H.R.2587 - Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act is legislation that prohibits the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer employment under any circumstance. That sounds great… until you read the actual document. The legislation includes wording that protects employers who outsource and is so vague that an employer could potentially send our jobs to a communist country. The following is from the bill: “…Board shall have no power to order an employer (or seek an order against an employer) to restore or reinstate any work, product, production line, or equipment, to rescind any relocation, transfer, subcontracting, outsourcing, or other change regarding location…”
Fortunately the following motion to recommit with instructions was filed: “The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Bishop (NY) motion to recommit with instructions. The instructions contained in the motion seek to require the bill to be reported back to the House with an amendment prohibiting the Act from limiting the National Labor Relations Board's authority to order an employer to maintain or restore jobs within the United States that have been or will otherwise be outsourced to a foreign country in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.” Too bad the motion failed that would have made this an excellent bill that would have protected employers and employees at the exact same time.
Rep. Diane Black [R, TN-6] voted Aye in favor of this legislation. She voted Nay against the amendment to this legislation that would keep jobs in America. In a statement on her website she said “In fact, the U.S. currently has the second-highest corporate tax rate among the developed nations of the world. Our tax rate is nearly 10 percentage points higher than the average of our international competitors. A small business owner I visited in Portland told me he constantly feels pressure to move overseas because of the lower tax rates and the better business environment in places like China.” While it is true that the United States has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, at 35 percent (not including any state levies), the actual amount in corporate taxes that the government collects (“the effective tax rate”) is lower than those of Germany, Canada, Japan and China, among others.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn [R, TN-7] voted Aye in favor of this legislation. Yet she voted Nay against the amendment that could potentially prevent billions of dollars from leaving the U.S. economy. She and three other Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote in a letter to the heads of the Interior Department, Justice Department and Fish and Wildlife Service the following: “It is hard to conclude anything other than the fact that your agencies and this Administration are actively pursuing regulatory and legal policies that discourage job growth in the United States and encourage shipping those very same jobs overseas,” Wow that is so hypocritical considering she voted for H.R. 2587 just a week later. She is being completely prejudicial and inciting animosity.
Rep. Scott DesJarlais [R, TN-4] also voted Aye in favor of this legislation. And again just like the aforementioned Congresswomen he voted Nay against the amendment to this legislation that would keep jobs in America. Due to his lack of leadership and regard for the average working American this legislation could pass in the Senate and trigger countless jobs being shipped overseas. Rep. DesJarlais also seems to follow in the footsteps of the previously mentioned Congresswomen by being hypocritical about other lawmaker’s leadership skills. Why does he look at the speck of sawdust in another’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in his own? The following are his own words: "Tennesseans are fed up with the way Democrats in Washington have forced their big-government agenda on us. We are tired of the spending, the taxes and the fact countless jobs have been shipped overseas due to their reckless leadership."
A total of 238 (54%) of U.S. House Representatives voted Aye in favor of H.R. 2587 and 235 (57%) voted Nay on the motion to recommit with instructions. Which means, a majority of the Nations U.S. House representatives did not vote in favor of keeping American jobs from being shipped abroad which could lead to…dare I say it…a welfare state. It is common sense that if most of our jobs are outsourced all of us will be on welfare and the rich will have to foot the bill.
But, not all hope is lost, Rep. Steve Cohen [D, TN-9 ], Rep. Jim Cooper [D, TN-5], and Rep. John Duncan [R, TN-2] voted Aye in favor of the amendment that would prevent billions of dollars from leaving the U.S. economy.
I did not list every Tennessee Representative’s votes on H.R. 2587 in my post but they can be found here.
I noticed many are discussing H.R. 2587 in relation to Boeing, but the fact of the matter is the language of the bill without the failed amendment is too vague. Any employer can ship jobs overseas without intervention. If the House of Representatives had passed the amendment to this bill. I doubt anyone would have a problem with H.R. 2587.
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