Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) added her dissenting voice to the card-check debate this week, saying she would not support the Employee Free Choice Act in its current form. It is a move some say could spell the end of the bill. 

Lincoln reportedly told the Little Rock Political Animals Club Monday that she “cannot support and will not support moving [the Employee Free Choice Act] forward in its current form.” On March 24, Arlen Specter (R-PA), who many thought would support the legislation and help give Democrats the 60 votes they needed to pass the bill, also said he would not support the measure. (McKnight’s, 3/26) Now, with Lincoln opposing the current union card-check legislation, some political insiders are calling the act dead.

But while business leaders and Republicans would be happy to see the card-check issue go away, labor leaders remain optimistic about reform. Eddie Vale, spokesman for the AFL-CIO labor union, said his group is “confident that major labor law reform is going to pass in 2009,” reports Politico.com.