Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced Tuesday he will oppose card check, giving an apparent death blow to the most important congressional issue to organized labor.

Specter made the dramatic announcement in a floor speech. His opposition means Democrats can count on a maximum of 59 votes to move the bill forward, one short of the 60 required to clear Senate rules.

Winning 59 votes would require Democrat Al Franken to win his contested election with Republican Norm Coleman. Democrats also would have to count on holding the rest of their votes, and several centrists have raised doubts about the bill.

In his floor speech, Specter noted that Franken’s likely win in the Minnesota Senate race could give him the 60th vote required to make the bill law.

“If so, the decisive vote would be mine,” said Specter, who told The Hill last week in an interview that his would be the decisive vote.

“It is an anguishing position but we play the cards we dealt,” Specter said Tuesday on the floor.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Specter’s opposition does not mean the end of card check in this Congress. He also said he thinks other Republicans in the Senate might vote for the bill.

But no other Republican senators have signaled their support for the bill, and business has engaged in a fierce lobbying and public relations attack to prevent anyone from crossing the aisle to support it.

After his speech, praise immediately began to pour in for Specter from a number of business trade associations who have lobbied heavily against the bill.

“I am very pleased that Senator Arlen Specter has decided to vote against cloture on the EFCA,” said former Gov. John Engler (R-Mich.), president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. “Manufacturers stand behind Senator Specter’s decision to vote against EFCA and appreciate his decision to put working men and women, the economy and the nation first.”

“Protecting our fragile economy from further damage should be the top priority of every elected official, and Senator Specter deserves praise and respect for doing as much,” said Katie Packer, executive director for the Workforce Fairness Institute.

Union officials have said as much as well. In a briefing to reporters earlier this month, AFL-CIO Director of Government Relations Bill Samuel Specter’s and Franken’s votes were both needed to get to 60 votes.

Specter, who is expected to face a tough primary challenge and a general election battle in 2010, was the only Republican to vote in favor of a cloture vote to proceed to debate on card check in the last Congress.

The senator said the decision to vote for cloture on the bill last time was not because he approved of the bill itself.

“I did not support the bill on its merits but rather to take up the issue of labor law reform in general,” Specter said.

The Pennsylvania Republican said he found significant problems with two provisions in the bill. One, the card check provision, would prevent employers from demanding a secret ballot election to form a union if a majority of workers sign authorization cards stating their intention to organize.  The other which would have the government appoint an arbitrator to negotiate stalled contract negotiations between unions and management.  

Calling the secret ballot “the cornerstone of our democracy,” Specter said that provision was too damaging to the process of forming a union.

Specter also said he attached possible amendments to the National Labor Relations Act to his floor statements for other senators to consider in order to improve labor law.

Unions campaigned for the legislation during the last election and supported candidates who backed the bill. Labor leaders see the bill as vital to unions since it would help reverse the decline in their membership if passed.

By Kevin Bogardus 

Posted: 03/24/09 02:30 PM [ET]