2 Major Unions Oppose Energy Bill on Eve of Senate Vote
By Dan Morgan - Washington Post - November 21, 2003
Two major labor unions weighed in against the energy bill before the Senate, as opponents and supporters worked feverishly to round up support before a showdown vote today on the far-reaching legislation.
In a letter to members of Congress, the United Auto Workers said the bill's proposed repeal of a 1935 law limiting utility company mergers would "undermine the reliability and affordability of electric power for working families." A similar message from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said a repeal would "remove a bedrock consumer protection law," and it urged that the energy measure be defeated.
Several labor organizations continue to support the bill, and Republicans have made a strong pitch that the legislation would create as many as 800,000 jobs. But Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa withdrew his union's backing for the energy legislation over the weekend after Republicans announced that they were abandoning a Teamsters-backed provision that would have allowed oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"First, this Republican Congress and White House gave workers a jobless recovery, and now they want to give us a jobless energy package," Hoffa said.
While the Senate debate on the measure continued yesterday, the main action was offstage, as Republican leaders worked on holdouts in both parties to secure the 60 votes needed to end debate and move to a roll call on the bill. A vote on a GOP motion to do that is set for today.
"We're close, but we're not there yet," said Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), who is leading the fight for the bill in the Senate.
Both New Hampshire Republicans, Sens. Judd Gregg and John E. Sununu, took to the floor to lambaste the legislation. Sununu criticized its subsidies to promote energy efficiency as wasteful. And Gregg, for the second day in a row, delivered a sarcastic salvo against the "pork barrel" projects with which the bill is laced. They threatened to use a parliamentary maneuver to delay or even scuttle the bill on grounds that the spending in it would exceed the amount allowed by this year's congressional budget resolution.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), citing the $26 billion in industry tax breaks in the bill, announced that he will vote against it.
Among the unions supporting the bill is the International Union of Operating Engineers, representing 400,000 heavy equipment drivers and other members in this country and Canada.
The United Mine Workers of America is still "reviewing" the legislation, a spokesman said. Although the bill would provide major new incentives for the coal industry, efforts by coal state lawmakers to include provisions putting the health fund for retired miners and their widows on a firm financial footing were rebuffed.
Meanwhile, the electrical workers union has been angered by the bill's proposed repeal of the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935. It predicts such a move will lead to power industry mergers and will accelerate the cutting of employment and payrolls. "Across the industry, the [maintenance] workforce has been reduced by fully one-third" in the past decade, said James L. Dushaw, the union's director of utilities.
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