Minimum-wage bill to cover U.S. Samoa

San Diego U/T ^ | 01/14/06 | ap

[RS]

"House Democrats say a just-passed minimum-wage bill will be changed to cover all U.S. territories – including American Samoa – "

"Spokesmen for Pelosi and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, the author of the minimum-wage bill, said it excluded American Samoa at the request of nonvoting Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat who represents the Pacific island territories in the House.

Raising the federal minimum wage would devastate the local tuna industry, Faleomavaega said in a statement last week, adding that American Samoa's economy is “more than 80 percent” dependent on Chicken of the Sea and StarKist."

[conservative in nyc]

They originally excluded Samoa at the request of it's Democrat representative who then presumably supported it .... then turned around to screw him once it passed.

American Samoa's Democrat representative has no vote on the House floor (although, like all non-voting delegates from our territories, he does have a vote in committee). The CNMI, which was directly impacted by the Democrats' original bill, doesn't even have a delegate in the House to protect its interests. It elects a Resident Representative who is essentially a lobbyist. That's one of the reasons the CNMI hired Jack Abramoff to protect its interests in Congress.

[marktwain]

"Democrats are on notice that further wrecking the economy of the CNMI will come at a price - unfortunately, potentially harming American Samoa."

A price to who? The Democrats get no votes from American Samoa. Democrats have repeatedly shown that they are more than willing to sacrifice multitudes of innocents to get and keep power. They have no heart, no soul, and no concern for the country. It is only a cheap arithmetic based on votes an power that they are concerned with.

[dforest]

This might help Charlie the Tuna to live a longer life. Ba news for Morris though, his meow feast will go up in price.

[dforest]

That was ba=bad, sorry

[Tarpon]

Now dropouts from high school can earn a living wage.

[conservative in nyc]

A price to Nancy Pelosi, who will be hammered every time an exception is made for American Samoa but not elsewhere. Starkist is headquartered in her district, is it not?

And a price to the Democrat representative from American Samoa, who does have some power on committees and needs to be reelected.

[El Gato]

If the Senate passes some version of this and the bill goes to consolidation before going to the President, they can do just about ANYTHING they want to it with no revote necessary ... correct ?

No, bills changed after going to the other house, or in conference committee, must be voted on again. It's usually pretty pro forma though.

[Doohickey]

It goes to show you that nearly half of the GOP in the House are socialists just like the Dems.

Maybe. What it tells me is that 40 percent the GOP Congressional caucus have no principles by voting for a bill they've not read (another thread revealed that many Republicans were "shocked" and "angered" that the bill had this provision).

[tfelice]

Good point about the Congressmen not reading the bill (though I think the same GOP congressmen would vote to pass even if they read it).

H.RES.63 amends the Rules of the House of Representatives to ensure that Members have a reasonable amount of time to read legislation that will be voted upon. Those concerned about this should urge those on the rules committee to bring this bill to the floor for debate.

[StopGlobalWhining]

Now what? How do we protect the Samoan people from the price gouging that inevitably will follow by businesses there that will take advantage of double wages for 80% of the population?

Currently the minimum wage in Samoa is $3 something per hour. So the only fair remedy would be to freeze prices retroactively to Jan 1, 2007 levels to prevent windfall profits for capitalist companies exploiting residents of the island.

That way all the Samoans will be equal and it will give them a grace period to save money until the time Star Kist relocates their operations to Red China, Thailand, or some other 3rd world country not hobbled by minimum wage hassles.

Vote Dimocrat for more of this stuff!

[bws53]

Sorry. I like meat.

[Raycpa]

Government cannot raise the minimum wage, only businesses can.