House GOP Uses Budget Vote to Cripple NLRB, Workers' Rights

Adding to the spate of attacks on America's workers and their unions, House Republicans have slashed funds in the current year's budget for the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that enforces private sector workers' organizing and bargaining rights.

The NLRB would lose nearly 20 percent of its funding through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, if the money isn't restored by the U.S. Senate. The House version has $61 billion in cuts, including the NLRB funds.

NLRB Chair Wilma Liebman said the already backlogged agency would have to furlough its staff for 55 days, crippling the board's ability to investigate violations of workers' rights, hold elections and try cases. "It would force us to severely curtail all of our operations," she said.

The House GOP originally tried to strip all funding from the NLRB, but the amendment failed when 60 Republicans joined Democrats to vote it down.