60 House Republicans Vote in Favor of Union Subsidy
In light of the Department of Veterans Affairs and Internal Revenue Service scandals, many Republican congressmen have come out against the practice known as union official time, which releases federal employees from their regularly assigned duties to conduct union business.
Numerous GOP elected officials have argued that official time contributes to the mismanagement that has engulfed U.S. federal agencies. And it is not hard to see why, the Obama administration even granted official time during last year’s government shutdown (see data, here).
Of late, on June 2, Representative Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) “asked Sloan Gibson, acting Veterans Affairs secretary, in a letter to issue an emergency directive requiring those released on “official time” to return to their regular jobs.”
In addition, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.), champions of the fight to eliminate official time, have recently sent multiple letters to the Obama administration asking for the release of the cost and amount of official time granted in FY 2012 (to date the Obama administration has not responded to their requests).
Thankfully, a majority of Republicans in Congress understand that union official time is nothing more than an inappropriate, massive subsidy to government unions, which cost taxpayers $155 million in FY 2011 according the most recent available data.
However, on June 10, 60 House Republicans voted against prohibiting union official time.
Rep. Gingrey’s Amendment No. 29 to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015 proposed to prohibit “the use of funds to pay a Federal employee for any period of time during which such employee is using official time under section 7131 of title 5, United States Code.”
The amendment was voted down 254-167. Sixty Republicans and 194 Democrat voted to continue the wasteful union subsidy.
See if your member of Congress voted to continue union subsidy that takes federal employees away from performing government work on WorkplaceChoice.org’s Congressional Labor Scorecard (Vote 295).
Here’s the list of the 60 House GOP members who voted in favor of union official time:
- Mark Amodei (R-Nev.);
- Lou Barletta (R-Penn.);
- Dan Benishek (R-Mich.);
- Paul Broun (R-Ga.);
- Shelly Capito (R-W.V.);
- Chris Collins (R-N.Y.);
- Paul Cook (R-Calif.);
- John Culberson (R-Tex.);
- Steve Daines (R-Mont.);
- Rodney Davis (R-Ill.);
- Jeff Denham (R-Calif.);
- Charlie Dent (R-Penn.);
- Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.);
- Mike Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.);
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.);
- Jim Gerlach (R-Penn.);
- Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio);
- Chris Gibson (R-N.Y.);
- Sam Graves (R-Mo.);
- Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.);
- Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.);
- Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.);
- Joe Heck (R-Nev.);
- Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.);
- Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.);
- Robert Hurt (R-Va.);
- Bill Johnson (R-Ohio);
- David Jolly (R-Fla.);
- Walter Jones (R-N.C.);
- Dave Joyce (R-Ohio);
- Mike Kelly (R-Penn.);
- Pete King (R-N.Y.);
- Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.);
- Leonard Lance (R-N.J.);
- Tom Latham (R-Iowa);
- Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.);
- Thomas Marino (R-Penn.);
- David McKinley (R-W.V.);
- Patrick Meehan (R-Penn.);
- Tim Murphy (R-Penn.);
- Bill Posey (R-Fla.);
- Tom Reed (R-N.Y.);
- Dave Reichert (R-Wash.);
- Jim Renacci (R-Ohio);
- Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.);
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.);
- Jon Runyan (R-N.J.);
- Aaron Schock (R-Ill.);
- John Shimkus (R-Ill.);
- Bill Shuster (R-Penn.);
- Chris Smith (R-N.J.);
- Steve Stivers (R-Ohio);
- Steve Stockman (R-Texas);
- Lee Terry (R-Neb.);
- Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio);
- Michael Turner (R-Ohio);
- Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.);
- Rob Wittman (R-Va.);
- Frank Wolf (R-Va.); and
- Don Young (R-Alaska)