Employee Free Choice Act Suffers Initial Legislative Defeat

Today the Senate, basically along party lines, voted 51 to 48 on a motion to move the so called Employee Free Choice Act to the Senate floor for a debate on the bill itself. Supporters of the motion and the bill needed 60 votes to secure cloture and avoid a promised Republican filibuster. Thus, they failed to secure sufficient votes to keep the bill moving through Congress.

This procedural defeat for the bill’s supporters (Senator Kennedy, et al.) probably means that the bill will be effectively tabled in committee for the rest of this Congressional session. There remains a possibility, however, that amendments will be offered to the bill in an attempt to garner the 60 votes necessary to move the bill to full Senate. Because today’s vote was on a procedural motion rather than on the merits of the bill itself, the vote is not necessarily an accurate measurement of the bill’s support or opposition.

We will continue to monitor the bill and alert you if there appears to be any movement. With the Congress’s summer recess about to begin there will be no formal actions taken in the short term.