|
Opponents of the Bush
administration's proposed rules changing which workers qualify
for overtime pay abandoned their fight Friday in the face of
unrelenting pressure from the White House and the House.
Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chief Republican opponent
of the new rules, agreed to drop a provision killing the
regulations from a massive spending bill, lawmakers,
congressional aides and lobbyists said.
Critics of the new rules said they could lead to 8 million U.S.
employees losing eligibility for overtime pay, largely
white-collar workers earning more than $65,000 a year.
Administration officials say more than 644,000 such employees
would lose the time-and-a-half pay now required when they work
more than 40 hours in a week.
The dispute was the biggest hurdle to completion of a huge,
overdue bill financing dozens of federal agencies that Congress'
leaders want to complete before lawmakers leave town for the
year.
With the overtime fight resolved, it was possible that the
spending bill - exceeding $280 billion, one-eighth of the entire
federal budget - could be approved by the House this weekend and
by the Senate early next week.
The Bush administration and business leaders say the new rules
are a badly needed modernization of overtime rules that in many
cases are vague and decades old.
"The business community lobbied hard on this issue, but in the
end it was the simple argument, that this rulemaking should go
forward because the regulations haven't been updated in 40 years,
which won the day," said Randy Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
vice president for labor policy.
The Senate voted in September to block the regulations. The House
had backed them in the summer but reversed its stance last month
in a nonbinding vote.
Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, the lead Democratic sponsor of the
provision blocking the overtime rules and an ally of Specter,
blamed his colleague's decision to abandon the fight on Bush
administration pressure.
"Just in time for the holidays, the White House has delivered
another gift for big business, along with a pay cut for millions
of working families," Harkin said in a statement.
It was unclear what, if anything, Specter received in return for
his decision.
The Labor Department proposed the rules in March and is expected
to issue a final version as early as next month.
The department says its proposal would require that 1.3 million
low-wage workers now ineligible for overtime pay to start
receiving it or a salary boost. Officials proposed boosting the
salary cap in current law from $8,060 a year, set in 1975, to
$22,100 a year to help the low-income workers. Opponents were not
trying to block that provision. |
