Statement on the “Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act” and NLRB Lawsuit

Sep 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I applaud the work of Congressman Tim Scott, Congressman Robert Hurt and the Republican Leadership in the House for taking action to stop the NLRB’s baseless lawsuit against Boeing. This lawsuit not only destroys jobs in South Carolina, it undermines the competitive economic advantage of Virginia and all Right-to-Work States.  The NLRB has no justifiable reason to impede a company from hiring employees and operating in a Right-to-Work State, and at its core, this is an assault on the freedom of movement of all Americans.  As a matter of individual liberty, no man or women should be forced to join a union and pay as much as $700 in yearly dues or fees as a precondition to having a job.  Virginia’s Right-to-Work law is a foundational strength of our State’s economy and I will fight to ensure it is preserved.

POLITICO: House rebukes NLRB on Boeing

By Seung Min Kim

September 15, 2011

The GOP-led House on Thursday launched a full-scale assault against the National Labor Relations Board – the first step in their fall goal of rolling back regulations that they say hamper job growth.

The chamber voted 238-186 on a bill that bars the NLRB from forcing businesses to close or relocate jobs — a direct rebuke of a recent decision by the board to block Boeing from moving a plant to South Carolina. The legislation likely doesn’t have much of a future in the Democratic-controlled Senate, although Republicans in the upper chamber have pushed for action on the matter.

“The NLRB has plenty of tools at its disposal to protect workers and hold employers accountable for unlawful labor practices,” said Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who sponsored the bill. “There is simply no reason it should have the power to dictate where a private business can establish its workforce.”

The dispute – which has become a cause célèbre among conservatives — stems from Boeing’s opening of a $1 billion non-union plant in South Carolina, following union strikes that disrupted production of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft in Washington state. The labor board argues that Boeing’s actions were in retaliation against the strikes and a violation of labor laws.

Boeing has argued that shuttering the South Carolina facility would eliminate 1,000 jobs.

Click Here to Read More

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

The Chicago Tribune: NLRB v. Boeing – and jobs

Sep 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The federal bureaucracy must stop this arrogant, costly and wrong infringement on freedom of movement in America. This is an attack on people in all Right-to-Work States, including opportunities in Virginia. I know from recruiting businesses to Virginia that our Right-to-Work law is a foundational strength, giving us a significant competitive advantage in the expansion of jobs and investment.

NLRB v. Boeing – and jobs

The Chicago Tribune

Editorial

September 6, 2011

You have to wonder about a federal agency that sticks it to an American manufacturer creating thousands of good-paying jobs inside the nation’s borders instead of overseas.

Fortunately, we hope, you won’t have to wonder about it for long. We suspect the end is near for the brief reign of an overbearing pro-union majority on the National Labor Relations Board. That should help to lift an economy in dire need of job creation. It also should lift Chicago’s Boeing Corp., the manufacturer targeted in an outrageous NLRB complaint earlier this year.

With little fanfare, board Chair Wilma Liebman left the agency after her term expired Aug. 27. President Barack Obama’s recess appointment of another board member, labor lawyer Craig Becker, runs out Dec. 31. Combined with a long-standing vacancy, those departures would leave just two of the board’s five seats occupied. So in the absence of any new appointments — which Republicans have vowed to block — the board will fall short of a quorum.

Good.

Don’t get us wrong, the NLRB has important work to do. It investigates unfair labor practices and monitors union elections. Trouble is, the agency swerved left after the Obama administration stacked the board in favor of unions. Better to temporarily deactivate the board than to keep it going in its current direction.

The board has angered employers by pushing new rules that would make it much easier for workers to form unions. We’ve previously taken note of the agency’s invasive approach to over-regulating social media use in the workplace as well. Just before Liebman’s exit, the NLRB took the legally dubious step of requiring private-sector employers to post notices that inform workers of their right to unionize.

The NLRB’s worst decision, however, is its unprovoked hit-job on Boeing.

The aircraft maker deserved nationwide applause for opening a new 787 Dreamliner assembly plant outside Charleston, S.C. The move ensured that thousands of jobs would stay in the U.S. for years to come. And the timing — in the teeth of a terrible recession — cast a vote of confidence at a time when other companies were reluctant to invest and grow.

