After weeks of negotiations, a small working group of senators may be nearing compromise on a new framework to address unionization, known better as the controversial "card check" bill.
Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has been meeting chiefly with Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to hash out the terms of a compromise that could bring 60 senators on board — a cloture-proof majority that is likely to rest entirely on Democrats’ votes. Meetings have been taking place on a "near daily" basis, according to a spokeswoman for Harkin, with another scheduled for Wednesday.
Though senators have generally remained tight-lipped about their progress, Specter recently broke that mold, telling a Pennsylvania state Democratic party conference last weekend that they would be pleased with his eventual vote on the card check bill (S 560, HR 1409).
Senators and their staffs say that should not lead anyone to think that the negotiators have reached a breakthrough yet, or that they are ready to circulate a bill.
But don't burn those ballot boxes just yet. CQ says that several conservative Democrats have said they oppose anything similar to card check being enacted. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California liberal, has been on the EFCA fence for months.
Card check is Harkin's baby, and the ethanol swigging Iowan is desperate to get any bill passed to please his union pals.
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