GOP lawmaker proposes defunding NLRB

Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) has introduced legislation to do away with funding for the National Labor Relations Board.

Salmon claimed the NLRB, which was created in 1935 to conduct labor elections and manage labor policy, is biased toward labor unions. The Arizona Republican argued that the Justice Department could instead be solely tasked with enforcing labor laws.

{mosads}”The U.S. Department of Justice already ensures our labor laws are properly enforced, and does so in a far more professional and nonpartisan manner than the favoritism shown to Big Labor by the NLRB.  Congress has many hard choices to make as to where to spend and where to cut, but defunding an agency that does nothing but advance cronyism instead of protecting workers is not one of them,” Salmon said in a statement.

Lawmakers appropriated $274,224,000 in funding for the NLRB for the current fiscal year.

Earlier this year, the GOP-controlled House and Senate passed a resolution disapproving of an NLRB rule to speed up union elections. But President Obama vetoed the measure, saying it was a “bad idea.”