Click here to continue reading

Filed Under: Blog, Issues Tagged With: , , ,

Investors.com: Regulation Business, Jobs Booming Under Obama

Aug 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As Americans face 9% unemployment and a stagnant economy, government regulatory agencies have grown by 16%. If you needed any more evidence that Washington is doing more harm than good, while most Americans are cutting back in the face of lowered expectations, government regulatory agencies are booming.

Regulation Business, Jobs Booming Under Obama

Investors.com

By John Merline

August 15, 2011

If the federal government’s regulatory operation were a business, it would be one of the 50 biggest in the country in terms of revenues, and the third largest in terms of employees, with more people working for it than McDonald’s, Ford, Disney and Boeing combined.

Under President Obama, while the economy is struggling to grow and create jobs, the federal regulatory business is booming.

Regulatory agencies have seen their combined budgets grow a healthy 16% since 2008, topping $54 billion, according to the annual “Regulator’s Budget,” compiled by George Washington University and Washington University in St. Louis.

That’s at a time when the overall economy grew a paltry 5%.

Meanwhile, employment at these agencies has climbed 13% since Obama took office to more than 281,000, while private-sector jobs shrank by 5.6%.

Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute, found that between March 2010 and March 2011 federal regulatory jobs climbed faster than either private jobs or overall government jobs. (See chart.)

Regulatory production is way up, too, if you measure that by the number of rules federal agencies churn out.

The Obama administration imposed 75 new major rules in its first 26 months, costing the private sector more than $40 billion, according to a Heritage Foundation study. “No other president has imposed as high a number or cost in a comparable time period,” noted the study’s author, James Gattuso.

The number of pages in the Federal Register — where all new rules must be published and which serves as proxy of regulatory activity — jumped 18% in 2010.

Click here to continue reading

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ,

The Hill: Employers shifting healthcare costs to workers

Aug 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Higher healthcare costs under ObamaCare are burdening employers and destroying jobs.  We need to repeal and replace this $1.5 trillion healthcare monstrosity and focus on making health insurance more portable, affordable and gives patients control, not government bureaucrats.     

                  

Employers shifting healthcare costs to workers

The Hill

By Sam Baker

August 18, 2011

As healthcare costs continue to rise, businesses are increasingly passing on the added burden to their employees.

Higher cost-sharing for employees is the primary way in which employers are trying to control their own healthcare spending, according to a new survey from the National Business Group on Health. The organization, which mostly represents large companies, said more than half of the employers it surveyed plan to make employees cover a greater share of their health costs. 

Businesses are shifting away from co-pays, where employees pay a fixed dollar amount for healthcare services and the plan picks up the rest. Instead, they’re charging workers a percentage of the total costs. That can help make consumers more aware of the total cost of the healthcare they use.

“We are clearly seeing a march toward a more aggressive consumerist system,” said Helen Darling, the president of the National Business Group on Health.

Darling said Thursday that shifting from co-pays to coinsurance is “a more subtle way to increase what the consumer pays.” She predicted that eventually, only governments and unions will keep offering fixed co-pays.

Employers are expecting their healthcare costs to rise slightly more than 7 percent next year, according to the survey — roughly the same increase that businesses budgeted for this year.

Businesses are also looking ahead to figure out how they’ll need to adjust their policies because of healthcare reform. Especially generous plans will be taxed heavily beginning in 2018, and some of the law’s popular benefits will likely increase the cost of insurance.

Click here to continue reading

Filed Under: Blog, Issues Tagged With: ,

The George Allen Record – Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award – August 3, 1996

Aug 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In recognition of his outstanding success in advancing the Jeffersonian principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and federalism, on August 3, 1996, George Allen received the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) 1996 Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award.  Allen joined President Ronald Reagan and the Honorable Jack Kemp as the seventh recipient of this prestigious award.

“This award is in recognition of your bold initiatives to reform Virginia’s education, welfare and criminal justice systems, and your unwavering commitment to restoring the balance of power between the States and the federal government to what was originally envisioned by the Founding Fathers,” said The Honorable Dale Van Vyven, an Ohio State Representative and 1996 National Chairman of ALEC, in a letter to the Governor announcing his selection.

