minimum wage issues...
Efforts to raise minimum wage stall in Senate
By James Kuhnhenn
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., addresses supporters of a minimum-wage increase yesterday. A Democratic proposal to raise the wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over three years failed by eight votes.
WASHINGTON — The Senate yesterday defeated two proposals to raise the minimum wage, in a test of muscle over what is expected to be a yearlong struggle to increase an income floor that has gone unchanged for nine years.
A Democratic proposal to raise the wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over three years failed 49-46. A Republican proposal to increase it to $6.25 in two years fared even worse, losing 61-38.
The proposals came as amendments to a bill that would make it harder for individuals to file bankruptcy, legislation backed by financial institutions and credit-card companies.
In neither case did sponsors of the measures expect to win, because leaders of both parties had set a 60-vote super-majority threshold for passage. That unusual arrangement allowed both sides to get senators' votes on the record but protected the underlying bankruptcy bill against delaying ploys.
The debate pitted a proposal by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to raise the minimum wage by $2.10 per hour against an amendment by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., that would raise it by $1.10. Santorum's proposal also would have exempted businesses with annual revenues of less than $1 million. The current exemption level is $500,000.
Santorum also would have permitted workers and their employers to negotiate compensatory time over a two-week, 80-hour period rather than the current 40-hour workweek. Critics said that would deny hourly workers overtime pay. Santorum argued that Kennedy's plan would increase the minimum wage by 41 percent, a rate he said would put an onerous burden on employers and possibly cause inflation to skyrocket.
The National Retail Federation lobbied vigorously against Kennedy's amendment. The organization has pushed for a decade to get bankruptcy laws overhauled, only to see efforts fail repeatedly at the last minute because of amendments that kill the larger effort.
Labor unions lobbied on behalf of the Kennedy amendment, hoping it would set a strong foundation for the next time the Senate confronts the issue. The Kennedy amendment won support from every Democrat present as well as votes from four Republicans — Sens. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Michael DeWine of Ohio, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Pete Domenici of New Mexico.
"After nine years of going without an increase, Republicans are feeling the heat," said William Samuel, a lobbyist for the AFL-CIO. "This is something people are increasingly bringing up in town-hall meetings."
Democrats said they believed they had scored some political points by forcing floor debate on several key issues during consideration of the bankruptcy legislation, even though their amendments went down to defeat.
"That's the way the Senate works," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "You take your shots when you can. You certainly want to keep talking about it, to keep it in the public's mind. That's how you win eventually when you are in the minority."
Katherine Lugar, a lobbyist for the retail federation, predicted the wage debate would continue at least into next year. "This issue is going to take a lot of twists and turns," she said. "It tends to get resolved in even-numbered years" when members of Congress face re-election.
posted by acidbrat @ 5:05 PM
