House votes to nullify Trump order and restore bargaining rights for federal workers

Nearly two dozen House Republicans broke ranks with their party Thursday to pass a bill that would restore collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees, challenging a controversial executive order issued by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The measure passed 231-195, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats in a rare bipartisan rebuke of the president. The legislation aims to overturn Trump’s March executive order that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for employees at agencies with national security missions across the federal government.

“Reinstating these rights is not a concession — it is a commitment. A commitment to treat federal workers with dignity, to reinforce a resilient public service, and to honor the commitment of the men and women who show up for the American people every single day,” said Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a co-sponsor of the bill, during floor debate.

Trump’s executive order had targeted approximately 600,000 of the 800,000 federal workers represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), including employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. The president had claimed authority to revoke these rights under a 1978 law.

The AFGE has been challenging the administration’s moves in court, arguing they are both illegal and retaliatory. In May, an appeals court ruled that the administration could implement the executive order while litigation continues.

AFGE President Everett Kelley called Thursday’s vote a “seismic victory” and expressed “deep appreciation to every member of Congress who voted for the bill.” The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, also praised the vote, with President Liz Shuler describing Trump’s executive order as “the single largest act of union-busting in American history.”

The bill reached the House floor through a procedural maneuver known as a discharge petition, which bypassed Republican leadership. Led by Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, this tactic has been used with increasing frequency during the current Congress amid frustrations with GOP leadership dysfunction. A discharge petition requires 218 signatures—a majority of the 435-member House—to force a vote on legislation.

All voting House Democrats supported the measure. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsed the bill, saying it would help “public servants who have been targeted viciously by the Trump administration from the very beginning of his time in office.”

Despite the bipartisan House passage, the bill faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Senate. Nevertheless, the vote represents one of Congress’s first formal challenges to Trump’s executive actions since he returned to office.

Most Republicans who backed the bill avoided directly criticizing the president. Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who voted in favor, simply stated that “earlier this year, an executive order changed the collective bargaining status,” adding that “every American deserves a voice in the workplace, and that includes the people who keep our government running and open.”

Many of the 20 Republicans who supported the bill, including Fitzpatrick, face challenging reelection campaigns next year in competitive districts. Their votes come at a time when some Republicans, following Trump’s lead, have shown increased support for labor unions—traditionally a core constituency of the Democratic Party.

New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who switched from Democrat to Republican during Trump’s first term, was among those supporting the bill. However, he insisted his vote wasn’t intended to send a message to the president. “No message here at all,” Van Drew told reporters. “This is a New Jersey message. I got to take care of my people. And I’ve always been supportive of unions.”

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the House vote or whether the president would reconsider his position on federal employee collective bargaining rights.

This legislative pushback highlights the growing tensions between Congress and the White House over executive authority and workers’ rights, as well as the increasing willingness of some Republicans to break with the president on specific policy issues despite his strong grip on the party.