A months-long Senate fight over proposed new rules on overtime pay for U.S. workers is threatening to derail a high-priority bill aimed at ending trade sanctions by Europe that could eventually cost American exporters $4 billion a year.
The bill to substitute corporate tax cuts for export subsidies that have been outlawed by the World Trade Organization has broad, bipartisan support in the Senate. But the Senate is more closely divided over a Democratic proposal to add a provision that would block a Bush administration proposal to reduce overtime pay protections for many white-collar workers.
Republican leaders have scheduled a showdown vote today on a parliamentary move aimed at avoiding votes on such issues. Democrats say they have enough votes to pass the overtime pay provision and keep Republicans from passing the tax bill without it. Republicans have hinted strongly that they will shelve the bill rather than vote on the Democrats' agenda.
Republican and Democratic leaders were trying late yesterday to end the impasse but reported no breakthroughs.
The dispute underscores the degree to which volatile political issues, such as overtime pay, have complicated passage of widely supported and basically nonpartisan bills such as the corporate tax measure, which sailed through the Senate Finance Committee, 19 to 2.
It also shows how both parties are prepared -- even before a decisive vote -- to use such standoffs as part of their campaigns.
During two days of debate on the measure, Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics with the fate of U.S. exporters and the jobs of their workers. Democrats accused Republicans of being willing to sacrifice the measure to avoid voting on overtime pay.
Democrats view the debate as a "political punt, pass and kick competition," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chief sponsor of the tax measure.
"What they are saying is they'd rather pay tariffs to Europe than overtime to our workers," responded Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), sponsor of the overtime pay proposal.
The overtime pay dispute arose out of a proposal by the Labor Department last year to expand eligibility for overtime to low-paid workers while reducing it for many better-paid workers. The department said the change could mean loss of overtime for 644,000 workers. Democrats said the figure was more like 8 million.
The Senate voted last fall to block the change as part of a huge catch-all spending bill. But GOP leaders stripped it from the final version of the measure after the White House threatened to veto the bill if it was included, infuriating Democrats.
They decided to try to piggyback it onto the corporate tax bill because the tax measure was among the few bills with enough support to ensure enactment. They also saw it as an opportunity to force Republicans to choose between breaking with the administration and angering constituents with a stake in overtime pay.
The tax bill was prompted after the WTO condemned U.S. export subsidies and gave the Europeans permission to impose sanctions totaling as much as $4 billion a year. The penalties started to kick in earlier this month, aimed at politically sensitive targets such as Florida citrus and Carolina textiles, and are to rise gradually each month.
Meanwhile, a companion bill is stuck in the House. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) warned corporate executives Monday that competing business pressures are threatening passage. Democrats are charging that Thomas's bill would encourage the United States to move jobs offshore.