Bayh: Caught between “Barack and a Hard Place” on Card Check Legislation
Sen. Bayh’s position can put the matter to rest, according to bill’s opponents
INDIANAPOLIS—In his speech to the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic President Obama once again reiterated his campaign pledge to pass EFCA this year. Obama a long time supporter of Card Check dating back to his days in the U.S. Senate.
Organized Labor spent millions of dollars in support of Obama’s election in 2008 including the $30,816,902 reported by SEIU in independent expenditures. Labor leaders consider passage of Card Check a top priority. But conflicting statements by Washington DC officials and heightened confusion about the status of the Employee Free Choice Act (“Card Check”) have caused Hoosier business representatives to once again call for Sen. Evan Bayh to break his silence and show leadership on the issue.
In his appearance at the AFL-CIO’s convention in Pittsburgh Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, voiced support for passage of this legislation this year According to news reports, Specter, who had opposed the bill until he switched parties earlier this year, announced to the convention that a compromise had been reached and predicted 60 Democrat votes, including votes from centrist Democrats like Sen. Evan Bayh, to assure passage.
Some Congressional leaders followed by contradicting Sen. Specter’s assessment, including Senate leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and the bill’s primary sponsor, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Even Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a centrist Democrat from Arkansas, reiterated her opposition to the Card Check legislation through her spokeswoman, including any potential vote for cloture to break an expected
Republican filibuster to bring the bill to the floor, which would require 60 votes.
“Every day this bill has life, employers are delaying important investment and hiring decisions that will help maintain existing jobs or create new jobs in Indiana,” said Mike Weaver, President of Weaver Popcorn Company, Inc. “As a result, the Hoosier economy is suffering unnecessarily.
“Sen. Evan Bayh has the power to put the matter to rest right now. Like Sen. Lincoln from Arkansas, he can cut through the obvious political pandering that is occurring and stand up for Hoosier jobs by making a public and unequivocal statement of opposition to the bill.”
Weaver and other business representatives are urging all Hoosiers concerned about this job-killing legislation to go to www.DoNotLetEvanBayhKillJobs.com
and tell Sen. Bayh to vote no on S.560.
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