Welcome back to Barf Bag.
Jezebel readers know exactly what we think about Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrats-turned-Independents who have blocked progress at every turn and have been annoying as fuck about it.
Now they’ve done something that will actively set the country back: Block President Joe Biden‘s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board and basically gift the seat to President-elect Donald Trump and shift it to Republican control. On Wednesday, Sinema and Manchin both voted no to confirm current NLRB chair Lauren McFarren to another five-year term; the vote failed 49 to 50.
The makeup of the NLRB is a big deal for workers’ rights: the five-member board “oversees labor disputes, supervises union elections and has the power to investigate unfair labor practices,” as the Associated Press explains. It’s a crucial enforcement body for when employers, like, say, Amazon and Tesla, bargain in bad faith or refuse to even recognize workers who’ve organized a union. Republicans have hated the Democratic-controlled NLRB for regularly siding with unions, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the day before the vote that Senators should consider the “gross mismanagement of Ms. McFerran’s watch.”
And now, as the labor publication More Perfect Union noted, Manchinema “effectively handed Trump control of the board when his term begins.”‘
McFarren’s term expires on Monday — four days before the Senate is set to adjourn — meaning Trump will likely get to nominate her replacement. Had McFarren been confirmed, Democrats could have controlled the NLRB until at least August 2026, when the next member’s term is up.
Both Sinema and Manchin are retiring and will leave Congress next month, so there is no reason to do this other than they legitimately hate workers’ rights, or they’re trying to appease their future corporate lobbying bosses.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest union consortium, slammed the Senators who voted no. “Make no mistake: This vote had nothing to do with stopping Chair McFerran’s renomination and everything to do with reversing generations of progress workers have made toward building a fairer and more just economy,” Shuler said. I bet all the billionaires ready to work for the Trump administration are very happy.
This gigantic failure was apparently enabled by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who appeared not to know how his caucus would vote, or whether they were even around to participate. (Both Sinema and Manchin caucus with the Democrats.) As Axios reports:
With Manchin apparently off-campus, Sinema was the first of the two to vote “No.” That left the vote tied at 49-49, with the possibility that Vice President Harris could break the tie, but then word began to circulate that Manchin was en route back to the Capitol. Manchin arrived after the vote had been open for more than 90 minutes, and voted “No.”
After that happened, Schumer could have changed his own vote to “no” in a procedural maneuver to table the nomination and try again another day, but he did not.
On top of everything, this is what Sinema wore on Wednesday. She wore the same sweater when presiding over the Senate in February 2021, and the handcuff bag costs $563:
It appears that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was wearing her famous "Dangerous Creature" sweater on Capitol Hill yesterday when she and Sen. Joe Manchin voted against renominating Lauren McFarren to the NLRB, denying Democrats a major on the top labor board.
— bryan metzger (@metzger.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T17:44:14.518Z
I’d say that I hope this is the last we ever hear about Sinema, but I know she’s going to taunt us for the rest of her life.
Committee news presented without comment:
The official portraits of the 17 House Republicans elected to chair committees in the 119th Congress:
— Aaron Fritschner (@fritschner.bsky.social) 2024-12-12T23:20:47.210Z
Trump-related barf:
- Trump HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said after the election that he wouldn’t “take away anybody’s vaccines.” But the lawyer helping him choose personnel if he’s confirmed, Aaron Siri, has asked the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. [New York Times]
- Trump has selected 14 current or former Fox News employees to work in his administration so far. [Media Matters]
- In a pathetic new interview, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that the current political moment reminds him of the 1930s but admitted that he voted for Trump. When asked if he wished he’d done more to prevent Trump from returning to the White House, he said: ‘The election’s over and we’re moving on.’ [Financial Times/MSNBC]
- With friends like these: Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA.) is now on Truth Social and his first post says pardoning Trump would be “appropriate.” [Bluesky]
- FBI Director Christopher Wray chose to comply in advance. [Associated Press]
- We warned you last month that Trump was launching fragrances, and he officially announced them with a tacky Truth Social post of a photo of himself sitting next to First Lady Jill Biden with the caption, “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!” [CBS News]
Non-Trump barf:
- Attention-addicted Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) claims it’s defamation for reporters to say she called the cops over a handshake. [HuffPost]
- Disgraced former Congressman Matt Gaetz will anchor his own show on OANN. [CNN]
- Elon Musk became the first person in history (derogatory) whose net worth hit $400 billion. [Bloomberg]
- New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D), who is running for governor, posted a fake, pandering Spotify Wrapped that was all Bruce Springsteen songs. He then claimed in an interview that this is what it would be “if I didn’t share my account with my 12- and 15-year-old kids.” OK! [NJ.com]
- A Florida state lawmaker switched to the Republican party because she said she is “tired of being the party of protesting.” [Associated Press]
This has been your weekly Barf Bag, thanks for reading!
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