Last year, House Democrats voted to strip American workers of their right to a secret ballot during the union organizing process. John Boehner wrote in Human Events at the time:

"Under the guise of 'protecting' workers, a bill by House Democrats would strip American workers of the right to choose -- freely and anonymously -- whether to unionize. The misleadingly titled Employee Free Choice Act offers neither freedom nor choice, and will leave workers open to ugly union harassment, intimidation, and pressure that still persist today. The San Francisco Examiner called it 'exquisitely Orwellian… anti-freedom, anti-democracy.'...

"Workers will no longer be able to express their wishes privately; their 'votes' will be public for everyone -- union organizers, employers, co-workers -- to see."

"Unions keep losing membership as a share of the national workforce, which explains why organized labor's main political focus is changing the rules to force more workers into unions. Witness a bill that Senate Democrats are pushing this week to require that hundreds of thousands of local police and firemen submit to collective bargaining.

"Under current law, every state has the ability to set policies that govern its public workforce. In some states, police, firefighters and paramedics belong to unions that collectively bargain for their contracts. In others, unions representing public-security workers can bargain over pay, but not over benefits or work rules. And in some others, these workers can choose not to belong to a union.

"Democrats want to change this for the entire country. A bill that passed the House last year would make the top officials at local unions the exclusive bargaining agents for public safety officers in every town or city with more than 5,000 people. They would also have the authority to bargain for everything -- pay, benefits and work rules. The goal is to give labor the whip hand with local governments, and further coerce nonunion members to join the dues-paying ranks."

Democrats in Washington are marching in lock-step with their Big Labor patrons, dutifully pushing an agenda that amounts to forced unionization for American workers... anything to pay back the guys who helped put them in the Majority. >>

Just an FYI -- if you've noticed on each Republican candidate's profile there is a "Latest Race News" section. Eagle-eyed observers have noticed that since our launch this has been the same news as is on the front page. Well starting today we're phasing in tailored campaign / race news for our targeted Key Races.

It's a small but important addition to the site, and will help give a more complete picture of a given key race.  Or so that's the plan.

Enjoy!

The Swamp highlights Republican Leader Boehner's support of the Gas Tax Relief and Earmark Moratorium Act authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). The bill suspends the federal gas tax this summer and implements a corresponding freeze on all earmarks:

"The gas tax holiday gained a powerful ally in the House today when Minority Leader John Boehner signed on to legislation that would tie a summerlong suspension to a freeze on earmarks.

"'Since Democrats refuse to lead on gas prices and earmark reform - top priorities of the American people - Republicans will,' the Ohio Republican said."

The House GOP is also keeping up the fight against earmarks and wasteful spending: yesterday the House Intelligence Committee approved a Republican amendment to strip all earmarks from the FY 2009 Intelligence Authorization Act.

READ MORE:

• Democrats & New York Times on the Same Page w/Gas Prices (5/8/08)
  
• Fox News on a Broken Washington: Soaring Gas Prices, Stalling Economy (5/8/08)
• Jay Leno Calls Out Dems for Inaction on Gas Prices (5/5/08)
• Samuelson: Start Drilling (5/2/08)
• GOP Leaders Call on Pelosi to Reveal "Commonsense Plan" to Lower Gas Prices (4/22/08)
• IBD on Preventing American Energy Exploration: "This Madness Must End" (4/15/08)

The New York Times thinks Americans should pay higher gas prices:

"Americans must find ways to curb their use of fossil fuels. That will require higher, not lower, prices for gas..."

"Democrats characterized the proposal as attacking 'the root causes of high gas prices,' although it wasn't clear how today's high oil costs — set in a global market — or gasoline prices edging toward $4 a gallon would be appreciably affected."

READ MORE:

• Fox News on a Broken Washington: Soaring Gas Prices, Stalling Economy (5/8/08)
• Jay Leno Calls Out Dems for Inaction on Gas Prices (5/5/08)
• Samuelson: Start Drilling (5/2/08)
• GOP Leaders Call on Pelosi to Reveal "Commonsense Plan" to Lower Gas Prices (4/22/08)
• IBD on Preventing American Energy Exploration: "This Madness Must End" (4/15/08)

Even the Speaker has acknowledged that we need more oil supply if we want to ease the Pelosi Premium. So Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee yesterday offered a proposal to increase U.S. supply by beginning environmentally-safe drilling in ANWR.

Democrats voted it down. Again.

Welcome to Washington under the Democrats.