In a recent development, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has accused Senate Democrats of attempting to establish a "liberal supermajority" on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
This accusation comes ahead of a vote to confirm Gwynne Wilcox, the Democratic nominee for a second term on the labor board.
Wilcox, who was nominated by President Biden in July, saw her term end in August, leaving both a Democratic and Republican seat vacant on the five-member board. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has urged his fellow lawmakers to vote against Wilcox's confirmation. He expressed his concern on the Senate floor, stating that a Republican nominee has not been simultaneously selected and put up for a vote alongside Wilcox.
"The Senate's long-standing practice is to fill Democrat and Republican vacancies on important boards and commissions in tandem," McConnell said. "But instead of pairing Gwynne Wilcox, President Biden's choice for a Democratic seat on the National Labor Relations Board, with a Republican counterpart, our colleagues would like to create an artificial liberal supermajority."
Democrats, however, have countered McConnell's accusations, alleging that he is deliberately delaying the selection of a Republican nominee in an attempt to hinder the board's work during a Democratic administration.
The NLRB is an independent federal agency responsible for investigating and ruling on cases of alleged unfair labor practices in the private sector. If Wilcox is confirmed, Democrats could potentially hold a three-to-one advantage on the board. The Republican seat has been vacant since December, following the departure of Trump administration appointee John Ring at the end of his term.
McConnell argued that Wilcox and other Democratic appointees on the board, with a two-seat majority, would "run roughshod over American employers, stack the deck for Democrats' Big Labor allies, and keep corrupt and failing unions on life support with a tangled mess of regulations."
"The last thing our country needs is an emboldened partisan majority at the wheel of the NLRB," McConnell warned. "But unfortunately, that's exactly what we'll get if Democrats confirm Ms. Wilcox's nomination by itself."
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