Health care isn’t the only issue exasperated rank-and-file House members are taking into their own hands.
Lawmakers overruled Trump for the first time this Congress by passing a bill Thursday overturning an executive order stripping federal workers of collective bargaining rights after Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, got enough signatures on his discharge petition to force a vote.
“In these increasingly polarized times, working people delivered a rare bipartisan majority,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said.
A discharge petition from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., that would force a vote on legislation banning lawmakers from trading stocks has 58 signatures so far, 15 of which are Republican.
“I think it’s a sign that members are sensing that there’s been less than the desired level of leadership when it comes to important policy issues facing the country and that maybe members need to start filling the vacuum,” Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., said.
Not everyone agrees. “Members see leverage and they take it,” Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said. “I don’t see any productivity in that.”