Conservatives Hold Wages Hostage to Paris Hilton Tax Cut; Film at 11
Friday, August 04
So the Senate blocked a bid to raise the minimum wage this week – yes, the same minimum wage that Congress has allowed to stagnate for nine years, while members of Congress hiked their salaries by over $30,000.
Guess what, though? This vote went the right way – and blame for this failure rests with conservatives who thought they could make working families their beasts of burden for yet another estate tax cut:
Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bid to combine a tax cut for the wealthy with a wage increase for the working poor last night, adding a volatile economic issue to this fall's congressional campaigns.
GOP leaders fell three votes short of the 60 needed to cut off debate and bring the package to the Senate floor, where it was considered certain to pass on a simple-majority vote. Republicans said Democrats will pay a price in November, contending that most Americans support the bill's call for an increase in the minimum wage and deep cuts in the estate tax.
But Democrats said rich Americans have received enough breaks from the Bush administration and the GOP-led Congress. Voters, they said, will see the Republican-backed bill as a ploy to further enrich upper-income families while trying to usurp the Democrats' role as champions of the working poor.
Under the bill, "8,100 of the wealthy and well-off hit the jackpot, while millions of working families get $800 billion in [federal] debt," said Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who led the opposition to the measure.
Well said, Senator. Our thanks to Harry Reid – and the senators who voted with him – for blocking conservatives from cutting taxes on the backs of the working poor.
Posted by Americans United For Change Web Team
2 Comments
Perhaps they oppose raising the minimum wage because the increased wages for low-income workers would be funded disproportionately by other low-income workers.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and if you raise the minimum wage, businesses will either have to lay people off or raise their prices. And who do you think eats at McDonalds and shops at Wal-Mart? Not Bill Gates…
Jeremy | Monday, August 07 at 02:06 PM
Businesses will have to lay off people or raise their price?
Where ARE these record profits going? They certainly aren’t going into the economy and they certainly aren’t going to those who need or NOR the people who’s slave labor helped build these profits.
This is poppy-cock, pure and simple. The rich have been canabalizing this country long enough. Frankly, there are an awful lot of people who work at these places who CAN’T afford to shop where they work.
And just who is helping subsidize these companies’ workforces? Why are we as taxpayers paying for healthcare for these workers? Accept it...the right-wing model of unfettered capitalism is an economic and moral failure. We are headed for another major economic depression.
anonymous | Tuesday, August 08 at 02:35 PM