A Bush administration effort to push through reforms that would exempt thousands of white-collar workers from federal overtime pay protections is being challenged by some Republicans. Critics of the reforms say that they will cause millions of workers to lose depended upon overtime pay. Labor Department officials argue that the reforms would allow more than a million lower-wage workers to become eligible for overtime or receive pay increases.
See "Overtime Pay Dispute Stalls Spending Bill", The New York Times, November 20, 2003