From the diaries, by Erick.
Much to the pleasure of the organized labor movement, Sen. Tom Harkin, as the Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, stands to offer a tremendous amount of help to Big Labor. By pledging to pass a misleadingly-named and detrimental bill called the Employee Free Choice Act, Sen. Harkin is revealing his true loyalties – and his inconsistent rhetoric.
With union pension plans grossly underfunded, EFCA presents a number of threats to workers and businesses, and a number of benefits for union bosses. In their quest for more political spending power, union bosses have been feverishly pushing for the swift passage of EFCA and the question arises as to what Sen. Harkin has been saying about the bill. The answer is quite egregious.
In July of this year the Senator assured the public that Democrats were “not doing anything” about EFCA due to other priorities on the docket such as healthcare. But on September 9, he told a group of pro-union activists that in July he had the 60 votes needed for EFCA to pass, and then proceeded to audaciously blame the lack of a vote on the recently late Senator Edward Kennedy. On October 22, Harkin admitted to a news source that Democrats are “very close to having an agreement” on the bill, though he didn’t go into details.
