Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, let me start out by saying happy birthday to the United States Army. I spent a fair amount of time in my life in uniform in the Army. It is a defining thing in anybody's life who has spent time in uniform, and it has been a wonderful institution for many, many Americans over a long period of time.
I also thank the chairman for the work on this bill. I know that while we are debating it here today and we are going to vote later today, that the work for next year's bill will start tomorrow. I thank him for his hard work.
This amendment is pretty straightforward. It just requires the Secretary of Defense to report on the use of taxpayer-funded union time by DOD employees. We are not saying it is bad. We are not saying it is good. We are not saying it is too much. It is too little. We just want to know what it is. We just want to know.
For those who may be unfamiliar, Congress granted certain employees the ability to perform certain tasks for labor unions while on duty. To be clear, that means that these employees are being paid by our constituents to work for union activities instead of doing the job that they were hired to perform.
I think maybe it would be fine if we said in the job description that your job is to do organized labor activities, but that is not what is in the job description. The job description is what is needed for the country for the Department of Defense; but instead of doing that work, you are doing other work. Unacceptably, the statistics on the use of official time are very few and far between.
Take a GAO report from January of 2017, so we are a few years beyond that now, which is telling in itself. According to the data from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 346 employees spent 100 percent of their time on official union activities instead of taking care of our Nation's veterans.
Now, the Trump administration took some steps to improve transparency, including actually reporting the use and the cost of official time by agencies.
A VA press release dated November 8, 2018, cites a particularly egregious example. A VA registered nurse, who was elected as a local union official, spent 100 percent of her time doing organized labor activities. That might be fine if the job description was organized labor activities, but the job description is registered nurse. How much time taking care of veterans as a nurse was this person spending? Well, zero, that is how much time.
To use examples from the Department of Defense, the most recent available data or estimates of the data from the Trump administration's final report was that 3,235 DOD employees used official time in FY19 for a total of 526,990 hours at a cost of millions upon tens of millions of dollars, not to mention the equipment.
We are here debating the National Defense Authorization Act.
There are very serious threats around the world. While we stand here, while we sit here, while we watch, the Russians are moving a fleet into Cuba about 100 miles off the coast of the United States of America. Now, I don't know about you, but for me, I want every DOD employee focused on keeping America safe.
All we are asking for, all this amendment asks for is a report so that we don't go blindly searching around to try and figure out how best to do that. If we have the information, we can make decisions. We don't have the information. This amendment says give us the information, track the information so we can make decisions.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, there are many things that I agree with the gentleman, my friend on the other side of the aisle. These are important tasks that need to be done. Disputes need to be resolved. We all care about the people who are working for the Federal Government, but to think that after 40 years we have gotten it perfect, and we can't take a look and we can't ask for a report I think is a little bit shortsighted. This isn't an attack on anyone because those things do need to be done.
However, I would say this: Yesterday I received an email from the AFL-CIO from someone working on official time. This is yesterday. Today is Friday. Yesterday was Thursday. The time stamp on it is 1:38, so 1338 if you are in the Army, is what time it came. That is in the middle of the business day. That is in the middle of working hours. That is not handling disputes. That is lobbying Members of Congress to vote one way or the other. We want them to be able to handle disputes and do the work to make sure employees are protected and the good work of DOD is done, but I, for one, would like a report on how this is the work that taxpayers should be paying for and how that is happening and how much it is happening. That is all we are asking for, Mr. Chairman, is a report.
Mr. Chairman, I include in the Record the email from the AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO Legislative Alert, June 13, 2024.
Dear Representative: On behalf of the 12.5 million workers and 60 affiliate unions represented by the AFL-CIO, I urge you to oppose the following amendments to H.R. 8070, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025. These amendments threaten fair representation for federal workers and attack thousands of workers' fundamental right to collectively bargain. Oppose Perry Amendment (Floor #56)
This amendment is part of an effort to undermine official time. Official time permits federal union representatives to fulfill their duties of fair representation regardless of an employee's membership status. Official time also enables federal managers and employee representatives to collaboratively resolve workplace conflict, enhancing government efficiency and productivity. Oppose Scott Amendment (Floor #349)
This amendment would strip collective bargaining rights from thousands of Dual Status Technicians (DST), a class of DoD employees. The Supreme Court upheld these rights last year in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Thomas in Ohio Adjutant General's Department v. Federal Labor Relations Authority. Collective bargaining rights, both in the federal government and the private sector, are crucial for promoting health, safety, and fairness in the workplace. Enacting this amendment would reverse that Supreme Court decision and eliminate collective bargaining rights for DSTs.
We strongly urge you to oppose these amendments to H.R. 8070, the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025. Protecting collective bargaining rights and fair representation by voting against these amendments will help ensure that our federal employees continue to have the rights and protections they deserve as they work to support our nation's defense. Sincerely, Jody Calemine, Director, Government Affairs.
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Mr. PERRY. Mr. Chairman, I urge support and yield back the balance of my time.
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