Congress gives itself a raise, but what about the minimum wage?

[Jolie Rouge]

Congress gives itself a raise, but what about the minimum wage?
Tue Jun 20, 6:49 AM ET

I read with interest the article about members of the House of Representatives and Senate accepting their "automatic" pay hike ("House lawmakers accept $3,300 pay hike," USATODAY.com, June 13 http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ar...nt_events.html ).


While all Americans would love to receive guaranteed pay hikes, the reality is that for most working American families, pay has not risen nearly as much as their costs have, if at all. For example, the minimum wage has not been raised since 1996, when Congress last passed legislation raising the hourly rate to $5.15 per hour (effective in 1997). Based on a 40-hour work week, this amounts to $10,712 per year, considerably lower than the poverty level. Members of Congress earned an annual $133,600 at the time the minimum wage was last raised. With their new raise to $168,500 per year, this represents a 26% pay hike over the past 10 years, compared with a 0% increase in the minimum wage.

I find it most astounding that Republican members of Congress squeal loudly about the inability of companies to pay a higher minimum wage to their employees, yet these same representatives feel no compunction about doling out taxpayer money to line their pockets further.

Maybe it's time to tie congressional pay raises to comparable percentage raises in the federal minimum wage.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...A2BHNlYwM3NDI-

{I think this guy has an excellent idea !**

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[LuvBigRip]

Personally, I don't think any member of congress or the senate should make any more than the median income of their state.

I don't think that any member of congress or the senate should have any insurance greater than the least covered legal citizen of their state. (Which is none)

I don't think any member of congress or the senate should have pensions for life.

[stresseater]

I agree with you LuvBigRip and I'll raise ya one. I don't think minium wage should be raised either. Kinda funny a lot of the same people who are mad because the loss of a few illegals MAY raise the cost of their veggies but hey let's give some teenie bopper 6,8,10 dollars an hour to flip burgers. That shouldn't raise the cost of a big mac at all.

[loveswolfs]

I agree with you LuvBigRip and I'll raise ya one. I don't think minium wage should be raised either. Kinda funny a lot of the same people who are mad because the loss of a few illegals MAY raise the cost of their veggies but hey let's give some teenie bopper 6,8,10 dollars an hour to flip burgers. That shouldn't raise the cost of a big mac at all.

I guess you must be making the big bucks then if you think minium wage should not go up? There are lot's of adults who are only making minium wage and trying to raise a family and pay thier bill's and put food on the table!! Not all of us had the money to go on to school like some ppl did or get any kind of help...like i said in one of my other post's i use to be a manager and made 12 an hour..when i lost my job to my company closing it's door's...i didnt have that piece of paper saying i went to collage i had a hard time getting a job doing what i did before..so i ended up getting a job that only pays 8 an hour..so yes i would love for minium wage to go up then maybe i could get a raise and kind of enjoy the finer things in life like some ppl do..

[Njean31]

I agree with you LuvBigRip and I'll raise ya one. I don't think minium wage should be raised either. Kinda funny a lot of the same people who are mad because the loss of a few illegals MAY raise the cost of their veggies but hey let's give some teenie bopper 6,8,10 dollars an hour to flip burgers. That shouldn't raise the cost of a big mac at all.

teenie boppers aren't the only ones making minimum wage i don't make minimum wage but i'm all for uping it

[Jolie Rouge]

Senate Kills Minimum Wage Increase
By DAVID ESPO


WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday, rejecting Democratic claims that it was past time to boost the $5.15 hourly pay floor that has been in effect for nearly a decade.

The 52-46 vote was eight short of the 60 needed for approval under budget rules and came one day after House Republican leaders made clear they do not intend to allow a vote on the issue, fearing it might pass.

The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that Democrats there have proposed - and Republicans have blocked - a stand-alone increase in the minimum wage. The debate fell along predictable lines.

``Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have to live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in it,'' said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. He said a worker paid $5.15 an hour would earn $10,700 a year, ``almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three.''

Kennedy also said lawmakers' annual pay has risen by roughly $30,000 since the last increase in the minimum wage.

Republicans said a minimum wage increase would wind up hurting the low-wage workers that Democrats said they want to help.

``For every increase you make in the minimum wage, you will cost some of them their jobs,'' said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

He described the clash as a ``classic debate between two very different philosophies. One philosophy that believes in the marketplace, the competitive system ... and entrepreneurship. And secondly is the argument that says the government knows better and that topdown mandates work.''

The measure drew the support of 43 Democrats, eight Republicans and one independent. Four of those eight Republicans are seeking re-election in the fall.

