Rep. Hoyer Says Employee Free Choice Act Will Pass In 'Early Spring'

Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake at 10:10 AM on January 4, 2009.

Despite Chris Wallace repeating three (count 'em three) times that the Employee Free Choice Act gets rid of the secret ballot (it doesn't), his interview with Rep. Steny Hoyer on Fox News Sunday was very informative.  There have been questions about how committed Democratic leaders are to passing bill, and whether its chances would be doomed if they decided to kick the can down the road a year or two.

Hoyer set everyone straight this morning:

Chris Wallace:  Are you going to pass it in the first month?

Steny Hoyer:   I don't know about the first month but we're going to pass it early.

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Chris Wallace:  And give me a sense of the time frame -- so you've said maybe not the first month, how soon?

Steny Hoyer:  Oh I think it'll be early, I think it'll be early in the year, certainly in the early spring.

Hoyer also said that H.R. 800, which passed the House last year, will be the base bill.

The Chamber of Commerce and NAM really pissed the Dems off with their aggressive ad campaigns against Senate challengers like Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken last year.  The ads didn't work -- despite the fact that McCain added anti-Employee Free Choice rhetoric to his own stump speech, the public really never fundamentally understood what it was all about and the ads never managed to move the opinion needle.

There has been tension within Congressional leadership between those who don't want to take on the divisive issue of Employee Free Choice right now and those who just want to get it off their plates. 

If Steny is right, it looks like Rick Berman overplayed his hand and the latter have won.

Tagged as: congress, labor, unions, employee free choice act, steny hoyer, labor movement, president-elect

Jane Hamsher is the founder of FireDogLake. Her work has also appeared on the Huffington Post, Alternet and The American Prospect.