(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 15.)
WASHINGTON — Fresh from their triumph in the House, labor allies want the Senate to derail new Bush administration overtime rules that critics say would prevent 6 million American workers from getting the bonus pay.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he would take the first step in that direction Wednesday by forcing the Senate Appropriations Committee to take a campaign-season vote on whether to block the rules.
Harkin seemed to have a good chance of prevailing at the committee, which Republicans control by just one vote. Among its members are Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who faces re-election in November in a strong labor state and who voted against the regulations in May.
“I think I do” have the votes to prevail, Harkin said.
He planned to offer his amendment to a bill financing health, education and labor programs for next year.
The overtime rules showdown came as Congress inched its way through other spending bills less than three weeks from the start of the government’s new budget year, including:
–A $36 billion measure mostly financing the Homeland Security Department, which the Senate approved 93-0. The measure included $3 billion to help farmers hurt by a Midwestern drought and other natural disasters.
–A $20.2 billion measure for the Interior Department and other land and cultural programs. It included $2.9 billion for battling wildfires, about $500 million more than President Bush requested.
–A $90.6 billion measure financing the Transportation and Treasury departments. The bill provides $1.2 billion for Amtrak, the financially struggling national passenger railroad, $300 million more than Bush wants. It would also block Bush restrictions on travel to Cuba by most Americans, and the president’s plan to contract out many federal jobs to private companies.
–A $16.8 billion measure financing agriculture programs. It has another provision opposed by Bush, easing limits on business people seeking to visit Cuba to sell food and medical supplies.
–An $89.9 billion Transportation and Treasury bill the House debated. The House voted to remove language barring U.S. banks from accepting as identification a document the Mexican government issues to Mexicans in the United States, including to illegal immigrants.
Last Thursday, the GOP-led House voted 223-193 to prevent the Labor Department from carrying out the new rules, which took effect on Aug. 23.
That vote was an embarrassing rebuke to Bush and underscored the sensitivity Republicans from labor districts have on the issue.
The White House has threatened a veto of a huge spending bill if the overtime language attached to it survives. House leaders said they believe the provision will be removed when House-Senate bargainers write a final version of the legislation.
Democrats and their labor allies say the new regulations would hurt 6 million workers. They say chefs, nurses, police officers, journalists, athletic trainers, lower-level computer employees and those who perform small amounts of supervisory work would be among those whose employers could stop paying them overtime.
That is disputed by the White House and the Labor Department, which argue that the new rules clarify who is entitled to overtime and would reduce confusion that has led to expensive lawsuits.
The Bush administration says about 107,000 white-collar workers making $100,000 or more could lose eligibility.
The new regulations — the most dramatic overhaul of overtime rules in five decades — also would require overtime pay for workers earning up to $23,660. That is triple the annual salary above which overtime was previously required, an increase the Labor Department said would protect 1.3 million workers.
Harkin’s amendment would allow those extra workers to get overtime, and would only affect those who stood to lose it.