On Friday, the House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 1120) that would suspend all work of the National Labor Relations Board until legal questions about how some of its members were appointed are resolved. The NLRB is in charge of safeguarding union formation elections and investigating allegations of unfair labor practices.
In January, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that President Obama had exceeded his constitutional authority by making recess appointments to the board while the Senate was in pro-forma session. The NLRB is in the process of petitioning the Supreme Court to review the ruling.
DATA: MapLight analysis of reported contributions to current members of the House since July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2012.
- Interest groups supporting the bill have given 6.5 times as much money ($58,404,663) to members of the House as groups opposing the bill have given ($9,050,869).
- On average, representatives voting 'YES' received 44 times more money from interest groups supporting the bill ($182,647) than from interest groups opposing ($4,127).
Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to current House members from interest groups supporting and opposing H.R. 1120, from July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2012. Campaign contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.
Photo credit: Pete Souza / Wikimedia Commons
