The full Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education bill that would protect workers' overtime rights by rescinding President Bush’s harmful changes to the overtime eligibility rules, while leaving in place the one change that benefits workers. The vote was 16-13 with all the Democrats and two Republican Senators, Arlen Specter (PA) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (CO), voting to protect workers’ overtime rights. President has vowed to veto any bill that reaches his desk if it contains a prohibition on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) ability to implement the new overtime takeaway rule.

This latest Senate amendment, the most recent overtime amendment to be offered by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), is identical to the Obey amendment that was approved, 223-193, by the full House last week as part of its Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill. The new overtime rules that took effect on August 23, 2004 will disqualify over 6 million workers from overtime protection according the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

A majority of lawmakers in both the House and Senate have now sent a clear message to President Bush telling him to withdraw his harmful overtime rule. It is now up to the president to support the rights of hardworking Americans who need overtime pay to provide for their families. Please send an e-mail message or write to President Bush at the White House, Washington DC 20500 and tell him to respect the will of the Congress and stop his effort to take overtime protection away from millions of hardworking American workers. Workers need overtime. Without overtime pay, millions of workers will experience a massive pay cut that will have a huge impact their ability to provide such things as food, shelter and education for their families.