On the recordDecember 17, 2015
I will briefly explain the reasons I am reserving the right to object. I, first of all, thank Senator Moran. As a fellow member of the banking committee, while I disagree with him on this issue, we have found many things we can work together on, and I appreciate that. As Senator Moran does, I strongly support sovereignty, as I know virtually everybody in this body probably does. But this bill, frankly, isn't about tribal sovereignty; it is about undermining labor law that protects the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain. We have a middle class in this country in large part because since the 1930s--since Hugo Black sat at this desk and Senator Wagner sat at another desk in this chamber and wrote collective bargaining laws--we know what that has done to raise wealth, not just for union members but for others also. This bill attempts to overturn the National Labor Relations Board decisions that have asserted the Board's jurisdiction over labor disputes on tribal lands. The Board methodically evaluates when they do and don't have jurisdiction on tribal lands by using a very carefully crafted test to ensure that the Board's jurisdiction would not violate tribal rights and would not interfere in the exclusive right to self- governance. We support that. In the June 2015 decision, the NLRB employed the test. They did not assert jurisdiction in a labor dispute on tribal lands.…





