The Politics of the EFCA

This article from the LA Times seems to me to have the politics of the Employee Free Choice Act pretty much dead to rights, A labor-union problem looms for Obama. It's organized labor's number one agenda item, both Obama and Biden have supported it in the past, but passage of it will cause a real problem with business.

Interestingly, one of the EFCA's strongest supporters, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Martinez), who sponsored the bill in this Congress, is quoted as saying "that he was all but certain the measure wouldn't be 'the first bill out of the chute,' but that it was 'not moving to the back of the train' either."

While it's not great consolation to hear that it won't be item number one, it's better than nothing. I also think as long as the card check provision remains in place, it may be difficult (although certainly not impossible) to get cloture in the Senate, notwithstanding that one Republican who supported invoking cloture on the bill this year, Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania is likely to join the Democrats in doing so again.