20 Republicans vote with Dems to reverse Trump executive order on federal unions

By Fox News · Fox News

Twenty House Republicans joined Democrats to pass a bill reversing President Donald Trump's executive order blocking most federal unions on Thursday. The bill was led by Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, who got a vote on his measure by filing a discharge petition. It's designed to force a vote on legislation over the wishes of leadership provided it gets support from a majority of House lawmakers. The bill, called the Protect America's Workforce Act, is aimed at repealing a March 2025 executive order by Trump. The final vote passed 231 to 195, with all the "no" votes coming from Republicans. 6 HOUSE DEMOCRATS EXPLAIN BREAKING WITH PARTY TO END SHUTDOWN Trump's order blocked collective bargaining with unions at an array of federal agencies , including parts of the departments of Defense, State, Veterans Affairs, Justice and Energy. It also affected workers at the departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Treasury, Health and Human Services (HHS), Interior and Agriculture. During debate on the bill Thursday afternoon, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said undoing Trump's executive order was akin to encouraging "more work-from-home policies for our federal employees," which he said Americans voted against when they elected Trump and Republicans to lead in Washington. "It is important to remember that public sector unions are fundamentally different from their private sector counterparts," Comer also argued. "In fact, none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a major champion of private sector unions, believed that public sector unions made no sense." "In the private sector, unions represent workers and sit across the bargaining table from representatives of business owners. However, federal unions are not negotiating with a profit-seeking corporation. They are negotiating with the public's elected representatives." Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, said, "Union bosses love this bill for one reason, and that's because it protects their telework perks, it shie…