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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hope Praytochange who wrote (497011)	11/22/2003 10:20:27 AM
From: laura_bush	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

White House Wins Fight on OT Rule Changes By ALAN FRAM Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON — Foes of the Bush administration's proposed rules changing which workers would qualify for overtime pay abandoned their fight Friday in the face of unrelenting pressure from the White House and the House. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chief Republican opponent of the new rules, agreed to drop a provision killing the regulations from a massive spending bill, lawmakers, congressional aides and lobbyists said. Critics of the new rules said they could lead to 8 million Americans losing eligibility for overtime pay, largely white-collar workers earning more than $65,000 a year. Administration officials say more than 644,000 such employees would lose the time-and-a-half pay now required when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The dispute was the biggest hurdle to completion of a huge, overdue bill financing dozens of federal agencies that Congress' leaders want to complete before lawmakers leave town for the year. With the overtime fight resolved, it was possible that the spending bill — exceeding $280 billion, one-eighth of the entire federal budget — could be approved by the House this weekend and by the Senate early next week. The end of the overtime battle spelled a legislative and political victory for President Bush, whose aides had repeatedly threatened a veto for any legislation attempting to kill the proposed regulations. The monthslong battle pitted big business and its GOP allies against organized labor and congressional Democrats. "Congress really believed the administration would provoke a funding crisis to retain its ability to cut overtime," said Bill Samuel, the AFL-CIO's legislative director. "We're not going to let this rest." Specter, a moderate Republican from a state where organized labor has considerable clout, faces a difficult re-election fight next year, including a primary challenge from a conservative. The Bush administration and business leaders say the new rules are a badly needed modernization of overtime rules that in many cases are vague and decades old. Continues....... statesman.com