Proponents of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as Card Check, have been dealt some serious blows in the past month, but the fight is nowhere close to being over. With the Democrats holding 58 seats in the U.S. Senate (59 if the Minnesota Supreme Court upholds the three judge panel’s decision to certify the Minnesota Senate election for comedian Al Franken) big labor and their allies in the U.S. Senate are as close as they have ever been to the 60 votes they need to invoke cloture on Card Check. (Cloture is the 60 votes needed in the U.S. Senate, known as a super majority, to end a filibuster and allow the bill to advance to a simple majority vote for passage)
ABC, through the Free Enterprise Alliance, is currently engaged in an intense campaign to educate both the public and members Congress on the dangers of passing this job killing legislation. In late March Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), the only Republican to vote for cloture in 2007, publicly stated that he will not vote for cloture in 2009, however he has also recently announced he is switching party affiliation so his continued opposition to the bill is critical.
Senator Specter’s announcement was followed a couple weeks later by another Democrat Senator announcing her opposition to Card Check. Senator Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas stated that she could not support Card Check in this economic environment. She began to see the light of day on Card Check only after ABC members and ABC staff tirelessly educated her on the economic impact that Card Check would have on our already wounded economy.
While the latest news has been encouraging, ABC knows that EFCA is anything but dead. The Unions have too much money invested in the candidates they helped elect to let this issue die. We continue to fight EFCA, knowing that there will be deals made to try and make EFCA more palatable to some of the swing votes (Lincoln and Specter).
Keep the pressure on your Senators! Tell them to vote against cloture on the Employee Free Choice Act and that there is NO acceptable compromise when it comes to EFCA.
Visit ABC’s Free Enterprise Alliance website tostay up to date with all the current news about EFCA.