At a House Oversight Committee hearing before the Congressional recess, lawmakers discussed the Preserving Presidential Management Act.
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00:00So our next item for consideration is H.R. 2249, the Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act.
00:08The clerk will please designate the bill.
00:11H.R. 2249, a bill to amend Chapter 71 of Title V, United States Code,
00:16to provide that the president may unilaterally modify collective bargaining agreements
00:20entered into under such chapter and for other purposes.
00:24Without objection, the bill should be considered as read and open for amendment at any point.
00:27Without objection, so ordered, the chair recognizes himself to offer an amendment in the nature of a substitute.
00:31The clerk will please designate the amendment.
00:34An amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 2249 is offered by Mr. Comer of Kentucky.
00:39Without objection, the amendment is considered as read and the substitute will be considered as original text
00:43for the purposes of further amendment.
00:45I now recognize myself for five minutes for a statement on the bill and the amendment.
00:50Federal employee unions focus on advancing the interest of government employees who belong to the union
00:55at the expense of government management and mission achievement.
00:59Collective bargaining agreements, or CBAs, are negotiated by federal employee unions
01:03and frequently result in civil service policies that prevent poorly performing federal employees
01:07from being held accountable and conflict with the policy priorities of newly elected presidents.
01:13For instance, outgoing Biden-Harris administration finalized long-term CBAs with federal employee unions
01:19in order in an attempt to limit President Trump's management authority.
01:26In these CBAs, the Biden-Harris administration made unprecedented concessions,
01:30including guaranteeing telework for federal bureaucrats.
01:35Specifically, outgoing Social Security Administration Chief Martin O'Malley approved an agreement
01:40with the American Federation of Government Employees that seeks to lock in minimum telework levels
01:45for 42,000 Social Security Administration employees until 2029.
01:52The agreement was finalized on November 27, 2024, just days before O'Malley stepped down from his job at the SSA.
02:00This highlights everything problematic about federal sector collective bargaining,
02:04agreements that tie the hands of future executive branch policymakers.
02:07A duly elected president should not be constrained by a union deal with federal employees
02:12made by the prior administration on the way out.
02:16This bill, the Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act,
02:19would ensure that a duly elected president is not bound by CBAs negotiated under the previous administration.
02:26CBAs cannot run counter to federal law, including newly passed statutes.
02:30This bill reformed will also ensure that the CBAs cannot counter presidential policy,
02:36including executive orders and presidential memorandums.
02:41I thank Mr. Cloud from Texas for his leadership in preparing this new legislation for the committee's consideration.
02:46These are necessary and reasonable reforms.
02:48I urge my colleagues to support the Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act.
02:52I now recognize Ms. Crockett for her opening statement.
02:55Thank you, Mr. Chair.
02:56The Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act is simply another effort by Republicans in Congress
03:02to attack and attempt to eliminate federal government unions.
03:06The bill would specify that an incoming president may terminate provisions of public sector collective bargaining agreements,
03:13or CBAs, signed prior to the president's term of office.
03:18In doing so, it would give the president unilateral authority to terminate any provision of a CBA that the president doesn't like.
03:25I remind my colleagues that collective bargaining agreements are legally binding agreements,
03:32and the president already has the power to renegotiate provisions of CBAs based on new management priorities.
03:39For example, if the president signs an executive order to change telework policies,
03:45he or she already has the power to renegotiate a CBA provision relating to telework flexibilities,
03:51even if it's bad policy.
03:53The bill also provides the president or an agency head unilateral authority to render any provision of a CBA unenforceable
04:03simply because they deem it in conflict with an executive order or presidential memorandum.
04:09Perhaps, for example, the National Border Patrol Council entered into a collective bargaining agreement
04:15with the federal government, which included a provision requiring periodic rest breaks
04:20for agents and personnel when working in extreme heat and humidity.
04:25If the Secretary of Homeland Security stated in an agency memorandum
04:29that they no longer believe in providing workplace health and safety programs,
04:34those Border Patrol agents and personnel, with one swipe of a pin, would have their rest breaks taken away.
04:42This is just one example of an alarming effort by congressional Republicans to take away the voices and rights of federal workers.
04:50As President Trump and his administration attempt to consolidate power in the executive branch,
04:55the American public must be reassured that the president and his agency heads are not above the law.
05:02Federal unions don't have the power to terminate any provision of a CBA they dislike,
05:07and private sector employers certainly don't have the power to over—they certainly don't have power over private sector unions either.
05:17This concept for this legislation was raised by Republicans in a hearing earlier this year
05:23in the Trump administration's effort to dismantle our government.
