At Capital Research Center’s labor conference today, we learned that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has decided not to vote for cloture on the so-called card check legislation (the misnamed proposed Employee Free Choice Act).

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said during his luncheon address that he had just been advised by a senior Specter aide that the senator had decided not to back the legislation that would deprive individuals of the right to a secret ballot on the question of whether to join a labor union.

Without Specter’s support for the bill, it is almost certainly impossible for Democrats to garner the 60 votes in the Senate they need to close debate on the bill and move forward with a vote.

The news broke here at our conference (which is still underway) first and found its way to the Internet at lightning speed. The Washington Examiner, American Spectator, and Huffington Post have the first reports as far as we know. Soon after, the senator made a speech on the Senate floor confirming his position.

Supporters of the bill are in denial, refusing to concede defeat on a key part of the liberal agenda, according to the Huffington Post report.

POST SCRIPT the next day: Clearly the most colorful account of the conference ran on The Other McCain.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Big Labor, LaborWatch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.