Witnesses have been announced for Thursday’s hearing by the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workforce Safety and House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

Panel I

• Robert J. Battista, Chairman, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C.
• Wilma B. Liebman, Member, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, D.C.

Panel II

• Professor Matt Finkin, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
• Jon Hiatt, General Counsel, AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C.
• Feliza Ryland, Old Star Resort, Orlando, FL
• Mr. Charles Cohen, Partner, Morgan Lewis, Member of the National Labor Relations Board (1994 – 1996), Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, did not mince words when talking about the hearing on The Hill’s Congress Blog:

This hearing is a clear effort to politicize the judicial functions of NLRB, and to force that agency to bend to the will of the Democrat majority and its union supporters. Make no mistake, union bosses are directing this assault on judicial independence, and the Majority is willing to comply with their goals at the expense of judicial integrity.

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Unfortunately, it is clear to me that this hearing is far more about staging partisan political theater than it is about any of the legitimate and responsible uses of Congressional hearing or oversight authority.