Statement of Brent Booker, General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, On Senate Passage of the Reconciliation Bill
July 1, 2025 - CLDCWashington, D.C. (July 1, 2025) — Brent Booker, General President of the Laborers’
International Union of North America, made the following statement regarding the passage of
the Reconciliation Bill through the Senate:
Today, the U.S. Senate voted to kill American jobs in order to line the pockets of the
megawealthy. This bill eradicates thousands of good-paying LIUNA jobs — jobs that were
promised, planned, and already underway. By a vote of 51-50 this legislation upends energy
projects that were cementing America’s energy dominance and global security.
At a time of unprecedented demand and rising prices, we should encourage an “all of the
above” energy policy and not pick winners and losers. Unfortunately, the passage of this bill
has done just that — making hardworking Americans dependent on energy from hostile
nations like China and Russia.
Meanwhile, LIUNA members — more than half a million strong and proud — stand ready to
build the clean, secure energy future our country desperately needs. These solar and wind
projects weren’t abstract policy ideas — they were real job opportunities for real people
across every part of our country for the next seven years. Now, all projects that have not
started construction within one year — a year marked by economic fragility and supply chain
insecurity - will never break ground and our members will never work on them.
After a campaign of promises to lower costs for hardworking Americans, Republican
Senators have instead voted to raise energy prices by taking low cost clean energy off the
table. America’s working families deserve better. They deserve a future built by skilled,
union hands, not dismantled by political maneuvering and tax giveaways for elites. Our
members will not forget this vote—or the leaders who turned their backs on the workers they
claimed to represent. Today’s vote represents American politics at its absolute worst.
Let’s build opportunity — not destroy it.