20 Republicans Rebuke Trump Executive Order, Side With Democrats

Twenty House Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues Wednesday to rebuke the Trump administration on federal union organizing.

The bipartisan legislation, spearheaded by retiring moderate Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden, restores organized labor benefits for nearly a million of federal employees across major government agencies. A small group of Republicans worked with Democrats to circumvent House Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on the measure.

The legislation passed 231 to 195 with 20 Republicans crossing party lines to reverse Trump’s crackdown on federal unions.

The defecting GOP lawmakers include Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Nicole Malliotakis, Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota and Andrew Garbarino of New York, Tom Kean, Jeff Van Drew and Chris Smith of New Jersey, Zach Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Mike Turner and Dave Joyce of Ohio, Mike Bost of Illinois, Gabe Evans of Colorado, Peter Stauber of Minnesota, David Valadao of California and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.

The cohort largely represents swing districts that Democrats are seeking to flip during next year’s midterm elections. Bacon is retiring at the end of his current term.

All Democrats who were present supported the measure.

The House vote was largely symbolic. The Republican-controlled Senate is unlikely to take up the bill and the White House would almost certainly veto the measure.

The bipartisan legislation rescinds Trump’s March executive order