Unions Spend Big to Push Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan

The Service Employees International Union, which represents workers in hospitals, nursing homes and other industries, said it is running a $7 million advertising campaign to press key Democratic senators to drop their opposition to the $3.5 trillion package of social and economic programs.

The National Education Association said it is spending millions of dollars on its own advertising campaign, as well as paying workers to go door to door in key congressional districts to rally popular support for the bill. The American Federation of Teachers is funding rounds of phone calls into key Democratic districts to win support for a tax change sought by the union.

The legislation fulfills much of Mr. Biden’s domestic policy agenda, including measures aimed at arresting climate change and expanding access to healthcare and education.

The bill “is a life-changing set of policies that will make a difference for Americans—from taking on the climate crisis to helping families with pre-K, paid leave and child care,” wrote Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, in a letter to members of Congress on Thursday.

The legislation is a boon to private- and public-sector unions and employees, providing billions of dollars in federal funding for longstanding labor priorities such as expanded health coverage through Medicare, increased child-care support and construction of new school buildings.

There are also measures—included in the bill with the backing of organized labor—designed to strengthen organized labor. It would give new teeth to the National Labor Relations Board, increase fines for companies that violate workplace rules and allow unionized workers to deduct their union dues from federal income taxes.

One controversial provision included by Democrats in the House version of the spending bill would give the National Labor Relations Board the ability to levy civil penalties against companies and managers for the first time. The bill would allow the NLRB to issue fines up to $100,000 for violating existing labor rules, permanently replacing striking workers or discriminating against workers who return after a strike.

“It’s a radical change,” said Michael Lotito, a labor lawyer for corporations opposed to the measure.

Labor unions are among the top political backers of the Democratic Party and Mr. Biden.

Nearly 90% of the $260 million that labor unions spent on the 2020 elections went to benefit Democratic candidates, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics.

The top beneficiary of the spending was Mr. Biden. Unions spent a total of $27.6 million to support his presidential campaign against former President Donald Trump. According to the Center’s data, 98.8% of the amount of money labor unions spent on the 2020 presidential campaign went to help Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden has long fashioned himself a champion of blue-collar, unionized workers and the $3.5 trillion spending bill includes many union priorities.

The bill calls for a 10-fold increase in the maximum fine on corporations for health and safety violations in the workplace. Fines for violations of child-labor rules would increase to $132,270 per employee, from $11,000. The bill would also make good on a longstanding union goal of permitting union elections over the internet.

Labor leaders and lobbyists are helping Mr. Biden and Democratic leaders muster the votes needed for it to pass Congress.

In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) is trying to balance the interests of centrist Democrats who think the bill is too expensive and progressive Democrats, who believe it should do more to expand social and economic programs. Mrs. Pelosi has promised to turn to the spending legislation soon after the House dispenses with Mr. Biden’s infrastructure package.

In the Senate, White House negotiations have focused on two Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.,) and Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.), who are concerned about the size of the bill.

To win over their support for the bill, the Service Employees International Union last month launched a $7 million television and internet advertising campaign in West Virginia, Arizona and several other states.

The union has also arranged for dozens of its members to meet with key Democratic lawmakers to win over their support for the bill.

The SEIU, which spent $10 million on the 2020 election, has threatened to cut off financial support and endorsements for any Democratic lawmaker who doesn’t support the legislation.

The biggest union spender in the 2020 elections, the National Education Association representing teachers, told its 3 million members in September that it would reprise a digital advertising drive that was first launched to champion Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 stimulus bill to advocate on behalf of the reconciliation package.

The ads would applaud lawmakers who backed the White House and the Democratic agenda, while providing “negative issue accountability” for lawmakers who opposed the administration’s agenda.

The NEA said a new network of organizers is working at the local level to build support for the bill, “helping communities understand how this legislation is critical for America’s students and public schools.”

It also launched ads praising Democratic governors in Michigan, Kansas, Wisconsin and Minnesota for their support of federal aid to public schools.

“For too many students—Black and white, Native and newcomer, Hispanic and Asian alike—back to school means returning to crumbling buildings with inadequate ventilation, teacher shortages, and other problems that have been made worse from the pandemic,” the union’s president, Becky Pringle, said.

The American Federation of Teachers is lobbying to add a provision to the bill that would repeal a $10,000 cap on the amount of money that individuals can deduct from their federal taxes for the tax they paid to state and local governments. That cap was included in the 2017 tax law enacted by Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans.

The teachers union says the limit discourages voters from supporting increases in state and local taxes needed to fund education and other public services.

Democratic tax writers say they want to add a measure to the bill to repeal the cap.

The union is targeting centrist Democrats for help on the issue, such as Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.). Officials at the American Federation of Teachers have encouraged their members to write letters to Mr. Gottheimer and other moderate Democratic lawmakers from high-tax states to help get rid of the cap on deductions.

It is also paying for rounds of phone calls into the districts of moderate Democrats to rally support for their cause.

By getting rid of the cap, “we’d ensure that communities investing in the public services we depend on aren’t penalized for doing so,” an AFT official says in the phone calls.

“Write to your lawmakers and tell them to include investments in school infrastructure and jobs, as well as a repeal of the state and local tax deduction cap, in the budget package.”