Congress
Ex-NLRB member challenges Trump’s firing
Former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over her abrupt removal from the agency last week.
“The President’s removal of Ms. Wilcox without even purporting to identify any neglect of duty or malfeasance, and without notice or a hearing, defies ninety years of Supreme Court precedent that has ensured the independence of critical government agencies like the Federal Reserve,” states the complaint, which was filed in D.C. district court.
“The President’s action against Ms. Wilcox is part of a string of openly illegal firings in the early days of the second Trump administration that are apparently designed to test Congress’s power to create independent agencies like the Board,” the complaint continues.
The outcome of the case will likely have ramifications for other independent agencies in the executive branch and determine whether they can be insulated from the president’s reach. In firing Wilcox, the Trump administration flouted a federal statute that said NLRB board members can only be removed “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.”
In its Jan. 27 letter to Wilcox and general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a fellow Democratic appointee who was simultaneously removed, the White House stated that part of the National Labor Relations Act “does not operate as a restriction on [the president’s] ability to remove Board members.”
Though Abruzzo’s firing was widely expected, Wilcox’s unprecedented removal has left the NLRB without the quorum necessary to rule on cases, grinding much of the agency’s most consequential work to a standstill.
Wilcox is asking the court to declare that she remains a “rightful member of the Board and that the President lacks authority to remove her” outside of the process outlined by the NLRA.
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment. A Trump administration official previously told Blue Light News Wicox and Abruzzo were “far-left appointees with radical records of upending longstanding labor law, and they have no place as senior appointees in the Trump Administration, which was given a mandate by the American people to undo the radical policies they created.”
The administration has similarly dismantled the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — which enforces workplace antidiscrimination laws — by removing two Democratic commissioners and its Biden-appointed top lawyer.
The ousted EEOC commissioners have also threatened to challenge their own removals, while the general counsel — Karla Gilbride — joined a government watchdog group that is suing the Trump administration over other matters.
The White House’s position that it holds near-unlimited authority to shape the executive branch to the president’s liking could tee up the Supreme Court to revisit a precedent known as Humphrey’s Executor that, for nearly a century, has served as the foundation for the constitutionality of independent agencies.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus members met privately with immigration advocacy groups Tuesday night to strategize how to counter President Donald Trump’s executive actions that have already altered the immigration system.
The goals of the meeting, which were outlined in a document obtained by POLITICO, include increasing immigration legal defense, fundraising for the influx of legal needs and messaging efforts to counter anti-immigrant rhetoric from Republicans. It’s the latest sign that Democrats are scrambling over a strategy to fight Trump as they look on from the congressional minority.
Lawmakers and immigration groups want to focus on “families, farmworkers and Dreamers,” something Democrats on Capitol Hill have been reiterating since Trump took office last month. Trump has signed multiple executive actions concerning immigration and the House GOP has been working to tee up a tough-on-migrants legislative agenda.
Recent executive orders include undoing Biden-era border policies, drastically changing the asylum system and targeting existing legal pathways. Democrats continue to reckon with their 2024 loss, after Republicans aggressively attacked them over immigration and border policies and Democrats struggled to mount an effective response. Trump has continued that messaging strategy from the White House, blitzing the airwaves and social media feeds with immigration enforcement actions.
The Senate will move forward with a budget blueprint next week setting out a two-track approach to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, key senators said Wednesday.
The announcement, made by Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham inside a closed-door Senate GOP lunch, comes after a competing framework from Speaker Mike Johnson and other House Republican leaders has stalled in recent days due to internal conflicts in that chamber.
Graham (R-S.C.) made a presentation on the blueprint he plans to advance, which will tee-up the Senate’s two-part reconciliation strategy — starting with a border, energy and defense bill. A tax-focused package would follow.
“I wouldn’t faint with surprise if we marked up next week,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a Budget Committee member said coming out of the lunch. A person in the meeting confirmed the Budget Committee plans to vote next week.
The Senate’s top appropriator thinks Elon Musk has gone too far.
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, is raising alarms about the influence that billionaire Elon Musk is wielding inside the Trump administration and across federal agencies.
“There’s no doubt that the president appears to have empowered Elon Musk far beyond what I think is appropriate,” she told reporters Wednesday. “I think a lot of it is going to end up in court.”
After the only known one-on-one meeting between Collins and Musk on Capitol Hill late last year, she had said she was “very impressed with his energy and dedication.”
Since that time, Musk has helped orchestrate a de facto shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development and gained access to the Treasury Department system that controls trillions of dollars in federal payments.
Collins also repeated her unease Wednesday that the White House is undermining Congressional spending power.
“I am concerned if the Trump administration is clawing back money that has been specifically appropriated for a particular purpose,” she said.
Collins leads the Senate’s efforts on writing spending bills and is in ongoing negotiations over “topline” funding levels with House and Senate colleagues ahead of the March 14 government shutdown deadline.
Unlike many Senate Republicans, Collins has been vocal about her discomfort with the White House usurping Congress’ constitutional power of the purse.
Collins had previously criticized the Office of Management and Budget’s move to freeze the disbursement of federal loans and grants as “far too sweeping” and warned it would have “an adverse effect on the delivery of services and programs.”
She still plans to vote to confirm Russ Vought, Trump’s pick for White House budget chief, who is expected to play a key role in the administration’s larger efforts to wrest spending power away from congress. Vought is expected to be confirmed on Thursday.
Joe Gould contributed to this report.
-
The Josh Fourrier Show3 months agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Economy3 months ago
Fed moves to protect weakening job market with bold rate cut
-
Economy3 months ago
Harris dismisses Trump as ‘not serious’ on the economy in BLN interview
-
Economy3 months ago
It’s still the economy: What TV ads tell us about each campaign’s closing message
-
Politics3 months ago
Donald Trump wants Americans to hate Kamala Harris — but he’s failing
-
Economy3 months ago
Biden touts economic gains, acknowledges a long way to go
-
Politics3 months agoDemocrats express concern over Gaetz pick
-
Politics3 months agoRFK Jr.’s bid to take himself off swing state ballots may scramble mail-in voting