Brown, Voinovich Vote Against Cloture for Immigration Bill Debate

During the last week, we have highlighted how Ohio's two United States Senators split over raising the average fleet mileage standards for vehicles sold in America and over the 2007 Employee Free Choice Bill. Yesterday, (6/28/2007), Ohio's two Senators voted in unison to defeat a cloture motion on the immigration bill. (You can see the vote here.)

We actually think this bill is a bad idea and would cost the Democratic Party in states like Ohio, Pennslyvania, and Michigan. We also think that it would allow employers to create a permanent group of workers who would act as a way to make sure that employees don't organize or seek better wages.

In an earlier post we suggested linking free trade treaties to support for the Employee Free Choice bill which would make it easier to form unions. Absent such a linkage we thought, for what it was worth, that the trade treaties with South Korea, Peru, Panama, and Columbia are bad deals for the American middle class.

Those bills, however, would not be near as damaging as the immigration bill that would basically allow guest workers to come in, stay for a period of time, and then return to their native counties. That idea is just crazy.

Those who read this blog know that we have advocated for a policy of "Bring the Troops Home from Iraq and Put Them on the Border." Once Americans saw that the government was serious about protecting border security, and serious about cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, they would be much more willing to accept some changes in the status of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States.

So congratulations to both of Ohio's United States Senators for standing up for Ohio's workers on this flawed piece of legislation.

Brown and Voinovich Split on Employee Free Choice Act

As you can see from this vote in the United States Senate today, Ohio's two Senators split on the vote to shut off debate over the 2007 Employee Free Choice Act. This bill would allow employees to form labor unions and negotiate with employers by signing cards authorizing representation. Such a system would work against companies that block union representation by intimidating employees. Such intimidation usually takes place in activity leading up to representation elections. Senator Sherrod Brown voted to stop the debate while George Voinovich voted against stopping debate. The cloture vote needed 60 votes to pass and it got 51.