Big Labor sits out health care website debate

Union leaders in both the public and private sectors are largely sitting out the row over the Affordable Care Act website, depriving the Obama administration of a key ally as it seeks to win over the U.S. public. "Frankly, we have our hands full in everything else, and we don't have [the] luxury of getting involved," says Beth Moten, legislative and political director of the American Federation of Government Employees.   The AFL-CIO isn’t lifting a finger to help the White House — it remains in negotiations at the White House and on Capitol Hill to change elements of the law it finds objectionable to workers. Those talks were put on hold earlier this month during the government shutdown — a far larger concern for the federal government employee unions — and have begun to restart only in recent days, according to officials from multiple unions.  Read more: