Lose the Label
A Student Activist Community

posted by CapitolDragoon on March 2, 2007 - 1:26pm

Tags:

• 2008
• democrats
• Employee Free Choice Act
• labor
• unions

As we all know (or should know) by now, the Employee Free Choice Act passed the House 241 to 185.  That is roughly 56.6%.  Translated into Senate terms, that percentage would be 57 votes at best, 3 short of breaking a filibuster.  And make no mistake, Republicans are planning to filibuster to block Workers Rights.  A closer look at the House votes, however, shows some of the most vulnerable Republicans for 2008.

The first two things you can do to help turn the tide in the Senate is to sign this petition and write a letter to the editor.

There is hope to break a filibuster.  All but three Dems are co-sponsors, as is Republican Senator Arlen Specter.  Factor in those Repubs that are vulnerable in 2008 and we could have enough....

Firstly, I must mention that we don't need to convince everybody to vote for it, just to NOT support a Senate filibuster.  This is entirely possible!

Okay so there are currently 44 Senate cosponsors which is an acceptable starting place. Of all the dozen or so House Dems who did not co-sponsor, all but two voted for the measure.  7 Republicans cosponsored but 13 voted for the bill.  We can squeeze out a successful cloture vote with a bit of effort.

Of the 8 Dem Senators who are not co-sponsors, all but 3 have pledged to voted for the bill.  Now is the time to bombard them until the agree to uphold the rights of American workers, and to get everybody on your email lists and local organizations to bombard them - use your email lists people!  Credit goes to PaulVA for this list:

Patrick Leahy  (D - VT)
433 Russell Senate Office Bldg
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Phone:  (202) 224-4242

Ben Nelson (D-NE)
720 Hart Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-6551
Fax: (202) 228-0012

Bill Nelson (D-FL)
716 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-5274
Fax: 202-228-2183
(Indicated he would support it, then backed out)

Adding up all the Dems and Specter together we have 52 votes.  That means we need 8 more.  Remember, we don't need them all to vote for the bill, just to be convinced not to support a filibuster.  There are 9 Republicans who could be convinced to do just that.  Below are 5 PaulVA picked and four more I believe should be included.

Gordon Smith (R - OR)
404 Russell Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202.224.3753

Ted Stevens(R - AK)
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3004

Susan Collins (R - ME)
413 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2523

Olympia Snowe(R - ME)
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5344

Norm Coleman (R-MN)
320 Senate Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Main: 202-224-5641
Fax: 202-224-1152

Wayne Allard(R-CO) *He's retiring, so can afford to go against his party!
521 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5941
Fax: (202) 224-6471

John Sununu (R-NH) *He's our #1 2008 target right now, and scared.
111 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-2841
FAX (202) 228-4131

Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
555 Dirksen Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Ph: 202.224.6342
Fax: 202.224.1100

Lamar Alexander
455 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4944
Fax: (202) 228-3398

Alright folks, get crackin!  If you have additional ideas/methods/petitions for breaking a filibuster and send the Employee Free Choice Act to Bush's desk!