Rep. Jared Golden’s Bill to Restore Federal Workers’ Collective Bargaining Rights Passes House in Bipartisan 231-195 Vote

The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 231-195 to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act (PAWA), legislation by Congressmen Jared Golden (ME-02) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) to repeal a presidential executive order that stripped union rights from roughly 1 million federal workers.

Twenty Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the bill’s final passage. Companion legislation was introduced in the Senate in September with bipartisan support. The Senate version of the bill is sponsored by Sen. King & Sen. Susan Collins.

“Federal workers show up on the job every day to do the people’s work, and their limited collective bargaining rights are critical to protecting them from unfair treatment and political interference,” Golden said after the bill’s passage. “I’m proud of the strong, bipartisan coalition that came together to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act in the House, and I urge the Senate to quickly take up this bill and join us in standing up for workers.”

Golden and Fitzpatrick introduced PAWA in April. After months of inaction by House majority leadership, they shepherded the bill’s passage via discharge petition — a legislative maneuver that allows members to bring popular bills to the House floor when House leadership refuses to schedule a vote. In November, the discharge petition obtained its 218th signature, clearing the threshold to bring PAWA up for a vote over the Speaker’s objections.

Rep. Golden has worked doggedly to restore federal workers collective bargaining rights and to get this legislation to this point. He's organized his colleagues, worked patiently to cultivate the needed number of House Republicans on the discharge petition, made the public case on the issue and kept pushing it forward to get to vote on the House floor.

"Maine workers applaud Rep. Golden's "dog with a bone" commitment to restoring collective bargaining rights for federal workers. Jared values the work federal employees do in caring for our veterans, keeping air travel safe, repairing our submarines, taking care of our seniors and so much more," said Matt Schlobohm, Maine AFL-CIO Executive Director.  "He has worked tirelessly and overcome many hurdles to pass this legislation in the House.  On behalf of Maine workers we say Thank You!"

The Maine AFL-CIO also thanks Sen. Collins and Sen. King for cosponsoring this legislation in the Senate.

While successful discharge petitions are historically rare, members of the House are increasingly turning to them to call up legislation.  Last year, public sector workers, including many from Maine, successfully lobbied for a discharge petition to force a vote on the Social Security Fairness Act, which led its passage. Earlier this year, a bill to compel release of the Epstein files was brought to the floor and passed via discharge. This week, Golden and Fitzpatrick initiated a discharge petition to force the House to take action on expiring ACA tax credits — an issue that Speaker Mike Johnson has so far refused to address.

“Right now, leadership — no matter who they are in both parties, House and Senate — should pay attention to what’s going on with the discharge petitions,” Golden said Wednesday. “If you’re not going to open up the process, if you’re not going to give people the opportunity to at least take a vote one way or the other on where they stand on issues … then increasingly I think you’re going to see rank-and-file members taking matters into their own hands.”