On Senate Floor, Warner Asks for Unanimous Consent to Pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act

BROADCAST-QUALITY VIDEO IS AVAILABLE HERE WASHINGTON – On the floor of the United States Senate today, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) asked for unanimous consent to pass his Protect America’s Workforce A ct (PAWA), legislation that would repeal two union-busting executive ord ers and restore collective bargaining rights and workplace protections for federal workers. In his remarks, Sen. Warner explained how the Trump administration “has wanted to traumatize the federal workforce.” The president “signed two executive orders, one that ripped away collective bargaining rights from more than a million public servants and the other that unilaterally canceled hundreds of thousands of existing union contracts under, frankly, what I think are a false national security pretext to make it easier, frankly, to fire experienced, nonpartisan civil servants and, candidly, replace them with political loyalists.” Sen. Warner continued , “These executive orders reclassify entire departments and agencies – for example the whole Department of Treasury, the whole Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Communications Commission.” “As I mentioned, this has already passed with a large margin, bipartisan in the Republican-controlled House,” Sen. Warner said . He then urged his colleagues to “stand up for these vital and dedicated workers, protect long-standing labor protections, and the integrity of the civil service.” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) objected, blocking the bill from Senate passage. Sen. Warner’s full remarks as prepared are below: I rise today to remind my colleagues that federal workers do indispensable work to keep Americans safe, healthy, and informed. They inspect our food, support our troops, respond to natural disasters, and protect our safety. They deserve basic workplace protections that prevent retaliation, discrimination, and wrongful terminations. Since taking office, the Trump Administration has treated federal workers with incredible cruelty — stripping them of basic employment rights, insulting their work, questioning their integrity, and indiscriminately firing hundreds of thousands of hardworking civil servants. This is a shameful way to treat the individuals that keep our country running every single day. I’ve said this a hundred times, but federal workers are not interchangeable widgets that you can fire and replace with the snap of a finger. They are dedicated experts with irreplaceable knowledge and experience. When we treat these people as disposable, air traffic becomes more dangerous, our food supply becomes less safe, the health and safety of our coal miners and firefighters becomes compromised, scientific progress is halted, and our national security is placed at risk. As part of his rampage against federal workers, last year President Trump signed two executive orders, one that ripped away collective bargaining rights from more than a million public servants and one that unilaterally canceled hundreds of thousands of existing union contracts under a false national security pretext to make it easier to fire experienced, nonpartisan civil servants and replace them with political loyalists. Through these executive orders, President Trump has blatantly abused the authority granted to him under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, which allows the president to limit collective bargaining agreements when there is a national security concern. Now let me be clear, as the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I thoroughly understand the importance of making occasional exceptions to protect our national security. However, the Trump Administration has not utilized these exceptions in good faith. Instead, the president has inappropriately classified two-thirds of the federal workforce as having national security missions without any explanation whatsoever. These executive orders reclassify entire departments and agencies – including the Department of Treasury, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Communications Commission – stripping their employees of collective bargaining rights without explanation because, clearly, the decision was made without any reasoning. Today I urge my colleagues to join me in reversing these reckless executive orders that have stolen long-standing labor protections from our workforce by passing my bill, the Protect America’s Workforce Act. Our colleagues in the House have already taken a stand against this administration’s union-busting campaign by passing this bill on a bipartisan basis. Now it is our turn, here in the Senate, to pass this legislation and repeal these harmful executive orders. Let’s stand up for these vital and dedicated workers, restore long-standing labor protections, safeguard the integrity of the civil service, and ensure the federal workforce can continue serving the American people. ###