Allen’s success in abolishing parole, reforming a broken welfare system, overhauling Virginia’s regulatory policies and instituting high academic standards of learning (SOLs) and accountability in the Commonwealth’s classrooms all contributed to his unanimous selection by the Council’s Board of Directors.

Click Here to read George Allen’s speech at ALEC’s Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award Banquet

Filed Under: Issues Tagged With: , , , ,

The George Allen Record – Deep Water Drilling Off Va Coast – July 31, 2006

Jul 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

On July 31, 2006, George Allen supported a bill that opened portions of the Gulf of Mexico for energy leasing and introduced an amendment empowering Virginia to pursue deepwater exploration for oil and natural gas off its coastline as well. Under Allen’s amendment, Virginia would have shared 37.5 percent of revenues from lease sales and production royalties, as do the Gulf Coast States under the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006.  

“We have to move forward with a comprehensive 21st century energy independence policy focused on energy production, innovation, and diversity. When we do that, we will see lower gas prices for American consumers. We will see more jobs for American workers and a stronger, more competitive and safer America in the world,” stated Allen in a speech on the Senate floor. He explained that his amendment “gives the people a choice – and I sincerely believe that the people of our State will choose to allow deep-water exploration, once they are armed with the facts and understand the opportunities, not only for the future of Virginia, but of America.”

According to an estimate by the U.S. Department of Interior, Virginia’s Outer Continental Shelf has over 130 million barrels of recoverable oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. With gasoline prices near $4 a gallon this spring, George Allen continues to advocate common-sense energy solutions, including the Virginia Outer Continental Shelf Energy Production Act of 2011.  This bill would restore lease sales off Virginia’s coast that were cancelled by the Obama Administration.   Allowing safe energy exploration and production off the coast of the Commonwealth would not only help increase America’s energy security, but also create thousands of jobs and generate millions in new revenue that could be used to improve roads and transportation infrastructure for future generations.

Filed Under: Energy, Issues Tagged With: ,

Shell Game Is Not an Energy Policy

Jul 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This Administration needs to stop playing political games with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and start reversing the counterproductive policies keeping our energy resources off-limits.  America has the most plentiful energy resources in the world. Using our strategic reserve to provide short-term relief for high gasoline prices is unwise and irresponsible.  Americans deserve long-term energy solutions that reduce gasoline prices, lower electricity costs and take control of our own energy future – not the same Washington sleight-of-hand political fixes that just kick the problem down the road.   

Shell Game Is Not an Energy Policy

David Kreutzer

July 1, 2011 at 12:05 pm

Releasing 30 million barrels of petroleum from strategic reserves is not an energy policy, and it is not an especially useful response to either short-run or long-run pressures on gasoline prices. Because the release is scheduled to stop in 30 days, market adjustments will partially offset the release’s impact in the short run. And in the long run, there is no additional output. In fact, the current released oil will need to be replaced in the future.

Most of OPEC is producing at capacity, so the notion that it is an effective cartel is suspect. Even if it were an effective cartel, the real threat to its dominance would be a sustained increase in production, not a shell-game swapping of petroleum reserves.

The U.S. has about 1.08 billion barrels of petroleum reserves—about 725 million of which are in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The remaining barrels are privately controlled and are used to buffer short-run changes in demand and to hedge against price changes. If traders think prices will rise, they hold more in private reserves to sell later at the higher price. If traders think prices will fall, they sell reserves to take advantage of the relatively higher current price.

From the beginning of the year until the third week in May, private crude oil reserves rose by more than 40 million barrels, with nearly 17 million barrels added in the final five weeks. In the month that followed, the reserves declined by 14 million barrels. Though current reserves are high compared to historical averages, they are not within 30 million barrels of their peak.

Click Here to continue reading

Filed Under: Blog, Energy, Issues Tagged With: ,

Happy Independence Day

Jul 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

As Virginians and Americans, we have so much to celebrate and be thankful for on this Independence Day.  Our heritage as a nation began right here on the soil of the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

The wisdom of Thomas Jefferson gave us the Declaration of Independence, and defined for America the founding principles of our nation and the inalienable rights of all human beings.  Those principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are as true today as they were 235 years ago. 

