Capitol Hill's 'Lame Ducks' Are Dangerous

Capitol Hill's 'Lame Ducks' Are Dangerous

(Source: September 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Since forced-unionism cheerleader Barack Obama became President in January 2009, Big Labor bosses and their yes-men in the U.S. Congress have helped him inflict a lot of damage on employees, businesses, and taxpayers across America. To take just the latest example, last month union puppet politicians in the Senate and House rubber-stamped a special-interest measure (H.R.1586) that will ultimately extract an additional $10 billion from beleaguered private-sector employees and businesses to maintain and expand wasteful unionized government payrolls. From 1998 to 2007, the number of instructional employees at K-12 public schools nationwide soared by 15.9% -- an increase 3.5 times greater than the 4.5% growth in school enrollment over the same period. The rapid-fire expansion of school payrolls, roughly 70% of which are unionized, produced no measurable improvement in educational outcomes, but cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. And the terms on which H.R.1586 piles on another $10 billion are expressly designed to ensure that currently strapped states do not pare back the past decade of teacher union boss-driven growth in K-12 payrolls in order to avoid increasing the burden on taxpaying individuals and businesses. On August 11, just one day after the House had okayed H.R.1586, President Obama signed it into law. Big Labor Bosses Still Far From Satisfied
Organized Labor Bosses 'Own' ObamaCare

Organized Labor Bosses 'Own' ObamaCare

Scheme Injurious For Millions of Unionized Workers, Retirees (Source: April 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Last month, the Big Labor Congress gave final approval to, and President Barack Obama signed into law, what is surely the greatest expansion of federal government power over consumers, employees and businesses since last century's Great Depression. And, even more than Mr. Obama, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), or any other elected official, top Big Labor bosses are responsible for Congress's reconstruction of America's enormous health-care system. On March 22, the day after the House rubber-stamped both H.R.3590, the version of ObamaCare Mr. Reid had rammed through the Senate early Christmas Eve morning, 2009, and a "fixer" bill (H.R.4872) amending the Senate measure, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) demonstrated how it all happened. "Supporters of both measures received out-sized support from labor unions," concluded the CRP's Michael Beckel in his legislative wrap-up. He went on to specify that, since 1989: "Members who voted for both bills received an average of about $917,500" in reported contributions alone from labor union bosses. Furthermore, in "the final push for a vote," many union bosses and union operatives "also displayed their clout through threats to withhold endorsements from lawmakers who failed to back the bill. They also vowed to support primary challenges or third-party bids against incumbents who opposed the bills."
Organized Labor Bosses 'Own' ObamaCare

Organized Labor Bosses 'Own' ObamaCare

Scheme Injurious For Millions of Unionized Workers, Retirees (Source: April 2010 NRTWC Newsletter) Last month, the Big Labor Congress gave final approval to, and President Barack Obama signed into law, what is surely the greatest expansion of federal government power over consumers, employees and businesses since last century's Great Depression. And, even more than Mr. Obama, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), or any other elected official, top Big Labor bosses are responsible for Congress's reconstruction of America's enormous health-care system. On March 22, the day after the House rubber-stamped both H.R.3590, the version of ObamaCare Mr. Reid had rammed through the Senate early Christmas Eve morning, 2009, and a "fixer" bill (H.R.4872) amending the Senate measure, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) demonstrated how it all happened. "Supporters of both measures received out-sized support from labor unions," concluded the CRP's Michael Beckel in his legislative wrap-up. He went on to specify that, since 1989: "Members who voted for both bills received an average of about $917,500" in reported contributions alone from labor union bosses. Furthermore, in "the final push for a vote," many union bosses and union operatives "also displayed their clout through threats to withhold endorsements from lawmakers who failed to back the bill. They also vowed to support primary challenges or third-party bids against incumbents who opposed the bills."