05:27Republicans used the hearing to push a conspiracy theory that the Biden administration saddled the Trump administration
05:33with collective bargaining agreements that would tie President Trump's hands.
05:37The hearing exposed that conspiracy and laid bare the fact that the collective bargaining agreement in question
05:44was previously negotiated by the Trump administration and extended far into the Biden administration.
05:51So what the majority has done is invent a problem and use it as justification for an executive branch power grab.
06:00This legislation would have extremely alarming implications for Americans employed by the federal government
06:07and is, put simply, a public sector union-busting effort.
06:13I oppose this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.
06:17I yield back.
06:18The gentlelady yields back.
06:19Any other members seek recognition?
06:21Well, do we have any on this side first?
06:24Oh, I'm sorry.
06:26I'm sorry.
06:26I recognize the sponsor of the bill, the most important person on the bill, Mr. Cloud from Texas.
06:32Well, thank you, Chairman.
06:33Certainly not the most important person, but I would like to speak to the bill.
06:36And thank you for your words at the beginning.
06:39Appreciate it.
06:39This is an important bill, something that needs to be done.
06:43The Preserving Presidential Management Authority Act would ensure that the duly elected president
06:47is not bound by collective bargaining agreements negotiated under a previous presidential administration.
06:55This is important, and we can see most recently that in the last days of the Joe Biden presidency,
07:00his administration worked around the clock to saddle President Trump with onerous collective bargaining agreements.
07:07As you mentioned, Chairman, for example, in December 2024, a month before Trump was to take office,
07:13the Social Security Administration Commissioner, Martin O'Malley, signed a collective bargaining agreement
07:18to look into pandemic-era telework policies for 42,000 federal employees, oddly, until 2029,
07:27the entire duration of President Trump's term.
07:29Again, on January 17, 2025, three days before Trump was to take office,
07:36the Department of Education signed a collective bargaining agreement with AFGE until 2030.
07:43Even Politico ran an article titled The Feds Race to Inc. Union Deals That Last Beyond Trump,
07:50which documented CBAs and negotiations with the EPA, National Park Service, Federal Regulatory Commission,
07:57and the Bureau of Land Management.
08:00It's not just telework that's the issue.
08:02As we've established in other committee hearings, these unions that have been negotiating these CBAs
08:07have demonstrated a clear political bias.
08:10AFGE, the largest federal union workforce, has donated over $3 million to PACs since the 2020 cycle.
08:18Of that total, 95 percent went to Democrats.
08:22AFGE also endorsed Kamala Harris for president, which they certainly had the right to do,
08:26but it's notable that in 2020 they endorsed Biden.
08:29In 2016 they endorsed Hillary.
08:31In 2012 and 2008 they endorsed President Barack Obama.
08:38So we're seeing a trend here.
08:39This is a political organization that is, as much as it is, a union for our workforce.
08:47Additionally, the National Treasury Employees Union has donated over $700,000 to PACs in the 2020 cycle.
08:52Almost 99 percent of the money was given to Democrat organizations.
08:57It's clear we need a solution to these midnight CBAs, which only serve to ensnare President Trump and his agenda.
09:04My bill allows any incoming president to terminate any provision of a CBA and nullifies provisions of a CBA which conflict with rule, executive order, or presidential memorandum.
09:16This bill ensures that existing CBAs do not conflict with any incoming presidential policy.
09:21And ultimately, this really comes down to the fact that elections matter, and the Article II of our Constitution gives an executive, the President of the United States, the authority to execute the laws of the land and to administer his administration.
09:37And so it is important that no previous president, regardless of if I like the policies of that president or not, be encumbered by a previous president's contracts and agreements with the federal workforce.
09:51And so this bill seeks to amend that and ensure that any incoming president has the ability to revisit those contracts and to renegotiate them if necessary.
10:01And thank you, Chairman, for the time and for your consideration of this bill in committee markup today, and I yield back.
10:09Thank the sponsor.
10:10The bill yields back.
10:11Chair, I recognize Mr. Lynch.
10:13Then we'll go to Mr. Biggs.
10:15Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
10:16Just as someone who has negotiated collective bargainings for a living, I just want to point out that this would put both the government and the contracting party,
10:29in this case the unions, at a severe disadvantage.
10:32As we all know, sometimes it takes years to negotiate a contract with a large labor union, unfortunately, because of the rights involved and the number of employees involved.
10:42So it is quite common that an administration, such as the Trump administration, might need 18 months or two years to negotiate a contract with a government employee union.
