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Senate Democrats pull back on Specter's card-check prediction
Democratic senators on Wednesday downplayed Sen. Arlen Specter's (D-Pa.) prediction that the chamber would pass a contentious union-organizing bill this year, saying they are in the process of shoring up support for a compromise that is being hashed out.Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), one of several negotiators working to reach agreement on a modified version of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as card-check, said they have made progress toward a deal but have yet to ink one. Several Democrats on Wednesday confessed to knowing nothing about a proposed deal, and the party's top two leaders in the conference called the card-check proposal a work in progress. "We have had real good discussions," Carper said. "As they say, frank and honest discussion. I think we have made real progress and narrowed somewhat of the differences between organized labor and the business community. We are not quite there yet. My hope is we will finish what we have started." Specter on Tuesday told the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh that senators "have pounded out an Employees Choice bill which will meet labor's objectives" and predicted it would pass before the end of this year. That set off a flurry of activity from lawmakers and union officials saying no agreement had been reached. Carper said while negotiations over the bill have come closer to a "consensus approach," no deal has been brokered. Centrist Democrats, Carper said, have not been included in talks among negotiators so far. Posted by: Fred 2009-09-18 |
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