WASHINGTON (AP) — About two dozen House Republicans joined Democrats Thursday in passing a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, an effort to reverse an executive order President Donald Trump issued earlier this year.
The measure passed 231-195 after reaching the floor in a bipartisan move to bypass GOP leadership — a so-called “discharge” tactic that Republicans are using with increasing frequency because of dysfunction in the chamber. The bill needs Senate approval to become law, but 20 Republicans sided with Democrats in a rare break from the president.
The executive order issued by Trump in March was intended to end collective bargaining for employees of agencies with national security missions in the federal government. He said he had the right to revoke the rights under the 1978 Act.
“Restoring these rights is not a concession — it’s a commitment. A commitment to treat federal workers with dignity, strengthen a resilient public service, and honor the commitment of the men and women who serve the American people every day,” GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a co-sponsor of the bill, said on the floor before passage.
Trump’s order targeted the union rights of about 600,000 of the 800,000 federal workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, including those at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense.
The union is challenging those moves in court, arguing they are illegal and retaliatory. In May, an appeals court said the administration could move forward with the executive order while the case plays out.
In a statement after Thursday’s vote, AFGE said it “deeply appreciates every member of Congress who voted in favor of the bill.” Everett Kelly, the group’s president, called it a “seismic victory.”
The passage of the bill was also praised by the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor federation.
“We applaud the Republicans and Democrats who stood with workers and voted to reverse the largest act of union-busting in American history,” said Liz Schuller, the group’s president.
Democratic Rep. The bill reached the floor via a discharge petition led by Jared Golden of Maine. It’s a tactic that has been used with increasing frequency in this Congress because of frustrations with GOP leadership, including in the high-profile push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Any lawmaker can force a vote on the legislation if they get 218 signatures on their petition in the 435-member House.
All House Democrats who voted supported the measure to restore bargaining rights. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries supported the bill and said on the floor before it passed that it would “help public servants who have been badly targeted by the Trump administration since the beginning of their tenure in office.”
Seemingly unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, the vote represents the president’s first formal rebuke and a flurry of executive orders he has issued in his second term.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still, most Republicans who support the bill still hold back from directly calling out the president. Speaking on the House floor before voting in favor of the bill, New York Republican Representative Mike Lawler said that “earlier this year, an executive order changed the collective bargaining situation.”
“Every American deserves a voice in the workplace, and that includes the people who run and keep our government open,” Lawler said.
Of the 20 Republicans who supported the bill, many, including Fitzpatrick, face tough re-election next year. It comes at a time when some Republicans, following Trump’s lead, have become more supportive of labor unions, long a key part of the Democratic Party’s coalition.
Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who switched parties during Trump’s first term, was among the Republicans who supported the bill, but told reporters before the vote that he was not trying to send a message to the president with his vote.
“There’s no message here,” Van Drew said. “This is a New Jersey message. I have to take care of my people. And I’ve always been supportive of unions.”
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