Democrats and liberal groups are fighting back against criticism of the National Labor Relations Board.

A little-noticed nugget in Republican president candidate Tim Pawlenty's big economic speech this week is that the GOP hopeful supports efforts in Congress to privatize railway service presently provided by Amtrak.

Pawlenty, who is among several Republicans off and running for the nomination to challenge Obama, included the national passenger rail service in a list of programs he suggested because they did not meet what he called "The Google Test." Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, suggested services that could be found on the internet should not be provided by the government.

"The post office, the government printing office, Amtrak, Fannie and Freddie, were all built for a time in our country when the private sector did not adequately provide those products," he said in his speech in Chicago. "That’s no longer the case."

The merger of United and Continental Airlines is on track to be completed by the end of the year, United CEO Jeff Smisek told shareholders Thursday according to reports.

Reuters is reporting that Smisek said Thursday that United and Continental should receive a single operator designation from the Federal Aviation Administration by year's end. The companies have already begun combining their operations and repainting planes with the United name on Continental's colors, but they have temporarily remained separate airlines.

United agreed to buy Continental in 2010 for $3.17 billion.

The unions that are competing to represent workers at the Transportation Security Administration are both pushing lawmakers in the Senate to reject a $270 million cut in funding for airport security screeners that recently passed the House, as well as a measure aimed at curbing the eventual victor's influence.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) sent letters this weeks to Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) calling on them to remove the provision from Department of Homeland Security's appropriation bill, where it was added last week by House members. Inouye chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Landrieu leads the panel's subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Lieberman is chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Akaka chairs that panel's subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management and the Federal Workforce.

In the letter, NTEU President Colleen Kelley wrote that the budget cut, which was designed by supporters of privatizing airport security personnel to reduce the number of federal workers TSA could hire, would deal "a significant blow to morale at the agency.”

Kelley said the amendment would result in the loss of 8,000 jobs.

Sen. Barbara Boxer is pushing for a blanket policy for airlines dealing with the checked baggage of military personnel.

2012 hopeful accused the union of having "bought and paid for" President Obama's last campaign.

Two members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee offered competing opinions on a plan to privatize rail service in the Northeast in Thursday's print edition of The Hill.

Presently, Amtrak operates the interstate passenger rail service through the Northeast portion of the country, where railways are most popular. But Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) said in op-ed Thursday that "the time has come to deregulate America's passenger rail system."

"By focusing on projects that make sense, leveraging private-sector investment and opening the door to public-private partnerships, we can do more with less and finally take our nation in a new direction," wrote Shuster, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.

Your morning transportation news-feed:

Politifact has rated claims the federal government is threatening to shut down flights to Texas if the state bans Transportation Security Administration pat-downs half-true.

A former Transportation Security Administration supervisor is heading to jail for allowing employees to steal from passengers.

Tampa's International Airport is clamoring for more international flights.

Delta Airlines is moving some of its operations from Minnesota to Atlanta.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said Wednesday that he would hold a hearing next week on rail safety to examine reports that terrorist Osama bin Laden was planning to target American railways at the time of death.

Lautenberg promised to examine the issue after evidence of the plots was gathered in bin Laden's Pakistani compound during the May raid by U.S. troops that resulted in his death. The intelligence collected in the raid revealed the al Qaeda leader envisioned commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by blowing up trains.

Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation, said Wednesday that even though bin Laden has been done now for about month, it was important to protect against his final plots.

“Millions of Americans ride our railroads each day, and an attack on one of these systems would be catastrophic," Lautenberg said in a statement.