We can pass the Employee Free Choice Act with 51 votes

[Better Believe It]

Assume there is a Republican filibuster against EFCA, a safe assumption.

Let them filibuster, and don't withdraw the legislation on the excuse the Republicans will engage in a long debate (filibuster) against it.

All filibusters end.

It can end in one of two ways.

The Democrats can surrender to a filibuster by ending cloture votes and withdrawing the legislation, or

they can wait out the filibuster for as long as it takes until they get the 60 votes to end debate.

After cloture is voted we only need 51 votes for passage.

Here's how Republicans defeated another piece of labor legislation 15 years ago with merely a threat to filibuster! We don't need a repeat of this performance by Senator Reid and company. In 1994 they took two quick votes for cloture, losing them with 53 votes and than proceeded to abandon the legislation without any actual Republican filibuster, just a filibuster threat!

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Senate Republicans Deal A Major Defeat to Labor
By CATHERINE S. MANEGOLD,
New York Times
July 13, 1994


Handing organized labor a major defeat, Senate Republicans today blocked passage of a bill that would have made it illegal for employers to hire permanent replacements for workers striking over wages and benefits. Republican threats to filibuster the bill, which passed the House comfortably last year, led Senate leaders to schedule today's vote over whether to cut off debate.

Since even the hint of a filibuster can move the Senate toward a cloture vote, which calls for a wider margin of victory than the passage of a bill does, the Republicans have found it an effective tactic in stalling or forcing changes in legislation that the party opposes but cannot defeat on a majority vote.

Speaking of the striker-replacement bill, David Westfall, a Harvard University law professor who specializes in labor and employment law, said, "This was labor's No. 1 priority, and if they could not pull this off even with a Democratic President who said he would sign it, then I think the whole striker-replacement issue is dead."

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...754C0A9629...

[msongs]

1. the day is coming when the dems will have to act like they won or all resign nt

[Selatius]

51 votes was what Bush found completely acceptable in ramming a bill through.

Of course, that was when Republicans ran everything. Democrats tend to be less definitive whenever it comes to hard stands. If Democrats were as adamant as Republicans in opposing things they do not like, they could've probably sunk the Reagan Revolution and the notion of deregulation before it became legislated into law.

[Mojambo]

2. I'm more concerned about the D's we could lose on this vote.

There's a few blue dogs that could be a problem here.

[LiberalFighter]

3. Let's maximize our chances with Franken on board.

[MaraJade]

4. If we don't want employment in this country to slide further toward

actual slavery, we will get the Employee Free Choice Act passed.

Without the right to unionize, the workplace will continue to be dominated by
unequal and unfair treatment, hiring of scabs, threats of layoff and firing, and lack of adequate
pay and benefits. We need to get back to the days when the employee/employer scale was balanced
by equal power.