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Congressional Republicans launched a drive Monday to repeal a recent National Labor Relations Board rule updating procedures for union representation elections, setting up a likely veto showdown with President Barack Obama.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said the GOP will employ a little-used law that permits the Senate to reject some federal agency regulations by majority vote and denies opponents the ability to thwart action through a filibuster.

Alexander said that by shortening the time between a union's request for representation and the actual balloting, the NLRB had cleared the way for a new type of "ambush election" to take place that will disadvantage businesses and workers alike.

In remarks on the Senate floor, he said that under previous rules, 95 percent of union elections take place in 56 days or less from the filing of a petition. He said that under the new proposal, that would be reduced to as few as 11 days, which he said could be before an employer understands what's happening.

In a written statement, NLRB chairman Mark G. Pearce countered that "both businesses and workers deserve a process that is effective, fair, and free of unnecessary delays, which is exactly what this rule strives to accomplish."

Mirroring divisions in Congress, NLRB rule-making is often politically charged, with Republicans taking the side of business while Democrats are aligned with unions. In the case of the rule approved in December, the labor board split 3-2 along party lines.

The rule, which has been cheered by organized labor, eliminates a previous 25-day waiting period and seeks to reduce litigation that can be used to stall elections. It also requires employers to furnish union organizers with email addresses and phone numbers of workers.

The NLRB rule is scheduled to take effect in April.

Alexander's announcement was fresh evidence of the Republicans' determination to use the power won in last fall's elections, when they captured a Senate majority and strengthened their grip on the House. Obama has already threatened to veto 11 bills.

Alexander said the vote to overturn the union election rule would take place under the Congressional Review Act, which limits debate and bars any changes in the repeal proposal. Obama may veto the measure, however, and it takes the customary two-thirds vote in each house of Congress to override him.

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Republican-Controlled Congress to Vote to Repeal NLRB Rule

With one year to go before the New Hampshire primary, the field of Republican candidates remains wide open.

Former GOP nominee Mitt Romney made some wave recently when he said he was considering running again. Although many observers began to believe that another campaign as in the works, he announced in January that he wouldn't run again.

Romney's decision meant that his former supporters are now shopping for another candidate.

"They're all wondering where to go, wondering what to do next, as am I," said GOP strategist Jim Merrill. "So I think they are going to take their time. They're going to evaluate the field closely, carefully. I think (former Florida Gov.) Jeb Bush will benefit, but I also think (New Jersey Gov. Chris) Christie, (Wisconsin Gov. Scott) Walker and (Florida Sen. Marco) Rubio are the other three in addition to Jeb that will benefit from Mitt's departure."

In terms of fundraising and name recognition, Bush might be the favorite in the wide field of potential candidates. Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu said he might wait a while to pick a candidate to support, but he leans toward governors.

"I still maintain that it ought to be a governor that Republicans put forward," Sununu said. "A former governor, a current governor. There's a huge collection of people running, and I think it's going to be a great primary in New Hampshire."

Four potential Republican candidates have visited New Hampshire or plan to soon and have pushed their conservative politics. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was in the field in 2012, but he didn't fare well in New Hampshire.

After a couple of high-profile missteps and a chronic back problem that added to his stress, Perry finished sixth in the primary. Perry, 64, admitted that he wasn't ready.

"The running for the nomination of the presidency of the United States requires a substantial amount of time, effort, discipline," Perry said. "I didn't put that in, and it showed."

Now healthy and energized, Perry said that this cycle, New Hampshire voters will see a different candidate.

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Potential Republican field in 2016 wide open

Republican legislators grilled public safety Commissioner Dora B. Schriro Tuesday over problems in her previous job as head of New York City's prison system including violent abuses of teenage inmates under her watch but she still won a legislative committee's approval for four more years as commissioner.

"This is really bad," Republican state Sen. Rob Kane, R-Watertown, told Schriro at her confirmation hearing before the executive and legislative nominations committee. He was referring to a scathing report last August by the U.S. Department of Justice that said young inmates' civil rights were routinely violated from 2011 to 2013 by correction officers' use of excessive force in a "deep-seated culture of violence" at the Rikers Island prison complex.

"I read it last night and I was flabbergasted by it," Kane said.

Schriro left her job as New York City's correction commissioner to accept Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's appointment in January 2014 as commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which includes the state police. Malloy's renomination of Schriro requires approval from the state House of Representatives, and Tuesday's committee hearing was the first legislative step toward that.

Although Kane was vocal in his criticism, only House members of the committee could vote when it ended and Schriro was approved 7-3, with all the "no" votes coming from Republicans on the Democrat-controlled committee.

