Last week, the House passed a minimum wage increase -- if you can seriously call a couple of bucks spread out over three years an increase -- to which the Republicans attached a permanent reduction in the estate tax for the super richest 1%, a huge R&D tax break for the biggest of the big corporations, and other help the po' rich folk-type legislation. As the Washington Post is reporting today, in the Senate they are attaching other pork barrel measures in order to try to convince half a dozen Democrats to vote for the bill.
Senate Democrats should stand up against this tactic and fight for a pure minimum wage increase, unattached to special-interest benefits which these Republicans are so adept at doling out. As it stands, the current raise will not lift a single blue-collar soul out of poverty, it will not allow one mother to stay home a little bit more with her kids, it will not help any of the million children in this country who go to bed hungry. It is two dollars on a ten-year old minimum wage, which is phased in over three years. It is an embarrassing joke and we don't need to further insult the working poor by tying this cake to feasts for the wealthiest Americans.
Senate Democrats should stand up against this tactic and fight for a pure minimum wage increase, unattached to special-interest benefits which these Republicans are so adept at doling out. As it stands, the current raise will not lift a single blue-collar soul out of poverty, it will not allow one mother to stay home a little bit more with her kids, it will not help any of the million children in this country who go to bed hungry. It is two dollars on a ten-year old minimum wage, which is phased in over three years. It is an embarrassing joke and we don't need to further insult the working poor by tying this cake to feasts for the wealthiest Americans.