Text 1324, 132 rader
Skriven 2006-06-22 12:07:00 av ROSS SAUER (1:123/140)
Ärende: GOP and wages
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But they don't mind one bit giving THEMSELVES a raise...

Senate nixes bid to raise minimum wage

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed 
election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday, rejecting 
Democratic 
claims that it was past time to boost the $5.15 hourly pay floor that 
has 
been in effect for nearly a decade.

The 52-46 vote was eight short of the 60 needed for approval and came 
one 
day after House Republican leaders made clear they do not intend to 
allow a 
vote on the issue, fearing it might pass.

Sixty votes were required because the plan was proposed as an amendment 
to 
an unrelated defense bill.

The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that Democrats there 
have 
proposed -- and Republicans have blocked -- a stand-alone increase in 
the 
minimum wage. The debate fell along predictable lines.

"Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have 
to 
live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in 
it," 
said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts. He said a worker paid 
$5.15 an 
hour would earn $10,700 a year, "almost $6,000 below the poverty line 
for a 
family of three."

Republicans said a minimum wage increase would wind up hurting the low-
wage 
workers that Democrats said they want to help.

"For every increase you make in the minimum wage, you will cost some of 
them 
their jobs," said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia.

He described the clash as a "classic debate between two very different 
philosophies. One philosophy that believes in the marketplace, the 
competitive system ... and entrepreneurship. And secondly is the 
argument 
that says the government knows better and that topdown mandates work."

The measure drew the support of 43 Democrats, eight Republicans and one 
independent. Four of those eight Republicans are seeking re-election in 
the 
fall.

Democrats had conceded in advance that this attempt to raise the minimum 
wage would fare no better than their previous attempts. At the same 
time, 
they have made clear in recent days they hope to gain support in the 
coming 
midterm elections by stressing the issue. Organized labor supports the 
legislation, and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, said that contrary to 
some 
impressions, most minimum wage workers are adults, not teenagers, and 
many 
of them are women.

"When the Democrats control the Senate, one of the first pieces of 
legislation we'll see is an increase in the minimum wage," said Kennedy.

His proposal would have increased the minimum wage to $5.85 beginning 60 
days after the legislation was enacted; to $6.55 one year later; and to 
$7.25 a year after that. He said inflation has eroded the value of the 
current $5.15 minimum wage by 20 percent.

With the help of a few rebellious Republicans, House Democrats on the 
House 
Appropriations Committee succeeded in attaching a minimum wage increase 
last 
week to legislation providing funding for federal social programs. 
Fearing 
that the House would pass the measure with the increase intact, the GOP 
leadership swiftly decided to sidetrack the entire bill.

"I am opposed to it, and I think a vast majority of our (rank and file) 
is 
opposed to it," House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said 
Tuesday.

Pressed by reporters, he said, "There are limits to my willingness to 
just 
throw anything out on the floor."

While Democrats depend on organized labor to win elections, Republicans 
are 
closely aligned with business interests that oppose any increase in the 
federal wage floor or would like changes in the current system.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, 
Labor 
and Pensions Committee, offered an alternative that proposed a minimum 
wage 
increase of $1.10 over 18 months, in two steps.

The increase was coupled with a variety of provisions offering 
regulatory or 
tax relief to small businesses, including one to exempt enterprises with 
less than $1 million in annual receipts from the federal wage and hour 
law 
entirely. The current exemption level is $500,000, and a Republican 
document 
noted the amount had "lagged behind inflation."

Additionally, Republicans proposed a system of optional "flextime" for 
workers, a step that Enzi said would allow employees, at their 
discretion, 
to work more than 40 hours one week in exchange for more time off the 
next. 
Unions generally oppose such initiatives, and the Republican plan drew 
45 
votes, with 53 in opposition.

Nine Senate Republicans voted against both proposals.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/06/21/minimum.wage.ap/index.html

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