House Votes to Block Bush Overtime Regulations
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives defied President Bush (news - web sites) on Thursday and voted to block his administration's controversial new overtime regulations for white-collar workers. The vote was 223-193.
Reuters Photo
In a rare election-year victory for organized labor in the Republican-led Congress, the House approved a Democratic amendment that would deny funds to administer the regulations that foes say would cost an estimated 6 million white- and blue-collar workers overtime pay.
Republican leaders rejected those claims, and aides said, would seek to kill the amendment once a $142.5 billion funding bill for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services (news - web sites) reached a House-Senate conference committee.
That is what Republican leaders did last year with an earlier bipartisan attempt by both chambers to stop the regulations, which took effect last month.
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (news - web sites) said, "Today's House vote ... was a huge victory for working Americans and underscores the bipartisan opposition to George Bush (news - web sites)'s war on overtime pay."
"Overtime pay is the lifeline that allows millions of working families to keep their heads above water in an economy sinking under a rising tide of health-care and energy costs," Kerry said in a statement.
The new overtime regulations, drafted by Bush's Labor Department (news - web sites), have been supported by business and opposed by labor.
"Backers of this (House) amendment got their victory and press release today," a top Republican aide said. "But we're going to eliminate this amendment because it would be bad policy."
EFFECT OF RULES DISPUTED
The administration accuses opponents of wildly exaggerating the number of workers who would lose overtime protection under the regulations, which it says are needed to update and clarify often confusing and antiquated work rules.
It contends only about 107,000 Americans would lose overtime protection, all earning more than $100,000 a year.
The administration says the new regulations also extend overtime protection to an estimated 1.3 million low-income white-collar workers. The House-passed amendment would let that part of the rules stand.
Despite Democratic claims to the contrary, Republicans argued the House amendment, if it became law, would prevent the Labor Department from enforcing virtually any overtime protections for workers earning more than $23,660 a year.
Republicans showed a letter on Thursday from the department's solicitor to support their position; Democrats cited a recent memo from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service to back their contention.
Rep. John Boehner (news, bio, voting record), an Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, said, "Some partisans have attempted to paint this rule as an attack on workers."
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Boehner said. "The final rule strengthens overtime protections for police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, first responders, and licensed practical nurses ...."
Twenty-two Republicans joined one independent and 200 Democrats in approving the House amendment. No Democrats voted against it.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said, "Democrats will not stand by while middle-class Americans are asked to work more so that President Bush's special-interest friends can pay them less."
"Republican leaders should ... stop the regulations, but if history is any guide they will deceive, dodge, and delay until the bidding of their special-interest masters is done," Pelosi said. |
