Employee Free Choice Act Tabled??

The EFCA Report, a management side blog, reported on August 28, 2009 that Congress will not get to the Employee Free Choice Act this year. It quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as saying that the Senate has too many things on its plate. As the blog states:

Roll Call reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Thursday that passing EFCA is no longer a priority for the Senate this year:

Speaking at a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Reid said the chamber’s schedule is too crowded to consider the Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as “card check.”

"We have too many other things on our plate,” Reid said.

But even if the Senate’s schedule was freed up later this year, it is unlikely Reid would bring the bill to the floor short of major changes to the legislation. Republicans have universally panned the bill — as have a few Democrats — making it impossible for Reid to break a Republican filibuster.

The Roll Call piece refers to this Las Vegas Review Journal article covering Reid's address to the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.  It would seem that Reid's comments confirm recent speculation reagrding the timing of EFCA's treatment in the Senate.  Earlier this week, the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka indicated the White House said they would not push EFCA until at least after the Senate resolved the current healthcare debate.  Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) subsequently suggested that might not happen before the end of the year.

The passing of Senator Kennedy, of course, leaves the Senate with only 59 Democrates, one shy of the magic number of 60. Additionally, I have to believe that the Health Care Debate also has something to do with this decision-if such a decision has been made.

In any event, even if EFCA is tabled for now, I have to believe that it will be brought up for a vote at a later time during the Obama Presidency.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein