[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 30, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S2505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Nominations

  Madam President, I remain deeply disturbed by the Republicans' 
continued partisanship, particularly their obstruction of highly 
qualified Democratic nominees for the Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.
  It has been a longstanding practice to respect the minority party's 
selection of nominees and to move majority and minority nominees 
together to independent Agencies. Yet my colleagues across the aisle 
have jammed through Republican nominees to the NLRB and have hampered 
the EEOC's work by allowing one Republican Senator to essentially veto 
the Democratic nominee to the Agency, effectively tilting the playing 
field even more in favor of corporations and against workers' rights.
  In this moment, as so many brave women and men have come forward to 
share their stories of workplace harassment and brought this issue to 
the forefront and as the Trump administration continues to undermine 
workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain for higher wages 
and better working conditions, the EEOC and the NLRB have very critical 
roles to play in protecting workers' rights. They have to be able to 
function fully and with balanced voices. I am going to keep fighting 
for workers across the country and keep pushing to get Democratic 
nominees confirmed to this Commission and this Board.