Guinta union amendment goes down in tie
An amendment proposed by New Hampshire 1st District Congressman Frank Guinta that would have banned labor union-friendly Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) from federal construction projects failed in a tied vote on Friday. The narrow failure of the anti-PLA legislation was a blemish on what was otherwise a victorious day for House Republicans, who won a series of spending-slashing votes. Twenty-six Republicans voted against the Guinta amendment, producing a 210-210 tie, which House Speaker John Boehner neglected to break.
Some Democrats pointed to Boehner’s silence as an indication of a potential inter-party split between the new Congressional freshmen and more establishment GOP figures. Politico quotes an unnamed senior Democratic aid as saying of Boehner, “He had a chance to stick it to labor and missed.” Ending government-mandated PLAs was an issue that Guinta campaigned on, and one that has received some local attention as smaller, non-unionized construction firms fought for the right to compete with the unions to win the contract for the new Job Corps Center in Manchester.