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EFCA, GIllibrand's Seat and the Fight over Labor
Some EFCA updates:
Looks like the Employee Free Choice Act could get introduced as early as next week. It'll easily pass the House when it comes up for a vote, just as it did last year, but passage in the Senate will be hard and it doesn't help that the Minnesota seat remains unresolved.
Tomorrow, Vice President Joe Biden is supposed to give a full-throated defense of the act when he speaks to top AFL officials at their meeting in Miami.
Meanwhile, in the hotly contested House race to replace New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the Republican, Jim Tedisco was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today in no small part because his opponent is supporting EFCA.
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Matt
Eric
A couple of weeks ago, Greg Sargent at TPL reported that MN Senator Amy Klobuchar had confirmed that the Senate has decided not to move on Employee Free Choice until Franken is seated.
Makes sense to me.
March 3, 2009 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the Dems had any faith that Franken would be sat anytime soon, I think it's safe to say they'd wait for him with this bill.
I think it's going to have a tough time passing. I wonder if the Dems have more than a handful of GOP they can rely on.
March 3, 2009 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not sure they will have ANY. The Blue Dogs will also vote against this. It will pass the House, but I give it long odds in the Senate. Business interests will pull out every stop to kill this.
March 3, 2009 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Blue Dogs won't necessarily vote against this. As a group, fiscal conservatism is their rallying cry, and Employee Free Choice doesn't have much to do with that. The only Dem Senator I'm aware of that we need to worry about is the Colorado appointee (who never had to ask for labor money to get into the Senate …). And Specter can kiss his labor support goodbye if he doesn't give in. Plus, IIRC, Collins and Snowe both voted for cloture last time. So there really isn't that much to worry about. Meaningful health care reform is rather more worrisome right now.
March 3, 2009 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought they were going to make it go through the Senate first this time? You know, make Lucy kick the damn football for once?
March 3, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
How about we call it the Employee Free Choice Act? Or EFCA if that's too long?
"Card Check Bill" is what the Chamber of Commerce calls it, because they don't want people to think they're against employees having freedom to choose, even though they are.
March 3, 2009 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink