Did Sen. Specter Kill the EFCA?

Prospects for the Employee Free Choice Act dimmed yesterday when Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) announced he would support a filibuster to keep EFCA from coming to a vote.
Specter was the Democrats’ best hope for a Republican vote needed to win a majority. He had co-sponsored a similar bill in 2003. What happened?

Well, politics happened. Specter faces re-election to the Senate in 2010. Sam Stein writes for the Huffington Post that the day before Specter’s announcement, a Quinnipiac University poll showed Specter trailing potential primary opponent Pat Toomey by 14 points. Toomey, who is president of the right-wing organization Club for Growth, challenged Specter in the 2004 primary and lost by only one percentage point.

Of course, Specter denies that politics played a part in his decision. Instead, he said he thought it a bad idea to increase union membership during a recession. Most economists not employed by right-wing think tanks say that increasing wages — which is one effect of increasing union membership — is exactly what is needed during a recession.

Democrats in the Senate say EFCA is not defeated. However, Sam Stein reports that compromises on EFCA “began popping up frequently in Tuesday afternoon conversations.” Many suspect the bill is dead, for now.
Although Sen. Arlen Specter often is portrayed in media as a “reasonable” Republican, he is the chief proponent of a “tort reform” act aimed directly as victims of asbestos-related disease. Specter has proposed to limit citizens’ rights to a jury trial and instead compensate those suffering asbestos-related disease from a trust fund. Opponents of the trust fund idea point out that this would put citizens at the mercy of a federal bureaucracy and that the funding levels proposed would not be enough to meet the needs of patients with asbestos-related disease.
Diseases associated with asbestos exposure include lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. Most dangerous exposure occurs in the workplace.

March 26, 2009
Barbara O’Brien

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