UAW Shawn Fain stood on the Democrat National Convention stage in 2024 wearing a shirt that said "Trump is a Scab."
That grandstanding was paid for by union dues.
House Republicans just demanded five unions open their financial books – and what they already know about the UAW alone should make every dues-paying member furious.
UAW Spent $95 Million on Democrat Politics and $146 Million on Perks
The House Committee on Education and Workforce dropped letters demanding financial records going back to January 2023 from the United Auto Workers, United Steelworkers, SMART Transportation Division, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division.
The UAW's publicly reported totals are already damning.
Nearly $95 million in political spending. Almost $146 million on travel and entertainment.
That is not a union operating on behalf of its members. That is a Democrat Party funding operation with a union card attached.
Committee Chairman Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan told Fox News Digital: "When we see funds that have been used by multiple unions for highly political purposes, and you begin to see that the rank and file aren't following along with the same political funding purposes of union leadership, common sense says you ought to take a look at it."
The records lawmakers demanded go beyond political contributions – they cover lobbying, executive compensation, conference and entertainment bills, and whether union funds have paid for travel or perks benefiting family members, spouses, or political allies of union leadership.
Mandatory Union Dues Funded $280 Million in Democrat Spending in 2024
In roughly half the states – those without Right to Work protections – workers covered by a union contract have no choice but to pay up or lose their job, and every dollar of those mandatory dues flows into a system that spent $280 million on politics in 2024 alone, with the overwhelming share going straight to Democrats.
The Center for Union Facts has tracked the pattern for two decades.
Public-sector unions direct 90 percent of their political spending to Democrats. The Commonwealth Foundation documented that in the 2021-2022 election cycle, 95.7 percent of union PAC contributions went to Democrat candidates and organizations.
Walberg's committee cited the growing disconnect directly in its letters to the unions. Rank-and-file members have "increasingly supported President Trump and other Republican candidates in recent election cycles."
The union bosses kept writing checks to the other side anyway.
The Federalist reported in June that the UAW alone has funneled nearly $100 million to Democrats and Democratic Socialists since 2016 – with Fain serving as the operation's most visible face, stumping with Bernie Sanders and endorsing Kamala Harris from the DNC stage.
Fain now faces a Department of Justice grand jury investigation into whether he pressured union officials to deliver financial benefits for his fiancée and her sister.
Walberg made the stakes clear: "There have been union leaders who have gone to jail and certainly been prosecuted over misuse of funds. There seems to be indication that that still is going on in certain major unions."
Shawn Fain Already Under DOJ Investigation as Congress Demands Records
The committee set a response deadline of August 17 for most of the unions, with the UAW receiving an additional day.
Walberg said any evidence uncovered could be referred to the Justice Department, even though the committee itself cannot prosecute.
The American Accountability Foundation backed the probe without reservation. President Tom Jones told Fox News Digital that "union workers deserve the full truth on how their dues are spent, and whether that spending actually reflects their values."
Union bosses built a machine that takes money from workers who voted for Donald Trump and wires it to the people trying to stop him – openly, for decades, in states where workers had no legal way to refuse.
The books are now open. When the Justice Department sees what Congress finds, every union member in America will know exactly who their leadership has been working for.
It was never them.
Sources:
- Kiera McDonald and Andrew Mark Miller, "House GOP launches probe into 5 major labor unions over Dem spending despite MAGA membership base," Fox News, August 6, 2026.
- The Federalist Staff, "Exclusive: New Report Shows The Extent Of UAW's Leftist Agenda," The Federalist, June 3, 2026.
- Staff, "Political Money," Union Facts, April 17, 2025.
- David Osborne, "Political Spending by Public-Sector Unions Is Deep Blue," Commonwealth Foundation, December 2023.