Joe Lieberman: “The effect of the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment is to add these two criteria for a judgment by the President in the…”

“The effect of the Nelson-Chafee-Breaux amendment is to add these two criteria for a judgment by the President in the specific case of the 43,000 currently unionized employees who will be moved to the new Department of Homeland Security. That is all. The reason it does that is there is some apprehension, even though they have been doing these jobs for years and no previous President has found they are inconsistent with national security and being a member of the union, they want the President to make that determination. But here is the point I want to make about the court case. There is actually no lessening of the President's authority because the underlying statute says in title 5 7103(b)(1): The President may issue an order excluding any agency or subdivision thereof from coverage under this chapter-- Which is the collective bargaining chapter.”