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A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Without much fanfare, the House of Representatives last week voted to give members of Congress yet another pay raise, as it has done almost every year for nearly a decade. For some reason, our elected officials decided against holding a news conference. Maybe that's because they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that they raise their own salaries almost every year while refusing to raise the pay of our lowest-paid workers.

After months of declining job-approval poll results, George W. Bush seems to be turning around his presidency with the help of good news. Less than five months before the midterm elections, several key events have joined to lift Mr. Bush's approval polls to nearly 40 percent (up from 31 percent in May) and fewer Americans now think his decision to go into Iraq was a mistake. The Gallup Poll says 48 percent now believe the U.S. will win the war in Iraq, up from 39 percent in April. Among these linchpin developments:

Reviews by Democratic activists of "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warning: raves on content, not so favorable on the principal actor. Democratic politicians who have seen the movie that accompanies Gore on his current tour say it is the most effective presentation yet about global warming. But they contend there is "too much Gore," including aspects of his personal life that have nothing to do with the environment. A footnote: Many critics of Gore are acknowledged supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. They view the former vice president as her potentially most serious opponent. (snip)MINIMUM...

WASHINGTON — Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday allowed a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500. The 2 percent cost-of-living raise would be the seventh straight for members of the House and Senate. Lawmakers easily squelched a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to get a direct vote to block the COLA, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it.

Two of the top legislative leaders in Harrisburg yesterday lost their party's nominations for re-election, victims of voter anger over last summer's aborted legislative pay raises. Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, and Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill, R-Lebanon, two of the architects of the pay raise, were defeated by candidates who presented more conservative platforms. On the Democratic side, House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese, of Waynesburg, and Minority Whip Mike Veon, of Beaver Falls, survived challenges. Mr. DeWeese had an easy time, but Mr. Veon, the lone vote against repeal of the pay raise, struggled in a...

Team 4 has a voicemail recording of Democratic State Rep. Tim Solobay, of Canonsburg, saying that state lawmakers are preparing an all-out assault on the media. Solobay hints that the first volley is a bill that would start charging sales tax on all advertising in Pennsylvania. Solobay left the voicemail message for editor Cody Knotts, who works at The Weekly Recorder, in Claysville, Washington County. In the message, Solobay says, "But you know, for the most part, the majority of the legislative feeling about the media right now is if there's something they can do to screw them, you can...

Meet Edward G. Rendell, former Democratic National Committee chairman and a tax-and-spend liberal clone of Hillary Clinton. Is the governor of Pennsylvania subject to random drug testing? I'm beginning to worry about Ed Rendell. I think he's on something. How else do you explain his recent end-of-the-year news conference where he proclaimed a successful 2005 for his administration? I'm not sure Rendell is living on the same planet as 12 million other Pennsylvanians. Rendell appears to be the governor of the state of dementia. Rendell, the former Philadelphia mayor, Democratic National Committee chairman and supporter of Hillary Clinton, has completed...

The Nation's Pulse Rage and Righteousness By Ralph R. Reiland 11/22/2005 12:04:42 AM In judging the electorate that turned him out of office, state Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro said Pennsylvania's voters were "blinded by rage." In fact, it was the exact opposite. In a welcome change, the voters took off their blinders and could clearly see an entrenched political class in Pennsylvania that has become increasingly pretentious, over-paid, and corrupt. As a case in point, directly related to Nigro, the voters, rather than being "blinded by rage," saw a judiciary that has turned a blind eye for decades as...

GrassrootsPA has learned from various sources that some retired Pennsylvania judges may sue to overturn yesterday's repeal of the controversial July 7th pay raise. Pay Raise activist Gene Stilp tells GrassrootsPA that this alleged lawsuit to overturn the pay raise repeal is "absolutely going to happen" and this lawsuit was "anticipated" by pay raise opponents. Stilp says while he cannot reveal his sources, a lawsuit to overturn the pay raise repeal is certain. Word continues to spread among various circles. Look for a story on this topic coming soon... NOTE: If there is a lawsuit to overturn the pay raise...

In the beginning, experts gave it a week. Two, tops. Now, a state Supreme Court justice finds himself out of a job, and other incumbents in Harrisburg are left sweating over their political futures because of what pundits are calling a "populist insurrection." The anti-pay-raise movement that many had dismissed early on as a passing thunderstorm is developing into a Category 5 hurricane that threatens to uproot incumbents across the state next year. "Rome is burning, and the empire is crumbling," said State Rep. Thomas C. Petrone (D., Allegheny), who took the raise but later donated it to charities, including...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Pennsylvanians have denied a state Supreme Court justice a second term, a sign of the public's anger at lawmakers for pushing through a pay raise last summer. A second justice won another term only narrowly. Justice Russell M. Nigro, who got 49 percent of vote Tuesday, was the first statewide judge to be turned out of office in a yes-or-no retention election in the 36 years such elections have been held. A Democrat, Nigro received strong support in and around his native Philadelphia but was overwhelmed by lopsided margins in south-central and southwestern regions of the state,...

Recently, the legislature in Pennsylvania passed a pay raise for the term in which they were serving in violation of Pennsylvania constitution, which prohibits the legislature from raising their own pay during the term they are serving. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court nevertheless approved the pay raise, perhaps due in no small part to the fact that the judges also got a pay raise as part of the deal. Pennsylvania voters got their first opportuntiy to punish the political establishment today, with the Supreme Court Justices Newman and Nigro coming up for a vote on whether they should be allowed to...

HARRISBURG — Just four months after lawmakers voted themselves a pay raise, they are poised to scrap the extra income to appease a disgruntled public and relentless negative press. While the House and Senate still need to iron out language differences in their respective pay-raise repeal bills, both have approved such a repeal and it seems a certainty that the raises will be stripped in the days ahead. The House voted Monday night to reject a Senate version of the pay raise repeal measure, sending the issue to a joint House and Senate conference committee. The sticking point between the...

For the two Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices up for re-election this year, the foe is public perception, not a candidate of the opposition party. Justices Russell M. Nigro and Sandra Schultz Newman are fighting for new 10-year terms because of rising anger toward the court, stirred largely by a pay raise that state lawmakers gave themselves in the middle of the night last summer. (snip) "There is a serious disconnect in Pennsylvania between our elected officials" and the people, said Russ Diamond, chairman of PACleanSweep, a political action committee committed to ousting every incumbent in the Legislature. Citizen activists and...

Say something, anything By Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Sunday, October 23, 2005 Our legislators are elected neither to serve leadership nor to retain plum committee chairs; they're elected to serve and represent their constituents. Where was the service? Where was the representation? Call it a failure to serve. Their position on a clear and difficult decision was risk-averse. How different the newspapers would be today had our legislators just voiced their concerns before the issue went to a vote, or if they had forced it into floor debate. But hindsight is as hindsight does -- and that is nothing. There...

WASHINGTON - Senate proposals to raise the minimum wage were rejected Wednesday, making it unlikely that the lowest allowable wage, $5.15 an hour since 1997, will rise in the foreseeable future. A labor-backed measure by Sen. Edward Kennedy would have raised the minimum to $6.25 over an 18-month period. A Republican counterproposal would have combined the same $1.10 increase with breaks and exemptions for small businesses. The Kennedy amendment to a spending bill went down 51-47, and the GOP alternative 57-42. Under a Senate agreement, they would have needed 60 votes for approval. Kennedy, D-Mass., said Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the...

Only a handful of California legislators have turned down the nearly $12,000-a-year pay hike scheduled for December. Nine of every 10 lawmakers remain on track to receive the increase, according to records of the state controller's office. Of Sacramento-area representatives, only Republican Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi of Lodi has formally rejected the raise. Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, said Friday that he plans to notify the state soon not to sweeten his paycheck. Statewide, the 12 percent boost is likely to be unpopular with voters but probably won't spark a backlash at the polls, analysts said. "Most legislators are in safe...

25-Foot Pig Greets Returning Lawmakers POSTED: 12:19 pm EDT September 19, 2005 UPDATED: 2:19 pm EDT September 19, 2005 HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A big, pink inflatable pig with the words "Repeal the Illegal Legislative Pay Raise" emblazoned on its side is causing quite a stir outside the Capitol today, where state senators are set to get back to work after their summer break. Political activist Gene Stilp set up the 25 foot-tall swine. He said he's not going to let lawmakers forget about the pay raise the voted in for themselves in July. "This is the first time that the...

County GOP slams pay-raise backers Wants lawmakers to repeal bill, return funds By Charles Lardner, Intelligencer Journal Staff Intelligencer Journal Published: Sep 09, 2005 8:45 AM EST LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - The Republican Committee of Lancaster County Thursday voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution criticizing four of the area's state lawmakers for their July votes approving a 16 percent to 34 percent increase in their annual salaries.Among other things, the two-page resolution "renounces and condemns, in the strongest of terms, the vote of every senator and representative who voted against the express will of the people by voting him/herself a...