In 1996, Bill Clinton was enjoying his run for re-election on a peace and prosperity platform, but he wanted an increase in the minimum wage. When Republicans, which controlled both chambers of Congress, initially balked, Dems saw an opportunity to hammer the GOP on an issue that resonated with the public.
Republicans saw the polls and gave in almost immediately. They wanted to take away a Dem talking point and remove an arrow from Clinton’s quiver. For the GOP, it was really a lose-lose situation. Oppose the policy and look like you hate low-income workers, or support the policy and gave Clinton an election-year victory. They chose the latter, much to Bob Dole’s chagrin.
In 1997, the minimum wage was increased to $5.15 an hour. Of course, as Dems note, even with the modest increase, the inflation-adjusted value is still the lowest it’s been in a generation.
Nevertheless, the GOP got nervous a few months before the presidential election and conceded to Dem demands. Congressional Republicans in 1996, of course, threw in some tax breaks at the time, including an adoption tax credits and IRA expansions. But an increase was an increase and Clinton was happy to sign it into law.
Here we are eight years later. Minimum wage is still embarrassingly low and the Dems are quietly working the issue onto the campaign radar screen. Some Republicans, at least in the Senate, are beginning to recognize the same predicament they faced in 1996. And it appears history is repeating itself — the Senate GOP appears poised to give in and get the issue off the table.
As The Hill reported this week, Senate Republicans are crafting legislation to phase in a $1.10 increase to the minimum wage while throwing in some tax goodies for big business.
The Senate GOP package would be coupled with business-friendly measures to help industry swallow a phased-in $1.10 increase in the nation’s minimum wage.
Sources say Senate Republicans are hoping to convince business leaders that an increase in the minimum wage is likely this year and that their legislative solution is more palatable than Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.). Kennedy has proposed raising the minimum hourly wage from $5.15 to $7.
“Senate Republicans recognize they need to have an alternative,” an industry lobbyist said.
As politics goes, this makes sense. In a struggling economy with high unemployment, many workers who had good jobs have been forced to pursue low-paying jobs. It’s tough for Republicans to tell these families that they’ll support lavish tax breaks for millionaires but they’ll fight any efforts to increase the minimum wage above $5.15.
But logical or not, this is far from a done deal. The White House seems to have no real interest in the issue at all, and the House GOP — led by Tom DeLay, whose hostility to the minimum wage is legendary — doesn’t seem anxious to follow the Senate’s lead on this.
House Republicans have not shown any desire to bring a wage bill to the floor.
Asked if the minimum wage is on the radar screen, John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), said, “Not right now.”
Stay tuned.