After the March 1, 2007 the House passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, Senator Edward Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, issued the following statement:

Today’s vote is a tremendous victory for working families. We are one important step closer to giving workers real freedom to choose workplace representation. This freedom is essential to building the good jobs and economic opportunities that will strengthen the American middle class. I applaud Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Miller for their dedication to this important bill. I will be introducing this essential legislation in the Senate soon, and I will do all I can to move it through the Senate as quickly as possible.

Well, look: there’s a reason we’ve had secret ballots in this country for the last 200 years: and that’s to protect voters from intimidation. This is a bedrock principle of a free society, and a clear corollary to the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. And Republicans are not going to let that principle be violated.

About two hours from now, Democrats in the House are going to push this bill through on a party line vote. But I can assure you that it will meet a different fate when it gets to the Senate.

Additional reading:  Senate Procedures Likely to Create Obstacle for EFCA