Harkin Sees Votes to Stop Overtime Change

[hedda_foil]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030902/pl_nm/congress_overtime_dc

Harkin Sees Votes to Stop Overtime Change
2 hours, 22 minutes ago Add Politics to My Yahoo!


By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key U.S. Senate Democrat said on Tuesday he believed he had lined up enough votes to block proposed changes in federal work rules that critics say could cost millions of Americans overtime pay.



"I think we've got the votes," said Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, who has helped lead the charge against the Bush administration's proposed expansion of overtime exemptions.


But, he told a news conference, "It's going to be close."


"This proposal is anti-worker, anti-family and bad economic policy," Harkin said. "It will take money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans and it will not create one new job."


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[RichV]

1. Good grief.

Look at the list of top-ranked articles. Almost every one of them is bad news for the Bush team. Yikes.

[Prodemsouth]

2. Harkin would make a great President.

Why didn't he run? IW Dems? Liberal in a somewhat conservative state, Great to see a Dem. stand up for Labor. Go Sen. Harkin

[kainah]

4. He ran in '92

and, unfortunately, didn't get too far. My vote in the Wyoming caucuses apparently just wasn't enough momentum. ;-) Unfortunately, that wasn't a year for his fire-and-brimstone, raging liberal style. I think this year he might have done better but I don't think he wants to go through that all again.

He's also a very good vote-counter. This is indeed good news because if Harkin believes he's lined up the votes, then we need to keep the pressure on because defeating this becomes entirely achievable.

[AWD]

3. For Paul!

For Paul, will you stand up for worker's rights, to make sure that they never get their overtime pay taken away?

SAY YES!

[Prodemsouth]

8. It would be a nice gesture for my favorite Sen. (Harkin) to dedicate the

vote to Paul Wellstone, if possible.- esp. if he succeeds. I know him and Paul were good friends. Dems need to make hay on this issue, oputsourcing our high wage jobs overseas. But all Kerry and Dean do is jab each other on Iraq. Even after todays events more people would listen to them on jobs, the economy than Iraq.

[depakid]

5. Harkin's blowing smoke

unless he's harboring a delusion that the Republican House and Senate can muster a veto-proof majority to overturn the agency's regulation.

While it's obviously important to force a vote- and garner whatever honest coverage and analysis the whores are willing to give to the issue (which won't be much) it's also important to be at least a little honest with people....

[newyawker99]

6. hedda_foil

Per DU copyright rules
please post only 4
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Thank you.

NYer99
DU Moderator

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. If the scumbags in the maladministration...

Kill overtime for a lot of people, that will be THE wedge issue that brings them down, if we can keep the elections honest.

As for the CoC, they have transmografied into the brick-and-mortar John Birch Society, nothing more or less. As such, they deserve to be marginalised, laughed and pointed at, in the very near future.

They have become the enemies and shock troops in class warfare.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

9. I Hope ALL of the Congressmen Running for the Presidency

Actually make it back to Capitol Hill to VOTE on this one!

:grr:

DTH

[Nottingham]

10. Alleluia! This is very important!

God Bless Harkin

:bounce:

[NewJerseyDem]

11. I wonder who the republicans are

Harkin said that he thought that he had 3 to 6 republican votes for his amendment. The AFL-CIO is going to run ads to try to convince Snowe, Collins, Voinovich and Bond to vote for the amendment. I guess that Chafee may be on board and maybe someone like Arlen Specter and that would be the 6 potential republican votes.

He feels confident about 3 republicans he says and he doesn't think Miller will vote with the rest of the Democrats. That leaves 50 votes for and then it would be 51 if you assume that Jeffords will side with the Dems as he usually does. That equals 51 and if we can get at least 3 of the 4 democrats running for president to show up or if we can get more than 3 republicans than we win. Hopefully, no democrats like Ben Nelson or John Breaux side with the republicans which they probably won't but I don't trust Ben Nelson.

Overall, it is looking pretty good in the senate but it will probably be taken out in conference and then we have to hope that we can defeat the bill when it comes up for final passage.

[dflprincess]

13. I'll guarantee you, that weasel Normie Coleman is not one of them

He's already on record as being for the change (but does that surprise us? I just want to take this opportunity to point out another of his many failings)

My only senator, Mark Dayton, is against it.

[depakid]

14. He needs 66 in the Senate

So that means at least 17 Republican votes would be required to pass the measure over Bush's veto- though it'll probably never get to that, as the Dems weren't even able to muster a simple majority in the House.

I know it sounds wierd, seeing as how most administrative agencies operate via a delegation of legislative authority, but the way it works (since the Nixon/Reagan Supreme Court changed the rules and the balance of power in the 1980's) is that Congress may not change an administrative rule or adjudication without enacting brand new legislation that requires the president's signature or an override to become law.

This is unfortunately what happened to the Fairness Doctrine, which at one point fell a single Senate vote short of overriding Reagan's veto. The same thing is happening with respect to congressional efforts to overturn Powell's media consolodation rules.

[NewJerseyDem]

16. This is a must pass bill

Since it is a rider on an appropriations bill it adds an entire new angle to the debate. Bush still hasn't vetoed a bill and this might be one he is inclined to veto but I don't know if he wants to bring so much attention to the issue. Also, the overtime rules are unlikely to be changed anyway. They will probably be taken out in conference because the House narrowly opposed the Obey amendment that would overturn the decision.

Also, you are assuming that the republicans wouldn't support the appropriations bill if the overtime rules are overturned and I'm not sure that it will be a breaking point for some republicans. Also, the attempt to overturn a small part of Powell's media ownership rules passed overwhelmingly in the House with a veto proof majority and I would think that similar action will happen in the senate unless the republicans try something funny in conference but I doubt they have the support to do that in conference due to Ted Stevens.

[zekeson]

12. Harkin continues to impress

and I believe he has the votes. If its tight and it winds up needing Cheney to step in it could very well, if played right, be the death knell for * in 2004. I certainly hope they can kill it or weaken it before it comes to vote - I would truly hate to see the impact on working folk should this pass.

[Beetwasher]

15. Is This Change in OT Rules Really A Ploy to End OT for Good?

Hmmmm...

"For example, it would replace the test that administrators must exercise "discretion and independent judgment" with a requirement that the employees merely hold a "position of responsibility.""

Pretty much any job at all can be considered a "position of responsibility." By this definition, no job qualifies for OT.