McConnell accuses Democrats of making ‘liberal supermajority’ forward of NLRB affirmation vote

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell charged Senate Democrats with making an attempt to create a “liberal supermajority” on the National Labor Relations Board forward of a vote to substantiate the newest Democratic nominee.

Lawmakers are set to vote on Wednesday for Democratic nominee Gwynne Wilcox, who was tapped by President Biden in July for a second time period on the labor board. Ms. Wilcox’s time period expired on the finish of August, leaving each a Democratic and Republican seat empty on the five-member board.

Mr. McConnell urged lawmakers to vote in opposition to the affirmation in remarks on the Senate flooring Wednesday, saying {that a} Republican nominee has not been chosen and put up for a vote similtaneously Ms. Wilcox.

“The Senate’s long-standing practice is to fill Democrat and Republican vacancies on important boards and commissions in tandem,” mentioned Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican. “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 have accused Mr. McConnell of slow-walking the number of a Republican nominee in hopes of paralyzing the board’s work throughout a Democratic administration.

The NLRB is an impartial federal company that investigates and decides on instances of alleged unfair labor practices within the personal sector. Ms. Wilcox’s doable affirmation might imply that Democrats have a three-to-one benefit on the board. The Republican seat has been vacant since December, when Trump administration appointee John Ring left the NLRB on the finish of his time period.

Mr. McConnell contended that Ms. Wilcox and different Democratic appointees on the board, with a two-seat majority in hand, 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.”