Wavering Dem Senator Will Cast Key Vote For EFCA
Okay, I spoke too soon. Here’s some very good news for the pro-Employee Free Choice Act camp: A key wavering Dem Senator who’s being aggressively targeted by EFCA foes is now saying he backs cloture for the measure.
The key question is not whether Senators will support or oppose the measure in the end, but whether they will support bringing it to the floor for a vote. That’s because the latter is the one that requires 60 votes in the Senate. The actual vote on it only requires a simple majority. So the key hurdle for EFCA backers is the initial 60 votes needed for cloture.
Now centrist Senator Mark Warner is confirming that he’s backing cloture. Despite being aggressively targeted by EFCA foes, here’s what he wrote in a letter to constituents:
“I believe there is a need for reform in this area, and that EFCA should be debated and voted upon by the Senate. I intend to evaluate any prevailing proposal to ensure that it allows workers and employers to be adequately informed and that it ultimately provides a fair and level playing field for both management and labor.”
The key is that Warner is confirming that he will back EFCA going to the floor and then will evaluate whether to support it. So that’s a step forward for EFCA backers.
And now back to our non-EFCA programming.
Update: A number of people have pointed out that it’s too late for Warner to make a difference. But this still matters. The closer the vote looks, the more the anti-EFCA camp might have to give up towards reaching a compromise. So every vote does still count.
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I don’t agree. Its a foregone conclusion now that the Rethugs have the numbers to filibuster which they will do and Harry Reid won’t try to force them to do a real one so its all moot. If you can’t get to cloture then Warner’s announcement today doesn’t mean sh*t. Really it could and should be seen as him covering his a$$ knowing that it means absolutely nothing after Blanche Lincoln said she wouldn’t vote for cloture yesterday. But he can spin it as he was all for labor when his reelection comes up. Truly WEAKSAUCE.
dunno sg — if he’s voting for cloture, he’s voting for cloture…not sure why the significance of that is diminished by what other Senators are or aren’t doing…
Greg
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Here is why. If you KNOW that you won’t reach cloture and you wait until that fact has been established then its definitely a CYA situation because the bill is DOA. Its like Arlen Specter voting for McCain’s alternate budget last week. If he thought it had ANY chance of passing he wouldn’t have voted for it. But now he gets to burnish his conservative cred. If Warner was serious he would have made the announcement weeks ago. Why would voting for cloture even be an issue if you think it deserves to be debated and get an up or down vote?
Just to go back to Specter for a minute, he voted FOR the stimulus bill last month then voted FOR McCain’s budget last week that would have basically recinded most of the stimulus bill. Again he could do that because he knew it wouldn’t pass but there can’t be any bigger example of CYA in recent memory. Thats why it matters if you ask me.
Warner has been sending the same stock letter to constituents for more than a month. Maybe two.
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