Category: Minimum Wage

The contempt some Senate conservatives have for America’s workers runs pretty deep. Filibustering a raise in the minimum wage wasn’t enough for 28 Senators. Today, they tried to finish the job and completely abolish the federal minimum wage. Bob Geiger and the AFL-CIO Weblog have the details. Most cowardly, they weren’t even honest with America’s […]

Yesterday, 43 Senate conservatives did the bidding of the business lobby and filibustered the House minimum wage bill. Why? Because they want to attach irresponsible business tax breaks to the bill. They want to further the phony notion that even the tiniest raise in the minimum wage is a job killer that must be offset […]

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus is still refusing to pass a “clean” minimum wage bill without business tax giveaways. But now he’s looking to make a slight improvement to his dirty bill: paying for the revenue loss of wider business loopholes, by closing different business loopholes. The Washington Post reports that the committee will […]

Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus is firmly establishing himself as the buzzkill of The First 100 Hours. After dirtying up a minimum wage bill with special interest tax breaks, now he’s undermining Dem efforts to pass a bill requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices. Instead, he wants a bill that merely allows it, […]

Bill Scher blogs for Campaign for America’s Future. This blog originally appeared in The Huffington Post. Yesterday was a great day for the American worker and the American economy, as the House passed a long overdue raise in the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. The bill is particularly strong because it’s “clean.” It rejects the notion […]

With the likelihood of competing minimum wage bills from the House and Senate, House Dems appear divided on how to proceed. CongressDaily AM reports: “…House Majority Leader [Steny] Hoyer said he would consider going with the Senate bill to avoid a conference committee. A senior aide to House Democrats said the increase could be enacted […]

Minutes ago, the House approved increasing the hourly minimum wage to $7.25, over two years. The vote was strong, 315 to 116. Democratic support was unanimous. The GOP caucus was split, with 82 supporting and 116 opposing. Over in the Senate, CQ reports that Sen. Max Baucus “unveiled four proposed breaks” for business to be […]

It’s more than just Sen. Max Baucus looking to add business lobby favors to a minimum wage hike. According to Congressional Quarterly, Senate Dem leaders Richard Durbin and Chuck Schumer are opting to try to placate conservatives instead of standing up to them: “The House bill … includes no sweeteners for small businesses, which many […]

Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein takes the business lobby, and new Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, to task today, setting the record straight about a minimum wage hike’s impact on jobs. Pearlstein writes: …both economic theory and history suggest that small business will, in time, pass on its increased costs to its consumers […]

Tuesday afternoon, Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a conference call with bloggers about Iraq and the First 100 Hours Agenda. I asked her if the final minimum wage bill would be “clean” without any special interest provisions tacked on, or would it include tax giveaways for the CEO lobby. As I blogged earlier, the House is […]