Key House Member Leads Attack Against New Overtime Rule

Employment Law

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who may be the top Republican on the House Education and the Workforce Committee in the next Congress, introduced this week a resolution with 74 cosponsors under the Congressional Review Act to block the Department of Labor's new overtime regulation.  This follows complementary action in the Senate last week by forty-five Republican Senators, led by Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN).  A Congressional Review Act measure can be passed by a simple majority in each chamber of Congress, but a likely veto by President Obama would require a two-thirds vote to override.  Rep. Foxx, who currently chairs the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, said: "Our nation's overtime rules need to be modernized, but the Department of Labor's extreme and partisan approach will lead to damaging consequences that the American people simply cannot afford."  Rep. Foxx was joined by Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN), who is retiring at the end of this Congress.