Senate Blocks New Rules on Pay for Overtime Work
By CARL HULSE

WASHINGTON, May 4 — The Senate handed the Bush administration a significant defeat Tuesday by voting to block new rules on overtime that opponents say would cause millions of workers to lose their eligibility for the extra pay.

With five Republicans breaking ranks, the Senate voted, 52 to 47, to ensure that the new Labor Department proposal does not deny overtime to any category of worker now qualified to receive it. The proposal, which the administration says would expand eligibility for millions of workers, has been a source of growing conflict. Seeking to ease opposition, the Labor Department revised them last month.

"I think it is a clear message to the administration," said Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who is a leading opponent of the proposal.

Mr. Harkin said the department should drop its initiative and "go back to the drawing board" to produce a fairer plan.

The defeat in the Senate does not necessarily mean that the proposed restrictions, supposed to start in August, will be thwarted. The Senate still has to vote on the corporate tax bill that includes the amendment blocking the overtime rules. The provision also faces an uncertain fate in the House. Last year, the White House was able to kill a similar effort to overturn the proposed rules.