Senate Subcommittee Clears Spending Bill With Policy Riders, DOL, NLRB Budget Cuts

Employment Law

Joining its counterpart in the House, a Senate Appropriations subcommittee this week approved a fiscal year 2016 spending bill that would cut funding for DOL and the National Labor Relations Board and curb a number of labor and employment initiatives.  The riders would block three NLRB initiatives: new union representation election rules, the NLRB General Counsel's effort to expand joint employer liability and the Board's recognition of so-called "micro-union" representation election units.  Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, said she is "disappointed" about funding cuts for various labor and education programs included in the bill.  "And I'm even more disappointed that the Republican majority used a bill that should be about helping our families, workers and communities as a vehicle for very partisan poison pill policy riders that take us in the opposite direction."  Separately, the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2016 bill containing similar restrictions, as well as a refusal to fund the Administration's Blacklisting Executive Order.