Dr. Rand Paul Highlights the Economic Benefits of Right-to-Work Policies at HELP Committee Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 8th, 2025

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Dr. Rand Paul Highlights the Economic Benefits of Right-to-Work Policies at HELP Committee Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a senior 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." As the Committee continues its review of proposed federal labor reforms, Dr. Paul underscored the importance of protecting worker freedoms, limiting bureaucratic interference, and preserving the right to liberty of contract.

"In February 2025, Dr. Paul reintroduced the National Right to Work Act. The bill does not add to existing federal law but deletes existing forced-unionism provisions and restores worker choice."

During today's hearing, Dr. Paul entered into the record statements from 29 industry associations opposed to the Faster Labor Contracts Act and 45 business organizations opposed to the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, reflecting broad concern that these proposals would weaken flexibility for both workers and employers.

Dr. Paul questioned witness Rachel Greszler, a labor economist, on how right-to-work policies affect states' economic performance, wages, and job creation. Greszler affirmed that right-to-work states have seen roughly twice the employment growth and triple the population growth compared to non-right-to-work states over the past 50 years, citing their ability to attract businesses seeking fair and predictable labor laws.

"Over the past 50 years, right-to-work states have seen double the job growth and triple the population growth," Greszler said. "That's because businesses are confident, they can operate without a union taking control over their operations, and workers can choose how they want to participate."

Dr. Paul also noted that the right to liberty of contract is a fundamental principle of a free economy.

"Some have argued, such as Hayek - The Road to Serfdom came up earlier - that the right to liberty of contract really is a basic, fundamental right upon which the economy is based," Dr. Paul said. "The right to have certainty and to have honesty, and to have the courts uphold contracts without an arbitrary nature. To look at contracts from a dispassionate point of view. Getting involved in the middle of contracts shouldn't be done lightly, and we need to consider the ramifications of what that does to the economy at large."

Dr. Paul explained that the National Right to Work law simply removes certain aspects of federal law rather than creating new ones.

"The way the National Labor Relations Act was written says that you can't discriminate against workers," Dr. Paul continued. "And then they had to put an exemption in there - except for you can discriminate against non-union workers, basically. And so that exemption is what is removed by national right to work."

He then asked Greszler what would happen economically if national right-to-work were enacted.

"I think that it would improve the economy," Greszler responded. "We'd see what's happened in the states that are right to work. But more importantly, it just preserves that fundamental right of every worker to be able to choose whether or not they are forced to pay a private entity as a condition of their employment. And that's just a fundamental protection that they should have."

Watch the full hearing here.

Watch Dr. Paul's full exchange here.

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