Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I do want to talk about this open and fair, transparent process that was just referred to. Much has been said about the flawed policy behind ambush elections we are discussing on the Senate floor. But I want to spend a few minutes discussing the rulemaking process that was followed or not followed for that matter by the National Labor Relations Board. While the other side portrays the changes as moderate, make no mistake about it, this new rule greatly alters the election system, especially should Chairman Pearce be able to finalize the more controversial provisions that were previously proposed. This entire rule took under 1 year to complete. The National Labor Relations Board introduced the proposed rule on June 22, 2011, and published the final rule only 6 months later on December 22, 2011. Considering the scope of the rule and how much attention it garnered from stakeholders, it is absurd to think that a Federal agency could promulgate a rule that would have such a major effect on all employers, in only 6 months. As evidence of how critical this rule's impact will be on stakeholders, the Board received 65,957 comments. Let me repeat that. The Board received 65,957 comments during the 60-day comment period. That is an astounding number. To compare, the Board's previous rulemaking on its notice posting requirements garnered a little more than 6,000 comments. On November 30, 2011, the Board voted to move toward finalizing a new amended proposed rule.…”