NLRB undaunted by budget rebuff

After issuing dire notices of threatened furloughs, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) received a modest increase of $25 million, about 40% short of what the appropriations committees had agreed to just last summer. This is the first budget increase since 2014 for the highly politicized agency. The hyper-partisan Republican House, which must originate future appropriations bills, is likely to return the agency to its years of flat budgets—or less. NLRB Board members and its General Counsel are also certain to be diverted from their jobs by oversight hearings launched by Rep. Virginia Foxx, who has been elected Chair of the renamed Education and Workforce Committee (formerly Education and Labor). Rep. Foxx has made no secret of her differences with the current Board and brings years of focused understanding to her oversight tasks. The NLRB must also start devoting time and money to defending its decisions, as some of its recent rulings will be working their way to adjudication before appellate courts.