Protect America's Workforce Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BIGGS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

This bill would nullify President Trump's Executive Order No. 14251, which rightly excluded 40 national security agencies from collective bargaining.

Agencies like FEMA, the Coast Guard, the CDC, and the VA cannot afford to be paralyzed by union red tape when lives are on the line.

I want to emphasize that this is going to nullify an executive order. It is going to attack his agenda, the America First agenda, that he was overwhelmingly elected to enact.

These unions are not neutral actors. The word ``billionaires'' was mentioned by my colleague from California. I am glad he mentioned the term ``billion,'' because that is what the partisan machine government union spent in the last election, just under $1 billion, $980 million of it going to Democrats, which explains in no small measure the rationale for the movement of this bill to negate President Trump's executive order.

In its final days, the Biden administration rushed to lock in long- term union contracts designed to tie President Trump's hands for a second term.

H.R. 2550 preserves those deals signed after President Trump was reelected but before Inauguration Day. That undermines the will of the voters and the authority of the Commander in Chief. It is legislative sabotage, and we shouldn't give in to that.

The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 explicitly gives the President authority to exclude agencies from collective bargaining when national security is at stake. This would undo that.

Presidents from Carter to Reagan to Trump have exercised this authority. Courts have already sided with President Trump, affirming that in matters of national security, the President enjoys ``unique responsibility.''

Arizona knows too well the cost of bureaucratic failure. The Phoenix VA scandal shows what happens when accountability is lost. Veterans died waiting for care.

We must not allow unions to dictate policy if it is going to impact national security, if it is going to affect our borders, if it is going to affect our energy, and if it is going to affect protecting Americans during pandemics.

In a State where public safety and national defense are daily realities, my State, this bill would put union bosses ahead of the American people and in front of Arizonans.

In 2024 alone, the political arm of the Democratic Party, the four largest public-sector unions, spent $900 million-plus on progressive politics, and 86 percent of it came from their member dues. They are using taxpayer-backed salaries to fund partisan activism, not to serve the American people.

H.R. 2550 strips the President of his constitutional authority, undermines national security, and rewards partisan obstruction. President Trump is trying to fulfill his duty to protect the American people. Congress should not stand in his way.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with the President, put America's security ahead of union politics, and vote ``no.''

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