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House GOP Enables Union Control of Federal Contracts

This week the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives had 27 defections to side with Democratic Union buddies on a crucial vote on H.R. 2055, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies  Appropriations Act. The vote concerned amendment H 411, which was introduced by Steven LaTourette (R-OH) to strike section 415 of the bill. Amendment 411 passed by a total of  204-203. This amendment effectively forces government contractors to use Union labor on all federal construction projects. Silly me, and here I thought Speaker Boehner and our (supposed) watchdogs of the taxpayer’s purse in the House Republican majority were going to cut spending and work to save the taxpayers money every chance they get. Forcing Union labor for government taxpayer funded projects is just the opposite of what we voted for in the 2010 elections, as this always leads to huge increases in project costs and prohibits the very competition that would ensure the taxpayers get the most bang for the buck. Shame on Speaker Boehner, and the 27 House Republicans who voted to climb in bed with big labor unions and the Liberal Democrats once again. Two of these “progressive” Republicans come from my state of Florida and will be hearing from me tomorrow. Are any of your turncoat Republican representatives on the following list of those who voted for this amendment:

Aye AK-0 Young, Donald [R]
Aye FL-18 Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [R]
Aye FL-21 Diaz-Balart, Mario [R]
Aye IL-6 Roskam, Peter [R]
Aye IL-8 Walsh, Joe [R]
Aye IL-10 Dold, Bob [R]
Aye IL-13 Biggert, Judy [R]
Aye IL-15 Johnson, Timothy [R]
Aye IL-18 Schock, Aaron [R]
Aye KY-1 Whitfield, Edward [R]
Aye MI-11 McCotter, Thaddeus [R]
Aye MO-8 Emerson, Jo Ann [R]
Aye NC-13 Miller, R. [D]
Aye NJ-2 LoBiondo, Frank [R]
Aye NJ-3 Runyan, Jon [R]
Aye NJ-4 Smith, Christopher [R]
Aye NJ-7 Lance, Leonard [R]
Aye NY-13 Grimm, Michael [R]
Aye NY-19 Hayworth, Nan [R]
Aye OH-2 Schmidt, Jean [R]
Aye OH-3 Turner, Michael [R]
Aye OH-14 LaTourette, Steven [R]
Aye PA-18 Murphy, Tim [R]
Aye TX-6 Barton, Joe [R]
Aye WA-8 Reichert, Dave [R]
Aye WV-1 McKinley, David [R]
Aye WI-6 Petri, Thomas [R]

 Also of note is the fact that no less than 10 Republicans either chose not to vote, or were not able to vote because they were not in the House during this vote:

Not Voting GA-10 Broun, Paul [R]
Not Voting IL-19 Shimkus, John [R]
Not Voting IN-4 Rokita, Todd [R]
Not Voting IA-5 King, Steve [R]
Not Voting MI-2 Huizenga, Bill [R]
Not Voting MN-6 Bachmann, Michele [R]
Not Voting OH-15 Stivers, Steve [R]
Not Voting TX-3 Johnson, Samuel [R]
Not Voting TX-8 Brady, Kevin [R]
Not Voting TX-14 Paul, Ronald [R]

I included the reps links here just in case anyone is concerned about the lack of leadership we see here from the Republicans who are supposed to be trying to cut back on spending as they promised when we gave them the house majority, and want to call them up. Forced Union labor has been proven to increase costs drastically in these projects. This is precisely how, while we are looking the other way, our Republicans vote with Liberal, union-owned Democrats to screw the taxpayers. Every single one of these fake conservatives needs to be voted out in 2012, no excuses. Pass this information around to everyone concerned with the wrong direction  America is heading in today. Unions are Democratic vote for taxpayers dollars machines. Voting for this amendment will further empower Unions and Democrats and make restoring fiscal sanity that much more difficult. Pay attention folks.

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Rich Mitchell

Rich Mitchell is the editor-in-chief of Conservative Daily News and the president of Bald Eagle Media, LLC. His posts may contain opinions that are his own and are not necessarily shared by Bald Eagle Media, CDN, staff or .. much of anyone else. Find him on twitter, facebook and

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One Comment

  1. How is this constitutional? Any amendment which forces the use of labor unions is unconstitutional, isn’t it?

    By favoring labor unions, every entrepreneur is thus excluded from bidding on government construction contracts, which would include any number of small businesses within the field of construction.

    It’s an illegal sham. No different if the state mandated all legalized gambling operations to fall under MOB control.

  2. Hi Max,

    That is the problem here, I called the two moronic puppets from my state of Florida to demand just what in the hell they were doing in voting for Union forced contracts? 5 calls later and 3 people , not one of the so-called congressional staff could tell me just how this is legal under our constitution. I told them their names will be in the news for all in Florida to see, and they will stay there until the 2012 elections.Frigging morons voting on bills that they do not even understand is one thing I found out. The other thing is certain fake Republicans are trying to buy the Union vote there. Look at the NJ reps for instance. Heavy Union presence there. Just like Illinois . I,m still going to call my reps every other day until they explain their votes which they simply can not do There is NO EXUSE for this kind of voting, and people better wake up! . This one really has my blood boiling here!

    1. Good luck with the phone calls. But as I have come to expect, public pleas fall on deaf ears in Washington. Our politicians routinely sell their votes for any number of reasons, none of which are honorable. It’s one thing for democrats to have sold their soul to the unions, but another thing when republicans emulate their vote by way of political bribery.

  3. The reason Nan Hayworth voted in favor of the union at the federal level. But she believes that unions at the state level should not have collective bargaining rights. At the federal level she followed her cousin in his historical backing of unions in 1930. President Herbert Hoover.

  4. Is this the way are newly elected members to the Congress wonder why they may be selected for replacement in 2012. It won’t take many more votes of this sort to clean house next election.

    We who are watching suggest you change your ways immediately. Responsible government does not coalesce to the opposition and special interests

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