Senate Fails To Pass Minimum Wage Hike genre: Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation

The minimum wage increase sought by Democrats was defeated in the Senate today. The defeat means that the minimum wage will remain at $5.15 per hour. The last increase was nearly ten years ago. The Washington Post has the full article here.

The vote was 52-46, eight short of the 60 needed.

"I don't think the Republicans get it," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who backed a proposal for a three-step increase in the current wage floor to $7.25 an hour. The federal minimum wage has been fixed at $5.15 an hour since 1997.

Republican critics said the minimum wage was a job killer, not the boon to low-wage workers portrayed by Democrats.

The Republican view that a hike in the minimum wage is a job killer seems to actually be a different way to say that the increase might impact corporations who have benefited from the low wage for years. I find it somewhat ironic that while many in the Republican Party want to crack down on illegal immigration and even force those who are already in the U.S. to return home, they are unwilling to increase wages on jobs that many Americans cannot afford to take. If they are serious about solving the immigration issue, they might want to consider making theses low paying jobs pay a wage that is feasible and reasonable.

With the recent Republican decision to postpone any legislation on immigration, it appears that they merely wanted to be heard talking tough in order to appease their base which is clearly opposed to measures to provide existing illegal's a path to citizenship. In the meantime, with this vote, they have apparently chosen to signal the corporate world that they actually intend to continue ignoring the factors that have exacerbated the illegal immigration issue. The following paragraph explains an alternate proposal offered by Republicans that seems to reinforce my contention.

In a follow-up vote, the Senate rejected a Republican alternative that would have raised the minimum wage by $1.10, and would have included a provision allowing flextime for workers as well as several elements providing tax and regulatory relief for small businesses. It drew 45 votes, 15 short of the 60 needed. There were 53 votes in opposition.

Daniel DiRito | June 21, 2006 | 1:23 PM
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