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Congressional Republicans are invoking a little-used oversight tool to try to overturn a National Labor Relations Board rule aimed at speeding union-organizing elections, an early indication of their plans to challenge the Obama administrations regulatory agenda.

House and Senate leaders Monday introduced a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act,a 1996 law that allows Congress to overturn certain actions by government agencies.

To block the NLRB rule, which was completed in December and scheduled to take effect on April 14, both chambers must approve the resolution and President Barack Obama must sign itsomething hes unlikely to do since the rule was approved by a board he appointed. Congress has only once used the review act to successfully overturn a regulatory action, in 2001.

Still, the resolution reflects the GOPs continuing frustration with the NLRB under the Obama administration. The board in recent months has been active issuing decisions it says are needed to address the evolution of the workplace and balance the rights of employers and employees, such as its December ruling that employees with access to their employers email system have the right to use it for union organizing and other communications about wages and working conditions during nonworking time.

Republican lawmakers and business groups, however, say the boards Democrats act more as union advocates than umpires.

Under the presidents watch, it has pursued a culture of union favoritism that is detrimental to Americas workers and job creators, House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) said in a statement about the resolution.

A Senate GOP aide said the resolution, which would only need a simple majority to pass and cant be filibustered or amended, would likely be brought to the Senate floor after next weeks congressional recess. If the rule were overturned, in most cases it couldnt be promulgated again unless its authorized by a law thats enacted in the future.

The Senate labor committees chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), said in a statement that the NLRB rule allows a union to force an election before an employee has a chance to figure out what is going on.

The rule would streamline and speed union-organizing elections, in part by allowing petitions and other documents to be filed electronically instead of by mail and by generally delaying legal challenges from employers until after a union vote occurs. It was adopted on a 3-2 vote, with the boards three Democrats in place at the time supporting it and the two Republicans dissenting.

Some legal experts have said the rule would shorten the time between a formal call for a union-organizing election vote, and the election itself, to 25 days or less almost two weeks less than the 2013 median of 38 days in uncontested elections.

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Republicans Try to Overturn NLRB Union Election Rule

Republicans on the Federal Communications Commission and in Congress question the White House's influence over the agency, and claim dire consequences if the broadband industry undergoes stricter regulations.

Republicans aren't happy with the Federal Communications Commission's plan to regulate the Internet like telephone service, and they're going out of their way to make sure people know it.

The FCC commissioners (left to right): Ajit Pai, Mignon Clyburn, Tom Wheeler (chairman), Jessica Rosenworcel, and Michael O'Rielly. FCC

The latest broadside comes from within the FCC itself, with Republican commissioner Ajit Pai using a press conference Tuesday to lay into Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal, designed to address the debate over Net neutrality, or the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Pai argues that the new regulations would give the government too much power over the Internet.

"The American people are being misled about President Obama's plan to regulate the Internet," Pai said, suggesting that the White House exerted undue influence over the agency.

Michael O'Reilly, the only other Republican commissioner on the five-member FCC, echoed Pai's statement, adding that the information the FCC has offered publicly about its Net neutrality proposal is not the full truth.

Pai's and O'Reilly's comments are part of an increasingly vocal attack on the FCC's proposal, an attack that includes questions about whether President Barack Obama pushed his own beliefs onto the supposedly independent agency. The opposition stems from the fear that added regulation will result in higher broadband prices for consumers and strip incentives for broadband companies to invest in upgrading their networks. The moves signify a last-ditch effort by Republicans to stop the FCC from adopting Net neutrality rules.

While nearly everyone agrees that some rules are needed to protect the Internet, they don't agree on the legal basis for making these rules. At the crux of the current debate is Title II, a provision that reclassifies broadband as a telecommunications service that falls under telephonelike regulations. Obama, most Democrats and Wheeler favor Title II, while Republicans and broadband providers like Comcast and Verizon are vehemently against it.

It's highly likely that the proposal will make it through the FCC. Republicans on the commission and in Congress will continue making noise until the FCC's final vote on February 26. But Wheeler, a Democrat appointed by Obama, has the three Democratic votes needed to pass the measure. Congress could push through new legislation it has been working on as an alternative, but Obama could veto the law.

As part of the assault on the proposal, Congressional Republicans have questioned the impact Obama had on the FCC's plan. On Monday, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) sent a letter to Wheeler demanding a written explanation of what led Wheeler to conclude that an earlier proposal he considered was "no longer appropriate."

The rest is here:
Republican FCC commissioners: Net neutrality plan misleads the American people

TIME Politics Congress Chip SomodevillaGetty Images Speaker of the House John Boehner holds his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 5, 2015 in Washington, DC.

Congress is barreling towards a crucial end-of-the-month deadline without a plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

Top Republicans on Capitol Hill are already blaming each other. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that the other chamber is now primarily responsible for finding a way forward.

I think itd be pretty safe to say were stuck because of Democratic obstruction on the Senate side, said McConnell, who put a House-passed bill up for a vote three times last week and failed due to a Democratic filibuster. And the next step is obviously up to the House.

The House has passed a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, and block the Presidents unilateral executive action on immigration, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel told CQ Roll Call. Now, the pressure is on Senate Democrats who claim to oppose the Presidents action, but are filibustering a bill to stop it.

Last year, Congress agreed to extend funding for all aspects but DHS for a full fiscal year over Republican resentment that the agency would carry out Obamas November executive actions on immigration. Removing those three million immigrants now protected from deportation could add an additional cost to the $40 billion bill of $20 billion to $25 billion, reports Politico.

Congress has until Feb. 27 before DHS runs out of funding, forcing as many as 30,000 government employees to go on furlough, according to Secretary Jeh Johnson.

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Republicans Point Fingers as Congress Approaches Funding Deadline

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Ronald Reagan bashes 1948/2015 Republicans
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Ronald Reagan bashes 1948/2015 Republicans - Video