Congress Defies White House, Saves Overtime for Millions

Both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House of Representatives have defied a White House veto threat and voted to save overtime rights for millions of workers.

On Sept. 9, the House voted to attach a pro-labor amendment to the FY 2005 Labor-HHS appropriation bill, overturning a key provision of President Bush's new overtime regulations, which took effect Aug. 23. The amendment sponsored by David Obey (D-WI) passed the House with a roll-call vote of 223-193, including 22 Republicans.

Under the administration's new overtime rules, workers who earn less than $23,600 a year will become automatically eligible for overtime pay, which is a significant increase from the current threshold $8,060, that was set in the 1970s. While this seems to be increasing the number of workers receiving overtime pay, critics of the new regulations say this gain is offset by provisions within the bill that would end up exempting millions of administrative and white-collar workers from being able to collect overtime. As a Washington Post article [1] states, the new overtime regulations would "make it easier for employers to reclassify their workers as 'executive,' 'administrative,' or 'professional' employees, who are not entitled to the overtime protections of the FLSA [Fair Labor Standards Act]." The new regulations could, as the Economic Policy Institute estimated, strip up to 6 million workers of their overtime rights. The Obey amendment would keep the expansion in the lower income category, but reject the reclassification rules for moderate-income workers.

On Sept. 15, the Senate Appropriations Committee joined the House in demonstrating their opposition to the overtime regulations by passing an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), which was very similar in context with the Obey amendment. The Harkin amendment requires the immediate reinstatement of the previous overtime rules, with the exception that the eligibility threshold is raised to $23,600. The committee voted 16 -- 13 to add language to the $142.5 billion Labor-HHS appropriations bill that would block funding from the Labor Department to implement the recent changes. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) criticized the vote; saying that the "Harkin language" will make it tougher for the bill, S. 2810, to see floor consideration. Even so, the support shown by Congress for both the Harkin and Obey Amendments is a real victory for labor groups and working people across the country.

However, passage is still not assured as the administration has threatened to veto the final Labor-HHS funding bill if it contains Harkin/Obey language. A Statement of Administration Policy [2] released on Sept. 8 regarding the bill stated the following:

"[T]he President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto the final version of the bill if it contained any provision prohibiting or altering the Labor Department's enforcement of the final overtime security rule."

In addition, House Appropriations Committee Chairman C.W. "Bill" Young (R-FL) has indicated that the amendment will be stripped in conference. He noted that the House approved a retriction last year, but it too was stripped in conference.

We have yet to see if the Labor-HHS appropriations bill will even make it to conference, if it will be postponed to a lame duck session, or perhaps extended through a continuing resolution until next year. Whatever the case, it was an important first step for both members of the House and members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to stand up to the administration and vote against their new -- and potentially harmful -- overtime rules.

Tell Congress and the White House to save overtime rights and support the Obey/Harkin amendment! Click here [3] to send a message to your representatives.