Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee participated in a hearing titled, “Labor Law Reform Part I: Diagnosing the Issues, Exploring Current Proposals.” In his hearing discussion with Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, Senator Mullin credited President Trump with getting both leaders to the table to find common ground on labor issues.
U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) shared the following reaction to the hearing:
“Oklahoma is a strong right-to-work state,” said Senator Mullin. “As the Republican Party continues to make significant gains with labor, including the 58 percent of Teamsters who supported President Trump, it’s critical we partner with the Trump administration, business owners, and workers across the country to help our economy thrive.”
“The last time Teamster’s President Sean O’Brien and I were in a hearing room; I was telling him to ‘stand his butt up,’” said Mullin. “President Trump has a way of bringing people together. I’d like to see if labor can help us build in America again.”
Senator Mullin was recently invited to join the Better Bad Ideas Podcast with Sean O’Brien. The 80-minute episode, which launched today, is available for playback on all platforms.
A transcript of the hearing exchange is available below:
MULLIN: “I guess everybody is surprised to see Sean and I on the same page, because considering last time we were in this hearing room and Sean, I’d like to welcome you back to committee and call you, my friend.We talk all the time. We don’t agree on every issue, butI thinkunderneath the leadership of President Trump and our common love for those that work in the labor industry, we found quite a quite a friendship and so welcome back.”
“Couple things that I want to say. First of all, you know, we’ve heard our Democrats come in and with their talking points about the shutdown. I just want to remind every one of those Democrats that spoke today about the shutdown. Every one of them voted for this exact same CR with the exact same language, with the exact same numbers a year ago to keep the government open. Every one of those Democrats that spoke about it today also voted for it in December. Most of them voted for it in January, and 10 of them voted for it in March. So for them to sit there and say that it’s blamed on anybody else but themselves is a lie, because the fact is, they elected Chuck Schumer to be their leader and he’s the one that is running scared of his election of AOC, not until 2028 he’s the one that got chastised in March by her, and all of a sudden, his attitude about shutting down the government’s changed. So, if he would just simply release his members, all those federal employees that they’re concerned about could easily go back to work, because they know as good as anybody else, when they chose to shut down the government, they gave the power to the President of the United States during a shutdown, the authority to deem employees essential and non-essential. It’s his discretion. So, if they really are concerned about the employees of the government, open the government back up. In fact, we’re going to be voting again today on a CR, isn’t that right, Chairman, that they could open the government up today and we could just simply go right on business.
“One thing I want to I want to state to I got all the respect for my colleague from Missouri [Hawley]and, but I just want to talk about the labor just to set the standard. I’m not saying it’s right wrong or either. I just want to make sure that it was understood. Talked about the average Amazon employees labor around the world being 36,000 just for statistical purposes that people understand. As for the world, there’s different labor rates, obviously in different countries, especially third-world countries, than there is inside the United States. Inside the United States, the average Amazon employee when they start on probation is somewhere between 55 and $60,000 the average employee that has any sense of tenure once they’re off probation is somewhere between $75,000 and $177,000, depending on their bonus structure and their skill set. So, just understand that I’m not, I’m not trying to get into negotiations on the labor or anything like that. I just want to make sure that the record is set straight on that.”
“Mr. O’Brien, I would like to partner with you because you represent the largest labor force in the country, and we have a national security issue right now, and that’s with shipbuilding. I don’t think there’s another person that can speak on labor statistics with more labor authority than you, and I mean that sincerely. We need help with the labor force, and we need to be focused on national security for shipbuilding, and we need to enter into a private, public partnership. We’ve got shipyards that are that are vacant that used to build ships, and a lot has been shut down because of very liberal states, for instance, like California, and we feel like the labor could possibly help us get those shipyards back-to-back up and running, but we need the labor to do it too. So not only do we need help putting pressure on these states to get these shipyards back up and working, but we also need help then staffing them the skilled labor set that the unions can bring, especially the shipyards. No other place we can find it. There’s not a workforce like that either, but we also need to have the contracts in place that look at it from a national security perspective. And so, while we have worked together on several issues since the last time we talked, I would love to dig down on this issue with you more and figure out what we can do something great for the for not just the workers, but for our nation too.”
O’BRIEN: “Well, yeah. I mean, it’s a great, great segue into a conversation about bringing industry back into the United States. And I think shipbuilding, at one point in time, was a great economic generator for this country. It provided great opportunity for workers. It provided great futures for families. And I think if you ask the majority of people that once came from that industry or generation, we’re connected to that industry. It’s a very noble profession, and I agree with you, we should be building ships in the United States to avoid any type of breach of security issues in this country. I sit on the Port Authority Board, longest sitting member. I have helped negotiate expansion of ports and businesses on those ports. So, I would welcome a conversation how we bring industry but also train this next generation of workers to successfully build the best ships in the world.”
MULLIN: “Well, then, let’s work together, and since the last time I asked you to stand up, I’m going to ask you to stand up this time, shake hands, and we’ll just agree to work together.”
O’BRIEN: “Yeah, I just want to say, for the record, I’m not a hugger, but I’ll shake your hand.”
MULLIN: “Fair enough. Thank you.”
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