During Donald Trump’s first term, it was unthinkable that a Republican would have sided with Democrats to repeal one of the president's orders.
During the first nine months of this term, the same could have been said, but much has changed since then.
Now, amid a rough election cycle, Trump is on the wrong side of a movement in Congress to repeal an executive order (EO) to block government agency employees from being able to participate in collective bargaining.
Just two months into his second term, Trump signed the “EXCLUSIONS FROM FEDERAL LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS PROGRAMS” executive order.
It stated, “The agencies and agency subdivisions set forth in section 2 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is also hereby determined that Chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.”
The next section stated, “The agency subdivisions set forth in section 3 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is also hereby determined that Subchapter X of Chapter 52 of title 22, United States Code, cannot be applied to these subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.”
Trump then listed several federal agencies and departments, including the Defense Department, employees of which would no longer be able to use collective bargaining.
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) is now leading the charge to repeal that order, and he has some support from unexpected places.
A total of 13 Republicans are backing the legislation, all of whom hail from battleground states or moderate districts that need union support.
Since House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would never put this measure on the floor, Golden will use a discharge petition to get it there, and he clearly has the support.
With the 13 votes from Republicans, he will have well over the 218 votes needed to floor the petition, then to hold a vote. Then the measure will move to the Senate, where anything can happen these days.
Not only is Trump seeing resistance to this order, but there are quite a few Republicans who are increasingly unhappy with Trump declaring the “affordability” narrative dominating recent economic discussions to be a hoax.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is among those who are frustrated, recently stating, “You can’t call it a hoax and suggest that people are going to believe it.” She later added, “By the time somebody is at the level that they’re serving as president of the United States, it’s not like they’re going out and doing their own shopping.”
Before Trump calls everyday economic struggles a hoax again, I would encourage him to actually walk through a grocery store and check prices.
While the backend price of many consumer items has dropped, those reductions are not yet being reflected at the checkout line. Mr. Trump, I would have no problem defending you if you were right, but this issue is not a hoax, as we are all still getting clobbered at checkout lines. I am not blaming you for the issue, as I know where the roots of the problem lie, but please don’t tell me I am doing great when my bank account has gone backwards for five straight years.
