President Obama announced three nominations to the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday:

His new nominees include two Republicans, lawyers Harry I. Johnson, III and Philip A. Miscimarra, and he also renominated Democrat Mark Gaston Pearce, who is currently serving on the board.“With these nominations there will be five nominees to the NLRB, both Republicans and Democrats, awaiting Senate confirmation,” Obama said in a statement. “I urge the Senate to confirm them swiftly so that this bipartisan board can continue its important work on behalf of the American people.”

Because Senate Republicans have filibustered previous nominees, the labor board is currently operating with three recess appointees in order to have the quorum it needs to function. A federal appeals court has overturned those recess appointments, however, threatening the labor agency’s decisions of the past year and imperiling enforcement of labor law while the case is appealed to the Supreme Court.

The nomination of two Republicans to the bipartisan board along with the renomination of a Democrat means that if Senate Republicans once again block the appointments, it becomes that much clearer that the main goal is blocking enforcement of labor law by preventing the NLRB from being able to function at all.

This article was originally posted on the Daily Kos on April 9, 2013. Reprinted with Permission.

About the Author: Laura Clawson is an editor at the Daily Kos.