Politics

GOP senator ‘mad as hell’ at NLRB, rallies colleagues to demand action

Nicholas Ballasy Senior Video Reporter
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South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is “mad as hell” over the National Labor Relations Board’s complaint against The Boeing Company and has rallied a group of GOP senators to demand that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama support legislation that would prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future.

“The NLRB is not deciding disputes between labor and business, they’re trying to veto business decisions and take a political agenda and run with it,” Graham said at a Wednesday press conference at the Capitol. “They’re trying to impose on us work rules, changing the way you vote on a union because they can’t get it through the Congress and that’s why I’m mad as hell. You know, I respect the law but this is the law run amok.”

The Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act, sponsored by South Carolina Republican Rep. Tim Scott in the House, would prevent the NLRB from “ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer employment under any circumstance.”

The legislation is expected to pass the GOP-controlled House but will face obstacles in the Senate.

The bill was influenced by Republican opposition to the NLRB’s complaint against The Boeing Company for alleged retaliation against Washington State union workers in the company’s decision to open a second production line for the new 787 Dreamliner plane in South Carolina, a “right to work” state.

“The point of us being here today is to appeal to our colleagues for a little bit of common sense in the middle of all this jobs discussion to stop the president and his cronies at the National Labor Relations Board from killing jobs while we’re trying to create them here and to allow the economy to create them,” said South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint at the news conference.

“So, our appeal is to Senator Reid and all the Democrats to help us pass this here and to shut this down once and for all,” he added.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul offered a direct “message” for Obama.

“If you are in favor of jobs, you’ve got to be in favor of corporations. Quit going around the country and criticizing American corporations. Boeing could take these jobs overseas. Would you rather see these jobs go overseas? Mr. President, support this legislation now,” Paul said.

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