10:55What this would do would be to basically abrogate the Fifth Amendment rights to have their contract rights respected and also to attain due process in the abrogation of those rights.
11:13It's the nature of our government that, when administrations change, we oftentimes have a new view that comes into play,
11:25especially when the administration changes from either a Republican to a Democrat or from a Democrat to a Republican administration.
11:31This amendment is totally unworkable in terms of trying to create some predictability for the government that would also respect the rights of the employees involved
11:48to have the President of the United States and Congress, you know, approve a contract with a labor union.
11:59And then because of the vagaries of a next election, have that completely blown up is, you know, a complete destruction of the rights that are embodied in that contract.
12:10So, you know, this bill is confusing and unworkable from a practical aspect, and it would effectively render all collective bargaining agreements meaningless.
12:25In other words, you have a contract until we say you don't.
12:29That's what this bill does.
12:32Bargaining involves negotiation.
12:34It involves compromise by all parties.
12:36A lot of times those employees are locked into very low wage increases over four or five years.
12:45And so by adopting this bill, you would deny the government of that advantage that they have gained through negotiations and executing an agreement with that union.
13:00So it's not just – it implies that you're just taking the rights away from the union.
13:07You're actually taking rights away from the government itself from losing the advantage that might be gained in a collective bargaining agreement of multiple years with the particular union.
13:19You know, as I said, bargaining involves negotiation and it involves compromise by all parties, resulting in a signed contract that balances those interests.
13:30By design, no one is necessarily happy with all the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.
13:36This bill will result in management being able to subvert a new management.
13:40So a party, not party to the original contract, can come in and just tear that up, even though it was signed, you know, by a person of authority and valid when executed.
13:52After the fact, it could be simply negated, simply by obtaining a new presidential order.
13:58So this bill is an affront to the basic principles of contract law.
14:03And remember, we – in that collective bargaining agreement, we restate that those employees don't have the right to strike.
14:14They don't have the right to stop work.
14:17They are bound by that agreement and by statute.
14:21And this, you know, this rewriting of the law would negate all those rights that protect the employees and the union within that agreement,
14:36but also the predictability and the advantage gained by the taxpayer as well.
14:42With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
14:43Yield back.
14:44Chair, recognize Mr. Biggs.
14:46I have an amendment at the desk.
14:47Okay, does anyone else want to speak on the cloud bill?
14:52All right, go ahead.
14:53No, we got one.
14:54So we'll halt on that.
14:59Only a minute.
15:01Okay.
15:02Go ahead.
15:04Chairman, this bill at its core is about giving the president the authority to try to screw over workers
15:15in the middle of a contract.
15:17We don't have a bill here before us today to give the president the authority to go and change contracts with big businesses
15:25that do business with the government because those are the big businesses that fund so many of my Republican colleagues' campaigns.
15:33But what you're looking at right here is a bill to come and tell frontline employees that even though they bargained and organized
15:42and did all this work to be able to win a set of wages and benefits and working conditions,
15:48that the Republican majority wants to be able to come and undercut those working conditions for those workers.
15:54Look, in a private company, it's been the law of the land for nearly 100 years that if you organize a union,
16:03you organize and come to a collective bargaining agreement, that if a new owner comes in and buys the company,
16:10those workers should have the right to continue to have their wages and working conditions honored in their collective bargaining agreements.
16:17And so it makes no sense why here we would just give a president the authority,
16:24not because there's a particular problem identified, just to give the president carte blanche authority
16:28to come in and change terms and conditions for workers that have already been organized,
16:34that have already been agreed to, that have already been bargained for,
16:36and not say, well, why don't we take a look at the way that we're being overcharged in some of these contracts?
16:42But, you know, there would be a whole uprising of corporate lobbyists and special interest groups here before us today
16:49if we said we're going to go take a look at the way that big pharma is overcharging Medicare and Medicaid.
16:56You know, we'd have that whole fleet of people.
16:58But instead, the Republican majority says we're going to go pick on working people, go pick on workers,
17:03whether in the public or in the private sector.
17:05And so I know that President Trump has gone out campaigning, saying that he is for the working person,
17:11but these first rafts of bills and the Oversight Committee,
17:15they don't seem to be about actually saving people money.
17:19They seem to be about going and, you know, picking on working people that have negotiated their contracts.
17:25And I just don't see how the Republican Party can claim to be the party of working people
17:29while they're going out of their way to screw over workers in this way.
17:32Thank you. I yield back.
17:34Chairman Yost, back his terms.