Nathan Newman at TPMCafe writes that the President's suspension of the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage regulations, beyond being illegal, will also likely throw a monkey wrench into the reelection plans for supposedly pro-labor Republicans. In order to legally suspend Davis-Bacon, Bush was obligated to declare a national emergency. He did not. And according to the National Emergencies Act (NEA), declaring a national emergency would require a full House and Senate vote after six months to determine "whether that emergency shall be terminated."

...in six months, a bunch of Republicans in swing districts who claim to be pro-labor may have to vote on whether to continue the suspension of Davis-Bacon.

If they vote with Delay, this could be the vote to knock a number out of them out of office.  And if they vote with labor, it would be a massive national defeat for Bush and Delay.

The GOP has been able to control the agenda and prohibit most votes that might embarrass those "pro-labor" Republicans (or give them a chance to rebel).  But the NEA may require a mandatory vote.

Avoiding this possibility may be why Bush didn't want to formally invoke the NEA.

Legally, Bush will still probably get away with suspending Davis-Bacon without having formally declared a national emergency according to NEA guidelines. The White House proclamation suspending the wage regulations read that the "conditions caused by Hurricane Katrina constitute a 'national emergency' within the meaning of section 3147 of title 40, United States Code." However, if that winds up being the case, that part of the proclamation will likely be recognized as as a formal national emergency declaration, requiring the vote in six months to terminate or continue. Either way, Republicans will be held to account on scrapping fair wage laws in the Gulf Coast reconstruction.

So who are these pro-labor Republicans? In 2003, a column from E.J. Dionne mentioned "a group of 28 House Republicans who think that the administration should pull away from its assault on the American labor movement." Two of those Republicans have since retired, Jack Quinn and Amo Houghton of New York. And one, Mark Green of Wisconsin's eighth district, is running for the GOP nomination for governor, so he may or may not be a factor (though his vote will certainly come up in whichever race he winds up running). Here's the list, organized by state and district. You'll notice some very familiar names that have already been targeted by Democrats for 2006.

Don Young, AK - at large
Spencer Bachus, AL-06
Jerry Lewis, CA-41
Rob Simmons, CT-02
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, FL-18
Lincoln Diaz-Balart, FL-21
Timothy Johnson, IL-15
Ray LaHood, IL-18
John Shimkus, IL-19
Jo Ann Emerson, MO-08
Dennis Rehberg, MT - at large
Frank LoBiondo, NJ-02
James Saxton, NJ-03
Chris Smith, NJ-04
Mike Ferguson, NJ-07
Peter King, NY-03
Sue Kelly, NY-19
John E. Sweeney, NY-20
John McHugh, NY-23
Sherwood Boehlert, NY-24
James Walsh, NY-25
Steven LaTourette, OH-14
Phil English, PA-03
Curt Weldon, PA-07
Tim Murphy, PA-18
Mark Green, WI-08

So it's up to these Republicans. And I'm sure there are actually more. As the old song asks, which side are you on?