Mike Enzi: “Senator Sessions has offered a very important amendment, and I am pleased to be a cosponsor. The amendment restores…”

“Senator Sessions has offered a very important amendment, and I am pleased to be a cosponsor. The amendment restores critical funding to the Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards. It is referred to as OLMS. Funding for the Office of Labor-Management Standards in the current Senate bill is 20 percent below the requested amount, essentially scaled back from the 2006 level. Senator Sessions' amendment restores funding to current fiscal year 2007 levels and adds an additional $3 million to continue audit and enforcement efforts. What is the Office of Labor-Management Standards and why is it so important? The fact is the Office of Labor-Management Standards is the only agency in the Federal Government that is devoted to protecting the interests of American workers that pay union dues. It requires financial reporting and transparency by labor unions about how they use their members' money, and it investigates and prosecutes union officials who are guilty of fraud or abuse of their members' financial interests. There should not be any reasonable debate about the importance of financial transparency for any entity, including labor unions. We demand, as we should, corporate transparency in order to protect stockholders. Those who pay union dues are no less entitled to the benefits of financial transparency and fraud protection than those who purchase stock.”