Brown Seated, Big Labor Not Happy

Senator Scott Brown was sworn in yesterday by Vice President Joe Biden to a loud ovation in the Senate chamber:

The Washington Examiner reports that Big Labor is "fuming" that Brown was sworn in a week earlier than when was previously reported. As the Examiner notes, Democrats "succeeded in getting Patricia Smith, the Obama administration's nominee for Solicitor of Labor, through a party-line cloture vote …" prior to Brown's swearing in. (Brown's predecessor, interim Senator Paul Kirk, was the magic 60th Democrat vote for cloture prior to Brown's swearing in.) Smith's confirmation became extremely controversial following reports (click here and here) that she was dishonest (or just flat out lied) when testifying at her confirmation hearing about "her role in a controversial 'wage and watch' program, which she ran as commissioner of the labor department in New York state."

In addition to pushing through Smith while Brown waited to be seated, Senate Democrats had other big plans: "Big Labor had a lot riding on the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Becker, a lawyer for the AFL-CIO and the SEIU, authored a paper as a law professor about how the NLRB could be used to enact a sweeping overhaul of labor laws that would benefit unions, and all without congressional approval." The Huffington Post reports, "[p]arty leadership had planned to hold a confirmation vote this week," prior to Brown's original expected swearing in date next week. At this stage, it looks like Becker's confirmation is in serious doubt.

It's clear that Senator Brown's impact has already been felt without him even casting a single vote.