Senate votes for minimum wage increase
By Michael J.W. Stickings
$7.25 an hour.
That's what the minimum wage will be if a Senate bill, passed 94-3 yesterday, is reconciled with a House bill that was passed a few weeks ago. (President Bush supports the Senate bill.)
The Senate bill includes moderate tax cuts for small businesses, a necessary trade-off to secure Republican support. House Democrats may not support including this and other trade-offs in reconciled legislation, but they should make the effort to compromise.
Although I would like to see an increase in the minimum wage passed with no strings attached, the reality is that strings must be attached if any increase is to pass. And what matters most here is that the working poor, currently stuck with a shockingly low minimum wage of $5.15, a wage that hasn't been increased in a decade, could use the additional $2.10 an hour. I am ashamed to say that I spend about that much just on coffee every morning. To the working poor, that much could mean putting food on the table for their children and paying the heating bill.
The priority should be clear.
(For more, see Bob Geiger, Howie Klein, and Pamela Leavey.)
$7.25 an hour.
That's what the minimum wage will be if a Senate bill, passed 94-3 yesterday, is reconciled with a House bill that was passed a few weeks ago. (President Bush supports the Senate bill.)
The Senate bill includes moderate tax cuts for small businesses, a necessary trade-off to secure Republican support. House Democrats may not support including this and other trade-offs in reconciled legislation, but they should make the effort to compromise.
Although I would like to see an increase in the minimum wage passed with no strings attached, the reality is that strings must be attached if any increase is to pass. And what matters most here is that the working poor, currently stuck with a shockingly low minimum wage of $5.15, a wage that hasn't been increased in a decade, could use the additional $2.10 an hour. I am ashamed to say that I spend about that much just on coffee every morning. To the working poor, that much could mean putting food on the table for their children and paying the heating bill.
The priority should be clear.
(For more, see Bob Geiger, Howie Klein, and Pamela Leavey.)
Labels: Congress, Democrats, legislation, minimum wage, Republicans
posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at
1:32 AM
3 Comments:
I'd say you shouldn't be concerned with what you spend on coffee in the morning, you can obviously afford it... that is capitalism in action... If I were you I'd be concerned with the fact that regardless of the tax cuts the cost of that coffee is going to go up with the minimum wage increase... as will the cost of most everything, making the wage increase useless in roughly the same amount of time it gets to increase it.
By
Anonymous, at 11:36 AM
I'm sure that this isn't based on folk economics and you've done all the math and you're sure that the corner diner will have to raise its prices, but look at it this way -- we could have even cheaper coffee if we used slave labor. We could live better if we could only live off the poverty and misery of even more people than we do now.
Of course we'd have to pay more for police and jails, but as long as the money doesn't do anyone any good, you're happy -- right?
By
Capt. Fogg, at 1:20 PM
Hey, Capt., why pay money for jails? Let's just shoot all the criminals on the spot. That'll really save us some money.
And Michael -- $2.10 on coffee? I've said it before and I'll say it again -- you fucking yuppie.
By
., at 7:18 PM
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