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September 11, 2003

Bush Loses on Patronage Vote

Bush's goal of converting federal positions protected from political patronage by civil service protections into jobs done by allied big business contractors suffered a big defeat yesterday.

Voting 220 to 198, the House approved an amendment to the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill blocking a May OMB plan to accellerate privatization.

The amendment does not block all government contracting, it eliminates rules that favored outside contractors even when federal employees were efficientily doing the job.

Whether the amendment survives in conference committee is an open question, but it's been a bad day for political patronage and a good day for labor rights.

Posted by Nathan at September 11, 2003 09:33 AM