Hey Democrats, Where's Our Money?
During the 2006 Congressional election campaign, the Democrats made numerous promises which everyone knew they would never be able to keep (e.g. reducing corruption, getting out of Iraq, improving the "tone" in Washington, etc.). However, one of their promises—increasing the U.S. Federal Minimum Wage—seemed like a slam dunk. After all, the federal minimum wage (currently set at $5.15) has not been increased since 1997, and at least 80% of the American people favor an increase. Well, the Democrats have been in power for almost four months and we are still waiting with bated breath.
We here at It's Still News understand that most of you have no particular interest in getting an economics lesson about the costs and benefits of a minimum wage. However, the issue is not necessarily as cut-and-dried as some want to believe. Therefore, we offer a basic outline of where the various parties stand on the issue and why:
Democrats |
Republicans |
Plutocrats/Walmart
|
Itstillnews.com Owners |
So, what has happened with the minimum wage issue since the November elections? Well, Republicans, who had previously tried to link any increase in the minimum wage to the repeal of the estate tax (after all, what can be more reasonable than tying a measure which will help 5.6 million poor people to one that will help 8,200 millionaire estate owners?). Once the Democrats assumed power, the Republicans realized that a new strategy was necessary: trying to link an increase in the minimum wage to (what else?) tax cuts. In the House, the Democrats quickly passed a bill which will increase the minimum wage to $7.25 over the course of 3 years. In the Senate, where the rules are set up to prevent anything from ever being easily resolved, the initial bill introduced by the Democrats was filibustered by 43 Republicans, including Presidential candidates John McCain and Sam Brownback.
Ultimately, a compromise was finally reached and a bill raising the minimum wage was finally passed in the Senate. However, this Senate bill was very different from that passed by the House, offering $12.2 billion in tax cuts versus the $1.3 million offered by the House. The result of all this: the minimum wage bill is currently stuck in a congressional conference committee awaiting agreement between House and Senate leaders. Good luck with that.
But this is not the end of the story. If you feel that Republicans are stupid to tie a long overdue minimum wage increase to tax cuts, then you should probably agree that the Democrats are even stupider (is that a real word?) for what they did next. Believe it or not, one of the provisions of the very controversial recently-passed Iraq War funding/withdrawal bill is—you guessed it—an increase in the minimum wage (ten gold stars and a cookie for anyone who can explain what exactly the minimum wage has to do with the Iraq War). Given the fact that the Iraq War funding/withdrawal bill is guaranteed to be vetoed if it ever reaches the President's desk, this seems to be bad news for those interested in seeing a minimum wage increase finally become reality. However, according to CNN, this move should actually make it more likely that a minimum wage increase will be passed, since it will force the conference committee considering the original minimum wage bills passed by the House and Senate to finally try to reach a compromise on the size of the small business tax cuts that will accompany a final resolution.
Is your head spinning yet? Isn't it reassuring to see how smoothly our democracy runs? The Democrats repeatedly promised it and 80% of the people support it and yet here we are, four months later, still waiting for the minimum wage increase to make its way through the maze that is Congress. In any case, it seems as if Congress will finally vote on a compromise bill in the next week or two and a minimum wage increase will be the law by the middle of May. We'll see. It's Still News will keep you posted...