PLAs
Mr. Mourad continued: “While independent-minded construction workers have, with Right to Work attorneys’ help, challenged the Biden order in court, efforts to obtain an injunction blocking its implementation have yet to bear fruit.
“Fortunately, a growing number of senators and congressmen support an across-the-board ban on PLAs for federal public works.
“The Fair and Open Competition Act [S.1064/H.R.2126] was introduced last year with 106 original cosponsors in the U.S. House and Senate.
“Committee staff members are working with allies on Capitol Hill to build support for this legislation.
“Project labor agreements waste taxpayers’ money, and they lock the vast majority of construction workers out of the high-paying opportunities afforded by federal contracts.
“If Joe Biden’s executive order requiring PLAs isn’t tossed out in court, as it deserves to be, the Trump Administration has a duty to protect federal taxpayers by revoking it.”
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