Democrats had conceded in advance that this attempt to raise the minimum wage would fare no better than their previous attempts. At the same time, they have made clear in recent days they hope to gain support in the coming midterm elections by stressing the issue. Organized labor supports the legislation, and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said that contrary to some impressions, most minimum wage workers are adults, not teenagers, and many of them are women.

``When the Democrats control the Senate, one of the first pieces of legislation we'll see is an increase in the minimum wage,'' said Kennedy.

His proposal would have increased the minimum wage to $5.85 beginning 60 days after the legislation was enacted; to $6.55 one year later; and to $7.25 a year after that. He said inflation has eroded the value of the current $5.15 minimum wage by 20 percent.

With the help of a few rebellious Republicans, House Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee succeeded in attaching a minimum wage increase last week to legislation providing funding for federal social programs. Fearing that the House would pass the measure with the increase intact, the GOP leadership swiftly decided to sidetrack the entire bill.

``I am opposed to it, and I think a vast majority of our (rank and file) is opposed to it,'' House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday.

Pressed by reporters, he said, ``There are limits to my willingness to just throw anything out on the floor.''

On Wednesday, his spokesman, Kevin Madden, said Boehner has told fellow Republicans ``the House will have to deal with this some way.'' He said no decisions had been made.

While Democrats depend on organized labor to win elections, Republicans are closely aligned with business interests that oppose any increase in the federal wage floor or would like changes in the current system.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, offered an alternative that proposed a minimum wage increase of $1.10 over 18 months, in two steps.

The increase was coupled with a variety of provisions offering regulatory or tax relief to small businesses, including one to exempt enterprises with less than $1 million in annual receipts from the federal wage and hour law entirely. The current exemption level is $500,000, and a Republican document noted the amount had ``lagged behind inflation.''

Additionally, Republicans proposed a system of optional ``flextime'' for workers, a step that Enzi said would allow employees, at their discretion, to work more than 40 hours one week in exchange for more time off the next. Unions generally oppose such initiatives, and the Republican plan drew 45 votes, with 53 in opposition.


06/21/06

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...52.htm&sc=1153

[Jolie Rouge]

The fact-finding, frequent-flying US lawmakers
By Daniel Schorr
Fri Jun 23, 5:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON - When did wanderlust become a sin?

I can imagine that members of Congress and their staffs, after working over a hot earmark all day, would enjoy traveling to some distant place. And I can imagine that, not wanting the government to be saddled with the cost, they would find some public-spirited lobby to foot the tab.

So, why do public interest organizations like the Center for Public Integrity make such a fuss about it when they find that, over a period of about five years, legislators and their aides took at least 23,000 trips costing a total of about $50 million?

One can immediately understand why Sen. Richard Lugar(R), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, would want to visit some of our foreign relations like Finland, Mexico, and the Grand Cayman Islands. And why Rep. Thomas Bliley (R) of Virginia would want to spend some time in London as a guest of the British-American Tobacco Company, a customer for Virginia tobacco. And why San Diego's ex-Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham took many trips – before he went to jail, that is – as a guest of General Atomics, whose Predator unmanned spy plane was developed in his district.

But is there any real need to dwell on these coincidences? Let me give proper credit to some of the champion freebie travelers – that is, members and staff who took more than 200 trips in those 5-1/2 years: Tom DeLay, former majority leader; John Boehner, current majority leader; and Dennis Hastert, speaker. Many more Republicans than Democrats, who, being out of power, were less able to express their gratitude.

One Democrat who caught my eye was Charles Rangel of New York, who journeyed to Cuba and met Fidel Castro, the trip bankrolled by Gristedes Foods and the Cuban government.

Cuba was an unusual destination for congressional frequent fliers. The favorite destinations for these fact-finding sorties were Paris, 200 times; Hawaii, 150 times; and Italy, 140 times. For fact-finding legislators, there were many pleasant facts to find. I imagine that the legislators got to keep their frequent flier miles. Who could begrudge them that?

~~I~~Daniel Schorr is the senior news analyst at National Public Radio.~~I~~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060623...A2BHNlYwM3NDI-

[Jolie Rouge]

Another GOP retreat
By Robert D. Novak
Townhall.com

WASHINGTON - When House members departed last weekend for
summer vacation, they handed a painful choice to senators
left behind in 100-degree Washington heat. The haughty
Senate could either rubber-stamp two complicated bills
passed by the House or face real-life consequences. When
it took the former course, the Republican-controlled
Congress again had abandoned conservative doctrine.

This abandonment bears the imprint of Rep. Bill Thomas,
the domineering House Ways and Means Committee chairman,
in his farewell congressional performance. He combined
GOP-sought estate tax relief with the minimum wage
increase long blocked by Republicans as job-killing wage
fixing. In accepting this, Republican lawmakers cast doubt
on what they really believe.

