>From the Texas AFL-CIO e-Newsletter:
"The U.S. Senate today [11-19/02] killed an attempt by Democrats to peel a number of special interest measures off the Homeland Security bill, AP reports.
After a 52-47 vote killed the amendment, the Senate was poised to finish work on the major governmental reorganization. Three Democrats and an independent joined almost all Republicans to vote against the amendment. The Democrats were Sens. Zell Miller of Georgia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. Landrieu faces a runoff election next month. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, voted with Democrats on the amendment.
The bill contains measures to limit the ability of federal workers at the agency to organize into unions and keep Civil Service protections. It will seriously compromise the ability of AFGE and other federal employee unions to organize and will allow the government to deploy workers at will. Moreover, it could be a major step back toward the era when government jobs depended on patronage.
But, thanks to last-moment add-ons approved by the U.S. House, the measure goes even farther. It:
-- Reverses a lopsided previous vote that would have prevented companies that set up headquarters off-shore to avoid taxes from benefiting from Homeland Security contracts.
-- Protects drug companies from lawsuits over vaccines. Although Republican leaders claimed they would revisit the issue, the bill ends lawsuits against companies that have already been sued over some vaccines, including ones that contain mercury and are alleged to have caused autism in children.
-- Provides liability protections for makers of airport screening equipment.
-- Gives Texas A&M the inside track on receiving a big new study center on security issues.
As detailed by New York Times columnist William Safire earlier, the bill also allows the Defense Department to compile a massive database on every American."
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"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." - Friedrich Nietzsche