Nevertheless, his statement elated AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel, who held out hope Specter would change his mind on that issue, too, and provide the needed 60th vote to halt the planned talkathon against labor’s top legislative priority.
“As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself to be more and more at odds with the Republican Party and more in tune with the Democratic Party,” Specter explained.
The final straw, the 79-year-old veteran said, was Pennsylvania Republicans’ hard-line opposition to the $787 billion stimulus bill the Democratic Obama administration got through Congress early this year to combat the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.
Specter and Maine’s two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, provided the three key votes to halt the filibuster against that legislation.
Specter’s switch, combined with eventual victory by Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota’s open Senate seat – a race now tied up in court – would give Democrats and other labor allies the needed 60 votes to stop filibusters on a wide range of laws.
That’s what Samuel anticipates. He adds the Employee Free Choice Act to that:
“We look forward to continuing an open and honest debate with Sen. Specter about the issues important to Pennsylvania and America. We move forward with the understanding that America’s workers support elected officials based on their positions on issues that matter to working people, not political affiliations,” Samuel said.
“This is a new day for the Employee Free Choice Act and labor law reform. Specter has said all along he recognizes the need to reform our broken labor law system and we will continue to work with Congress to give workers back the freedom to form and join unions and pass legislation that stays true to the principles of the Employee Free Choice Act.
“The Employee Free Choice Act is built on three fundamental principles and we believe a bill that stays true to these will become law: Workers need to have a real choice to form a union and bargain for a better life, free from intimidation; We have to stop the endless delays (and) companies can’t just stall to stop workers’ choice, and; There have to be real penalties for violating the law,” Samuel added.
Specter switched parties after determining, following the final break with fellow Republicans over the stimulus law, that he would have little chance of winning next year’s Pennsylvania GOP primary against Right Wing opposition. Thousands of moderate Republicans in Pennsylvania switched party registration last year to vote for Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in its presidential primary. They haven’t switched back.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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Nevertheless, his statement elated AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel, who held out hope Specter would change his mind on that issue, too, and provide the needed 60th vote to halt the planned talkathon against labor’s top legislative priority.
“As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself to be more and more at odds with the Republican Party and more in tune with the Democratic Party,” Specter explained.
The final straw, the 79-year-old veteran said, was Pennsylvania Republicans’ hard-line opposition to the $787 billion stimulus bill the Democratic Obama administration got through Congress early this year to combat the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.
Specter and Maine’s two Republican senators, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, provided the three key votes to halt the filibuster against that legislation.
Specter’s switch, combined with eventual victory by Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota’s open Senate seat – a race now tied up in court – would give Democrats and other labor allies the needed 60 votes to stop filibusters on a wide range of laws.
That’s what Samuel anticipates. He adds the Employee Free Choice Act to that:
“We look forward to continuing an open and honest debate with Sen. Specter about the issues important to Pennsylvania and America. We move forward with the understanding that America’s workers support elected officials based on their positions on issues that matter to working people, not political affiliations,” Samuel said.
“This is a new day for the Employee Free Choice Act and labor law reform. Specter has said all along he recognizes the need to reform our broken labor law system and we will continue to work with Congress to give workers back the freedom to form and join unions and pass legislation that stays true to the principles of the Employee Free Choice Act.
“The Employee Free Choice Act is built on three fundamental principles and we believe a bill that stays true to these will become law: Workers need to have a real choice to form a union and bargain for a better life, free from intimidation; We have to stop the endless delays (and) companies can’t just stall to stop workers’ choice, and; There have to be real penalties for violating the law,” Samuel added.
Specter switched parties after determining, following the final break with fellow Republicans over the stimulus law, that he would have little chance of winning next year’s Pennsylvania GOP primary against Right Wing opposition. Thousands of moderate Republicans in Pennsylvania switched party registration last year to vote for Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in its presidential primary. They haven’t switched back.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.