Posted on 02/01/2007 3:00:57 PM PST by conservative in nyc
After weeks of debate and parliamentary wrangling, the Senate passed a long-awaited $2.10 increase in the minimum wage by an overwhelming margin of 94-3 — the first such hike in a decade, though it will be spread over two years.
Raising the minimum wage, usually a rallying cry for more progressive or liberal Democrats, became an unlikely but effective campaign issue in the 2006 midterm elections that, along with voter frustration over the war in Iraq and perceived corruption on Capitol Hill, brought them back in control of both houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years.
A similar bill to increase the minimum wage passed the House of Representatives in January, but that measure did not include tax breaks for small businesses, which have been tacked onto the Senate bill so that it can gain enough votes to overcome Republican opposition.
House and Republican negotiators will have to hammer out a compromise bill before the wage hike can be sent to the President for his signature. Bush has indicated he will sign the legislation as long as it still includes the small business tax breaks added in the Senate.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Here comes inflation ! (?)
Three concerned elected citizens sitting there shaking their heads.
"and perceived corruption on Capitol Hill"
I'm surprised that ABC used such a mild term as perceived. I would have expected them to use "blatant."
I am not so much worried about the actual minimum pay raise as I am what may have been passed attached to this.
Anyone heard what they put on this bill? I am guessing just about anything anyone wanted to get through. Pork, pork ,pork!
I still don't understand why they don't make it $1,000 per hour, or $10,000 per hour. As long as they are raising it, why be pikers?
Ah, yes...the ole American Samoa caveat....
I don't think I heard any Senator discuss Am. Samoa...so we will have to check.
Thanks for reminding me.
Where was Johnson (D) I thought the Stem Cell Bill had him up and running?
PelosiKist tuna - a division of OnTheDole foods.
Bush still needs to sign it, right?
"Bush still needs to sign it, right?"
I'll bet my next pay check he will.
With few exceptions, Senate Republicans are a cowardly, unintelligent, unprincipled lot. Pathetic.
I think Bush will sign it. An congressional override of a veto would be terrible for Bush.
Is this the version with or without the "Schumer-Gordon Smith (R-Ore)" domestic-partner benefit provision slipped into it (in the dark of night)?
I'm proud to say that I donated money to Demint and Coburn.
Will the Senate repeal gravity next? Last I checked, the minimum wage is still zero.
Is American Samoa included?
Senator DeMint serves as a senior adviser to the Romney for President Exploratory Committee.
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