Twenty Republicans Side With Democrats to Reverse Trump Union Order [WATCH]

Twenty House Republicans joined Democrats on Thursday to pass legislation reversing President Donald Trump’s executive order that blocked most federal unions from collective bargaining, delivering a bipartisan rebuke to the administration’s efforts to reshape labor relations across the federal workforce.

The measure, titled the Protect America’s Workforce Act, passed the House by a vote of 231 to 195.

All of the “no” votes came from Republicans, while the bill advanced with support from every Democrat and a bloc of GOP lawmakers who broke with party leadership.

The legislation targets a March 2025 executive order signed by President Trump that restricted collective bargaining rights for unions representing federal employees at numerous agencies.

Trump’s order applied to parts of the departments of Defense, State, Veterans Affairs, Justice, and Energy, as well as the departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Interior, and Agriculture.

The bill was led by Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, who forced the vote by filing a discharge petition.

Discharge petitions allow lawmakers to bypass House leadership and bring legislation to the floor if they secure signatures from a majority of House members, a tactic that is rarely successful but has been used more frequently this year amid Republicans’ narrow majority.

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During debate on the House floor, Republicans and Democrats clashed over the role of public-sector unions and the impact of Trump’s executive order.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., argued that undoing Trump’s order would move the federal workforce in the opposite direction of what voters supported in the 2024 election.

Undoing the order, Comer said, would be akin to encouraging “more work-from-home policies for our federal employees,” which he argued Americans rejected when they elected Trump and Republicans to lead Washington.

“It is important to remember that public sector unions are fundamentally different from their private sector counterparts,” Comer said.

“In fact, none other than Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a major champion of private sector unions, believed that public sector unions made no sense.”

“In the private sector, unions represent workers and sit across the bargaining table from representatives of business owners,” Comer added.

“However, federal unions are not negotiating with a profit-seeking corporation. They are negotiating with the public’s elected representatives.”

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, also spoke against the bill, arguing it would strengthen union leadership at the expense of executive authority.

“Union bosses love this bill for one reason, and that’s because it protects their telework perks, it shields them from accountability, and gives them effective veto power over a duly elected president with a mandate to clean up a bloated federal bureaucracy,” Gill said.

Democrats defended the legislation as necessary to protect federal workers and restore bargaining rights that existed before Trump’s order.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., argued that collective bargaining is a fundamental workplace right.

“Collective bargaining is essentially the freedom to negotiate the best possible work environment,” Jeffries said.

“I’m thankful for this bipartisan effort to restore collective bargaining rights for more than 1 million public servants that are part of our federal government,” he added.

Several Republicans who supported the bill cited their districts’ large federal workforces as justification for their votes.

Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., said restoring collective bargaining rights was critical for workers in his district.

He argued it was “a lifeline that ensures fair wages, safe workplaces, and the basic dignity that every worker deserves,” including corrections officers and those who work with veterans and seniors.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., also spoke in favor of the bill, emphasizing the service record of federal employees.

“These are career public servants, many of them veterans who show up every single day to serve our country,” Lawler said.

“Every American deserves a voice in the workplace, and that includes the people who keep our government running and open.”

Golden’s discharge petition initially attracted support from five House Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Bresnahan, Don Bacon, R-Neb., Lawler, and Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. — alongside 213 Democrats, giving it the majority needed to force a vote.

Momentum for the bill grew throughout the week.

A procedural vote on Wednesday night to advance the legislation drew support from 13 Republicans.

That number increased on Thursday afternoon, when 22 Republicans voted during another procedural step to bring the bill to final passage.

Despite clearing the House, the bill faces an uncertain future.

To become law, it must still pass the Senate and be signed by President Trump, who issued the executive order the legislation seeks to overturn.

For now, Thursday’s vote marked a significant moment in the ongoing debate over federal labor policy, highlighting divisions within the Republican conference and setting up a potential showdown with the White House if the measure advances further.