Senate Drops Labor Bill, Turns to War Spending Measure

[Earth Bound Misfit]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000002878579

The Senate is slated to start work on an emergency war supplemental spending bill Tuesday, after setting aside a labor bill that dominated floor action for three days last week.

Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., decided May 15 to suspend floor action on the bill to extend collective bargaining rights to public safety employees nationwide until Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward M. Kennedy and ranking Republican Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming can strike a deal to limit amendments.

With Kennedy, D-Mass., hospitalized in Boston over the weekend following a seizure at his home on Cape Cod, it is unclear when he will be available to sign off on any agreement. Staff-level negotiations continue, but no one knows when or if they will yield a compromise. A Reid spokesman said Monday that the Senate will not return to the bill until a deal is in place.

Even if a deal could be reached this week, Reid would be hard-pressed to find time to return to the bill prior to the Memorial Day recess. The supplemental and a conference report on the fiscal 2009 budget resolution will likely consume the floor time until the start of the recess May 23, the Reid spokesman said.

The collective bargaining bill, which drew fire from Enzi and other Republicans because Reid bypassed the committee process to bring it to the floor, would give state and local public safety officials, including police and firefighters, the right to unionize in any municipality with a population that exceeds 5,000.

[nosmokes]

1. We need to get behind this bill folks! Denying first responders the right

to organize and bargain collectively for better conditions and wages is wrong on more levels than I have the time or patience to spell out.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

2. You've got that right!

:kick: Love the quote in your comment line---“Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground".