Representative Kevin Hern (OK-01) introduced H.R. 814, the Union Accountability Act to the House of Representatives last week, a bill that would prevent taxpayer funds from being used to implement Biden’s Executive Order 14003, issued on January 22, 2021. President Biden’s latest action enables federal employees to spend most of their official time representing unions, instead of serving the taxpayer

“Finding and eliminating wasteful spending is one of my top priorities in Congress,” said Rep. Hern. “Especially after a year of record spending, we must work to strengthen our economy and efficiently spend taxpayer dollars. Biden’s strategy to reverse any executive action made in the Trump Administration regardless of the impact to our economy has already proven disastrous. Nearly every stroke of his pen has resulted in layoffs and harm to the American worker. President Trump worked to make our government more efficient, which means our workforce needs to be nimble and cost-effective. My bill will prevent a complete reversal of key actions from the Trump White House to limit taxpayer funded union time and simplify the process to remove bad actors in the federal workforce.

Background Information

In 2019, the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management found that bargaining unit employees spent 2.6 million hours performing union-related duties at a cost of $163,327,235.21 to the taxpayer. Federal agencies spend roughly $16 million per year on salaries for union negotiators. To hold federal employees accountable, President Trump issued executive orders 13957, 13836, 13837, and 13839 to limit taxpayer funded union time and streamline the process to fire underperforming federal employees.

Biden’s Executive Order 14003 overturns the four executive orders from the Trump administration.

###