Protect America's Workforce Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLOUD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 2550.

The proposed legislation is designed to nullify President Trump's lawful executive order to exclude agencies with national security missions from collective bargaining agreements.

Article II of the Constitution is crystal clear: The executive power is invested in the President of the United States. Let me repeat: All authority in the executive branch flows from the people to the duly elected executive. Anyone operating outside of the pleasure of the President in the executive branch is simply part of an unconstitutional fourth branch of government. The President holds the sole authority.

Yet for decades, Federal collective bargaining agreements have been allowed, and some are even designed to restrict the President's ability to lead the government we elected him to run.

That is why President Trump, acting fully within the authority granted by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, amended Jimmy Carter's 1979 executive order, to exempt additional agencies from burdensome collective bargaining agreements--agencies such as the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, Homeland Security, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as many others.

The left's disdain for the Constitution cannot be more clear. We saw this during Trump administration 1.0 with the resistance movement. During the Biden administration we saw the auto pen controversy where they even went around the executive. The Biden administration spent the final months, even after being voted out of office, frantically signing union contracts which were explicitly designed to sabotage the incoming administration and prevent President Trump, elected by the people, from carrying out the mandate he was given.

These same government unions are not neutral public servants. In the 2023 to 2024 election cycle, the four largest Federal employee unions spent nearly $1 billion on politics, with 98.8 percent of their Federal contributions going to the Democratic Party.

Unions like the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union, AFSCME, SEIU, and others affected by this executive order have made no secret of their intent to resist the agenda the American people voted for.

As Congress, we need to ensure that the Constitution is upheld. We need more legislation like the Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act, which simply reaffirms Article II and ensures that no future administration can permanently handcuff its successor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to defend Article II, reject this H.R. 2550, and stand with the American people who sent us here to drain the swamp, not to protect it.

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