Schriro, who holds a law degree and a doctorate in education but never served as a police officer, calmly defended her four-year tenure in New York, just as she has in recent months when asked by The Courant about the August report and subsequent news stories in the New York Times that raised questions about her actions.

Schriro said she inherited a bad situation in New York and instituted new measures to combat abuses, including adding 2,000 surveillance cameras inside the prisons a 70 percent increase.

But Kane hammered her with questions about a Times report last September that Schriro used her authority in New York to order that critical comments about two key subordinates a warden and deputy warden be removed from a 2012 report on an internal investigation. That report found that hundreds of inmate fights were omitted from correction department statistics, making it appear that Warden William Clemons and Deputy Warden Turhan Gumusdere had dramatically reduced violence in the prison. The edited report, not the original version by internal investigators, was later turned over by city officials to federal investigators.

"How could you accept that type of data when it's untrue?" Kane asked.

Schriro responded that she had immediately corrected the public record concerning the flawed statistics, but had removed a recommendation from the report that Clemons and Gumusdere be demoted because they hadn't had a chance to defend themselves in a disciplinary process. She said she had not handled the Justice Department's request for all relevant city reports and had nothing to do with which version was handed over.

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Public Safety Chief Grilled Over Prior Job, But Wins OK For Reappointment

ST. PAUL (WCCO/AP) Minnesota Republican leaders today ramped up their criticism of Gov. Mark Daytons hefty pay hikes for his Cabinet.

The Democratic governor issued a detailed defense of the raises in a letter to the legislature, calling the pay hikes necessary and legal.

The raises I approved were to salaries that had remained stagnant for over twelve years, he said, and thus were well below the amounts paid to people with comparable responsibilities in other states.

Top Republicans say they were caught off guard by the hefty pay hikes, which the governor didnt make public for 30 days.

This was just a kind of whammy that came out of nowhere, said Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth.

At a testy Capitol hearing, Republicans accused the Dayton administration of misleading Minnesotans about where the budget surplus is going.

I dont think there is a citizen in the state of Minnesota who expected that the surplus money would be going toward commissioner salaries, Anderson said.

Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, derided the luxurious, gold-plated salaries that were announced last week as out-of-step with stagnant wages for many Minnesota residents. He sponsored the provision to withhold state money from those agencies.

In his letter to lawmakers, Governor Dayton said the raises, some as high as $35,000, are a way to attract and keep high-level talent.

I want to make clear that none of my commissioners have ever complained to me about their salaries, Gov. Dayton said in the letter. Not one has ever asked me for a raise.

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Republican Lawmakers Respond To Governors Pay Hikes

Marylands new Republican governor enjoys solid public support for some of his plans to curb agency spending and cut taxes, but he faces strong opposition to a proposal to slow the growth of education funding, a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll found.

Three weeks into his tenure, Marylanders have high hopes for Gov. Larry Hogan, an Anne Arundel County businessman who won an upset victory in the heavily Democratic state by promising fiscal restraint and a new direction after the eight-year tenure of Gov. Martin OMalley (D).

Parts of Hogans agenda solving the budget shortfall, for example, and expanding charter schools resonate with state residents, although the vast majority appear to oppose his proposal to alter school funding formulas. Overall, about half of the Hogan initiatives tested in the poll received less than majority support.

That split illustrates both possibility and peril for Hogan as he sets out to define his governorship and find common ground with the Democratic-controlled General Assembly whose leaders have vowed to resist efforts to curb school funding and whose priorities are generally supported by state residents. Hogan has said repeatedly that he wants avoid the partisan acrimony that festered under Marylands last Republican governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

(Full poll results)

Although his relationship with legislative leaders has started to sour, Hogan continues to enjoy a honeymoon with the public. Nearly 6 in 10 Maryland adults are confident that Hogan will take the state in the right direction, according to the poll. And among those who express an opinion, approval of Hogans performance is 18 percentage points higher than disapproval. Democrats are split about evenly on Hogans job performance, and more than five times as many Republicans approve as disapprove.

Marylanders such as Shirley Hendrix, a Democrat who lives in Middle River in Baltimore County, said they are willing to give Hogan a chance. Hendrix, a retired deli worker, said she voted for OMalley in 2010 but felt taxed to death during his tenure.

Basically, we needed a change, said Hendrix, who voted for Hogan in November. I can sum it all up like that.

Chris Casson, another Democrat who voted for Hogan, said she understands that she wont agree with everything Hogan does as governor but appreciates his candor about the states finances and other issues.

He inherited a quagmire, said Casson, 65, a Gaithersburg resident and retired receptionist.Hogan is going to tell us what hes going to do. It doesnt mean that well like all of it.

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Poll: Marylanders like Hogan, but oppose effort to slow school funding