EFCA Is All But DOA

With Blanche Lincoln (D-Walmart) and Arlen Specter (R-Not The Penn "T") both making beating a filibuster on the EFCA all but impossible, yet another Democratic senator is waffling on the Employee Free Choice Act, and this time it's a big one: Virginia's Jim Webb, as Greg Sargent reports.

“He doesn’t believe this is the appropriate time to introduce this legislation or to be debating it,” Webb spokesperson Jessica Smith confirms to me. “He’s always been a strong supporter of the right to collective bargaining, but as written, he would look towards improving the legislation in a way to make it more fair and equitable.”

In another blow, Webb’s also won’t say whether he’ll support bringing it to the floor for debate. “He’s not publicly going to say at this point,” his spokesperson said.

That could be a big deal, because the initial “cloture” vote to allow the bill to be debated, thus overcoming the GOP’s filibuster, is the one that requires 60 votes in the Senate. Labor, obviously, can ill afford to lose another Dem like Webb, particularly with another reliable backer, Senator Dianne Feinstein, also refusing to say whether she’ll back it.

At this point the EFCA doesn't even have close to the votes to beat a guaranteed filibuster. In fact it's looking more and more like the measure barely has 50 votes.

But that's the world we live in: a majority vote isn't good enough to pass legislation. The Republicans block absolutely everything, and that gives cover for Southern state Dems to trash unions.

In a world where wages are going down and 600,000+ Americans are losing their jobs every month, sure would be nice if the American worker had some protection. But keep telling yourselves that unions are the problem.