FedEx Express is learning what could be the Democrats’ economic motto — “Never Let Success Go Unpunished.”

Led by Rep. James L. Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat, the House on May 21 passed legislation that contains an almost hidden provision — a mere 230 words — that would hobble FedEx Express. It would do so by completely changing the labor laws under which the company operates. Unless the Senate removes the language from the underlying bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, a mere dozen or so workers in just one city could hamstring much of the nation’s overnight delivery service.

We Americans take for granted that things can “absolutely, positively … be there overnight” — but it took FedEx Express to make that so. FedEx Express is, of course, one of the great corporate success stories of modern times, having grown from a mere idea in a 1965 term paper by Yale University undergraduate Frederick W. Smith into a company essential to the workings of our modern economy.

It is a little-known fact that FedEx contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to carry almost all of its Express Mail and a large proportion of its Priority Mail. FedEx delivers huge amounts of needed supplies for American military forces, too — and its service is just about the only way to guarantee that some lifesaving medicines reach patients overnight.

via EDITORIAL: Kneecapping FedEx – Washington Times.