Outgoing Independent senators Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) and Joe Manchin (West Virginia) gave Democrats and labor unions the middle finger by siding with Republicans to oppose confirming President Joe Biden's renomination of Lauren McFerran for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which will let President-elect Donald Trump seize control of the board next year.
NLRB is the federal agency responsible for safeguarding employees’ workplace rights. Sinema and Manchin's decisive “no” votes doomed the nomination, as all Senate Republicans also opposed it. Only one of their votes was needed to secure McFerran’s confirmation.
Had McFerran’s nomination been successful, she would have served on the NLRB board until 2026, ensuring Democratic control for an additional two years. Instead, Trump will now have the opportunity to select McFerran’s replacement, shifting the board’s balance sooner than anticipated.
Manchin departed from the Democratic Party in May, while Sinema made the same move in 2022. Neither opted to seek re-election for another Senate term, and both will be exiting Congress in January.
Notably, Sinema’s vote marked her first since the Thanksgiving break, during which her absence may have cost Democrats the opportunity to advance some of their most contested judicial and administrative nominations. Sinema has not offered an explanation for her avoidance of these votes.
Many reacted angrily to the news.
The NLRB wields significant influence in resolving conflicts between labor unions and corporations. During the Biden administration, it ramped up efforts in support of labor rights, a historical hallmark of Biden’s agenda.
This increased activity has drawn legal challenges from corporations like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, which have argued that the NLRB is unconstitutional after it ruled against them in disputes with their workers.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest consortium of labor unions, said those lawmakers who rejected McFerran’s nomination “voted against the working people of this country."
Shuler added that the vote "had nothing to do with stopping Chair McFerran’s renomination and everything to do with reversing generations of progress workers have made toward building a fairer and more just economy."