As we reflect on the enduring inspiration of our Founding Fathers, we remember their struggle to be free and the promise that it holds.  It is our responsibility as Americans to ensure that our nation continues to be a beacon of freedom for generations to come. 

Thank you to our brave troops fighting overseas to preserve the freedoms and opportunities that we cherish here at home.  Stand strong for freedom.  God bless America.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , , ,

NLRB Judge Denies Boeing Motion to Dismiss Case

Jul 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

This decision allows continuation of the outrageous federal government restraint of freedom to create jobs in a free Right to Work state. This overbearing lawsuit would be thrown out of court as a frivolous case if a private party was suing a private company for investing in a Right to Work state. This arrogant federal government intimidation of a free, private company reduces freedom and force this free job creating company to waste money in legal fees in their effort to manufacture quality, competitive aircraft.

NLRB Judge Denies Boeing Motion to Dismiss Case

Wall Street Journal

By Melanie Trottman

June 30, 2011

Boeing Co. was dealt a blow Thursday in its effort to make the NLRB’s complaint against the company go away.

The National Labor Relations Board judge hearing the case ruled against what he called  Boeing’s “impassioned” motion to dismiss it.  The NLRB has alleged that the company illegally shifted work to a nonunion factory in South Carolina from union facilities in Washington state.

“The motion to strike these allegations is without merit and should be denied,” Judge Clifford Anderson said in his 19-page ruling issued Thursday. The administrative law judge reasoned that much of Boeing’s argument couldn’t be proven at this early, “pre-evidentiary” phase of the hearing.

Click Here to continue reading

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,

Virginia’s U.S. Senators Need to Keep the Carrier in Norfolk

Jun 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Virginia’s U.S. Senators must do everything in their power to keep our Navy’s aircraft carrier in Norfolk.  Our military families in Hampton Roads depend on the thousands of jobs that these carriers provide.  Upgrading the base in Mayport, FL to handle nuclear carriers is a waste of taxpayer money.  We need to be compensating our troops and ensuring they have all the resources they need to defend our country, not wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on unnecessary, political expenditures.

Congressman Chide Va. Senator Over Carrier Move

By Bill Bartel

The Virginian-Pilot

June 28, 2011

Hampton Roads’ four congressmen don’t think Virginia’s two senators are doing enough to block the Navy’s plans to move a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier to Mayport, Fla.

The four House members recently sent a letter expressing concern that while the House’s approved 2012 defense budget specifically prohibits spending money to prepare the Florida naval station to base a nuclear carrier, a proposed Senate budget does not.

The Senate version, which was approved by the chamber’s Armed Services Committee this month and is headed to the full body, includes $15 million for Mayport improvements in advance of the proposed 2019 carrier relocation. The total cost of a carrier move is expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars.

Navy officials, with the support of Florida’s congressional delegation, have been working to establish a second East Coast homeport for nuclear-powered carriers at the base near Jacksonville, arguing that dispersing the carrier fleet would protect it from natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

The prospect of losing a carrier has sparked strong objections from state and local leaders. Economists have estimated it would cost Hampton Roads about 6,000 jobs and about $425 million in annual revenue.

Local lawmakers also are concerned that Hampton Roads might eventually lose two carriers to Florida if Mayport is converted to a nuclear base.

The congressmen wrote in a letter dated Friday to Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner that they “were surprised to see no attempt to eliminate funds for the Navy’s unnecessary and low priority plans for Naval Station Mayport.” The document was sent by three Republicans – U.S. Reps. Randy Forbes of Chesapeake, Scott Rigell of Virginia Beach and Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County – and one Democrat, Bobby Scott of Newport News. Warner and Webb are Democrats.

Forbes said Monday he was disappointed that Webb, a member of Senate Armed Services, didn’t ask the committee to add the Mayport spending prohibition during its review of the bill.

“The purpose of our letter is to say when this bill comes to full floor, at least do something,” Forbes said, adding that it will be more difficult to make the change during the Senate debate.

“The senators missed an opportunity,” Rigell said Monday. “It should have been stopped at the earliest possible moment.”

Spokespersons for Webb and Warner said the senators have worked hard to block plans to move a carrier.

Click Here to continue reading

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »