Posted on 12/21/2006 7:06:35 AM PST by meg88
President Bush for the first time endorsed a specific plan for raising the federal minimum wage yesterday, as he embraced Democratic calls to boost it by $2.10, to $7.25 an hour, over two years.
The president's backing greatly enhances the prospects for congressional approval next year of the first hike in the federal minimum wage since 1997.
He stressed, however, that it should be accompanied by tax breaks and regulatory relief that would cushion the blow for small businesses.
"I believe we should do it in a way that does not punish the millions of small businesses that are creating most of the new jobs in our country," Bush said during a news conference.
"So I support pairing it with targeted tax and regulatory relief to help these small businesses stay competitive and to help keep our economy growing."
With the Democrats poised to take control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in more than a decade, Bush cited his support of the proposed increase as proof of his intent to operate in a more bipartisan manner during the remaining two years of his presidency.
Beyond increasing the minimum wage, the president said that he hopes to reach agreements with the new Congress on a guest-worker program for low-skill immigrants, renewal of the No Child Left Behind education law and measures aimed at encouraging the development of alternative fuels.
Democrats and their supporters in organized labor responded warily to Bush's proposal to link a minimum wage hike to tax breaks for business, saying the increase should be passed on its own merits.
Democratic leaders have promised to make increasing the $5.15-per-hour minimum wage one of the first orders of business when the new Congress convenes Jan. 4.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Why over 2 years? Why not right now if this is such a great idea?
The Democrats must realize that Elections have consequences and should look at the election results of Bush over Kerry.
Nice twist on the article .. he didn't endorse the Democrats Plan
What a waste Bush turned out to be.
If only he would take a comparable attitude on a shamnesty/guest worker program, i.e., for every 1000 deportations of gang bangers and identity thieves, a like number of guest worker visas would be issued, with priorities given to countries who accepted return of their petty criminals and extradited their executable criminals.
He stressed, however, that it should be accompanied by tax breaks and regulatory relief that would cushion the blow for small businesses. "I believe we should do it in a way that does not punish the millions of small businesses .
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Tax cuts
The Prez talked about a compromise on immigration on November 3rd. He seemed almost happy about having to "compromise", as though even the silly non-enforcement he's proposed was only aimed to appease conservatives. Bush is heading down the toilet. Aside from a few bright spots he'll go down as a listless, aimless and drifting non-conservative. I'll be happy to see him go.
But he'll sign the wage hike anyway.
I second that!
Why yes .. lets accuse him of something he hasn't done
Republicans shot themselves in the foot by not passing a minimum wage increase prior to November 06.
Now we are playing defense, and could be for a very long time.
well, where is the guy that was bitchin' at me when i said that bush was not a conservative?
If you call a prediction an accusation.
It won't be long before we're talking about how $7.25 won't buy what it used to.
Right now, I could care less about raising the minimum wage. The market pays over that for a lower level starting job. However, in order to keep that starting wage high, introducing a flood of illegal labor will ruin it.
Dear Lord, I hope I'm making 20% more two years from now. That would be AWESOME!! However now I'll have to grow my business at 30% instead of 20 now to get that 20%. Yay.
"Why over 2 years? Why not right now if this is such a great idea"?
...because this keeps the whole thing alive until the 2008 elections. Small business will have difficulty coping with hiked up wages, Dems know this, the masses of uneducated don't. Dems don't this to have an affect on an already robust economy, which they know it will. If you're a minimum wage earner, you're a loser! You're also extremely uneducated. ..."all I know is that the democrats got me a $2 an hour raise come '08! WhooHoo! I love them dems, blah, blah"! Come 2008, a dem gets in for POTUS. THEN! ALL BETS ARE OFF! SCREW THE ECONOMY! SCREW ME SCREW YOU!
The best tax and regulatory reief would be to end withholding. That is an unfunded mandate that costs businesses billions and is the main reason so many businesses fail in the first five years.(The tax obligation is twice what ave profit margin is.) Let people pay their own taxes instead of making the business do it for them.
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