Minimum wage effort makes its move

June 20, 2006

It hasn’t generated a great deal of attention, but congressional Dems are keeping [tag]Republicans[/tag] on the defensive over a [tag]minimum-wage[/tag] [tag]increase[/tag]. At this point, the GOP leadership looks a little flustered.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $2.10-an-hour increase to the minimum wage, despite the demands of Republican leaders, when the committee took up a spending bill for labor, health, and education programs. Seven House Republicans joined the Dems on the increase, but House Speaker Dennis [tag]Hastert[/tag] responded by indefinitely putting the appropriations bill on hold.

Undeterred, Dems are going to try to add the same minimum-wage increase to another spending bill today, this time on funding science and law-enforcement agencies. If the same thing happens, Hastert will probably put this bill on the permanent back-burner as well. This could go on for a while.

There’s no big mystery here. The federal minimum wage hasn’t been increased in 10 years. During that period, congressional salaries have gone up nine times, though Tom DeLay once famously said, when members of Congress get a boost, “It’s not a pay raise; it’s an adjustment so that they’re not losing their purchasing power.” Americans want to see a minimum-wage increase, congressional Democrats want to see an increase, and Republicans don’t want to have to vote against one on the House floor. So, Hastert, on the verge of panic, is prepared to keep shelving spending bills, possibly until after the November elections.

There is, however, another GOP option: a poison-pill provision under consideration in the Senate.

In the Senate, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who long has championed raising the minimum wage, will offer a minimum wage bill (S. 1062) that raises the wage by $2.10 an hour to $7.25. Kennedy is offering the minimum wage increase as an amendment to the Defense Department Authorization bill (S. 2766).

As they have in the past, Senate Republicans are expected to respond with a poison pill- proposal. Last year, when Kennedy brought up a similar increase in the minimum wage, Republicans countered with a proposal to raise the minimum wage by $1.10 an hour — while reducing overtime pay for workers by replacing the 40-hour workweek with an 80-hour, two-week work period. The proposal also would have eliminated wage and hour protections for more than 7 million workers and actually lowered wages for millions of workers who earn tips.

Those Republicans sure can be clever when they don’t want to ensure millions of American families “lose their purchasing power.”

Republican’ts, can’t share the wealth with the working poor.

Republican’ts, can’t stop crapping their pants when faced with an opportunitity to help the working poor.

Republican’ts, can’t resist sucking up pay raises while denying them to other Americans.

  • Keep ramming it through in the House, and let Hastert try to explain to the electorate why the GOP keeps shutting down all the spending bills (as if he’d have the cojones to admit that the GOP is anti-wage-increase). As for the Senate, just out-poison the GOP by building the 40-hour week back into the minimum-wage provisions. Maybe even add a few more “counter-toxins” to the amendment—like reversing the “tracked” tax-cuts, giving fringes back to military families, reinstating the allowance for folks to buy better body-armor for their sons and daughters in harm’s way….

  • Ed’s on the right track. They should peg minimum wage to their own pay increases. If their pay goes up 1%, so does minimum wage.

  • I think the FICA tax limit (how much of your salary can be taxed for your Social Security and Medicare) should be pegged to the base House salary.

    That would do a lot to fix the upcoming Medicare and Social Security shortfalls, and make the house a lot more circumspect about raising their salaries.

  • Henry Ford figured it out in the twenties, if you pay your workers enough to buy a car, you will sell more cars. Duh!

  • merlallen is right, of course, and the concept that growing the consumer class helps America (or any nation, for that matter, see Japan) is old news to anyone not hell-bent on ignoring reality to facilitate their own private gain.

    The important thing about this issue (beyond the American economy, human decency, and honoring the American workers and family–that is, important to a Republican Congressman) is that the Republicans have to come out against it by whatever means necessary, and this will kill them during election time. So amend it to every bill, and make a campaign commercial out of exposing the true interests of the Republican party.

  • Oh, and,

    “It hasn’t generated a great deal of attention”–hello? Isn’t the entire point of the earlier post that the media are tools?

    Bush wants air time, he baits the media. Dems want air time, they hold a press conference and cross their fingers hoping someone will care (or, maybe the cowards hope the opposite). You make your own excitement, you don’t rely on the media to suddenly grow a spine.

  • Despite being the richest country in the world, we now have 37 million Americans, including 13 million children, living in poverty. In fact, the poverty rate for full-time, year round workers has increased 50% since the late 1970’s. And, while CEO-pay soars to obscene levels, the minimum wage for America’s workers has fallen to a 50-year low.
    But, while the American public overwhelmingly supports raising the minimum wage, big corporations, like Wal-Mart, through its industry lobbyists and right-wing politicians are standing in the way.
    That ends today! It’s time to take our country back from billion dollar corporations, like Wal-Mart, and fight for the American people.
    Click here to be part of the solution

  • If there is one reason–and one reason only–to vote (straight) Democratic this November, it’s to raise the minimum wage. If the Democrats win back the House, Republicans will be forced to confront the issue. The Senate can go along, if it chooses, but the President must decide to sign the bill or not. After more than 10 years, it’s a win-win for working Americans.

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