A lame-duck committee chairman overpowering Congress
connotes weak leadership in both House and Senate and a
president detached from legislative activity. As the summer
break approached, Congress was going nowhere on immigration
and lobbyist controls, and long ago gave up on Social
Security and tax reform called for by President Bush. But
non-passage of two bills would bring real-life consequences.

The first such bill dealt with private pension plans, now
$450 billion in the hole. Missing a Sept. 13 deadline would
mandate a federal bailout of two airlines, Northwest and
Delta. The other measure is the "extenders bill,"
continuing some 40 expiring corporate tax breaks. Unless
passed by the Sept. 15 tax deadline, many corporations
must restate their earnings -- antagonizing executives as
Republicans dun them for 2006 campaign contributions.

I first heard on July 12 that House Republicans were
planning to merge minimum wage and estate tax legislation.
Thomas last week combined them with the extenders bill.
Arrogant, acerbic and authoritarian, the chairman was
going out with a bravura performance (refusing to walk
across the Capitol to meet with senators). Last week,
senators cooled their heels for hours while waiting for
Thomas and other House members to attend a meeting.

Sen. Charles Grassley, Thomas's counterpart as Senate
Finance Committee chairman, was furious. He had planned
to sweeten his pension bill with the popular extender
measure. An enraged Grassley burst uninvited into a
meeting of House Republican leaders. He and Thomas, long
locked in mutual contempt, attacked each other face-to-
face at a Thursday night meeting. But Grassley was undercut
by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's support of Thomas's
plan.

House Republican leaders next swallowed the 41 percent
minimum wage hike -- under duress. Moderate Eastern and
Midwestern House members, many threatened for re-election
and embarrassed by failure to raise minimum wages, issued
a ultimatum: Without the minimum wage, they would block
scheduled House adjournment last Friday. The moderate
tail again was wagging the conservative dog in the House.

Conservative Republican Reps. Mike Pence and Jeff Flake
tried to soften the higher minimum wage's impact on small
businesses by joining it with a plan to cut their health
care costs. They were told this would be doomed in the
Senate by the "Big Blues" (Blue Cross and Blue Shield).

"It's about time we increased the minimum wage!" Thomas
told the House. That triggered instant conversion by
Republican debaters, extolling the minimum wage as a
positive good, with or without estate tax relief. When
fellow Republicans tried to convince Pence that this was
shrewd politics, the third-term congressman from Elwood,
Ind., replied: "I didn't come here to pass wage controls."
But only 20 other Republicans joined Pence and Flake in
voting against Thomas's concoction. The consensus at a
Senate Republican conference Monday was positive (though
Grassley did not attend).

Thomas, the fabled legislative mechanic, added $3.9 billion
over 10 years for the "abandoned mine lands" program to
attract mining state Democrats (perhaps including Sen.
Robert Byrd of West Virginia). He also put in the bill
state and local tax deductions and writeoffs for higher
education expenses, among other goodies. Earlier, the bill
took on a timber tax break intended to snare Democratic
Sen. Maria Cantwell, facing a vigorous re-election
challenge in Washington state.

At this writing, it appears all this will pass the Senate
untouched by week's end. But most Democrats are opposed,
chiding Republicans that they embraced a higher minimum
wage only if tied to the estate tax. Having abandoned its
principles, the GOP can't even get credit from its
opposition.

[TexasGal]

I agree with you LuvBigRip and I'll raise ya one. I don't think minium wage should be raised either. Kinda funny a lot of the same people who are mad because the loss of a few illegals MAY raise the cost of their veggies but hey let's give some teenie bopper 6,8,10 dollars an hour to flip burgers. That shouldn't raise the cost of a big mac at all.

Many of the people in my small town (pop. 1,400) make minimum wage and do their best to raise their families on it. I don't know what minimum wage is where you live but here it's $5.15 an hour. That's $206 a week or $10,506 a year gross income. The 2006 federal poverty line for a single person is $9,800 and for a family of two (i.e. single mom with one child) it's $13,200.

Teenagers are not the only ones who work for minimum wage.

[Jolie Rouge]

House passes minimum wage increase
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled House voted Wednesday to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, bringing America's lowest-paid workers a crucial step closer to their first raise in a decade.

The vote was 315-116, with more than 80 Republicans joining Democrats to pass it. "You should not be relegated to poverty if you work hard and play by the rules," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

The bill was the second measure passed since Democrats took control of the House, ending more than a decade of Republican rule. The measure, which now goes to the Senate, would raise the federal wage floor by $2.10 from its current $5.15 an hour in three steps over 26 months.

The last increase was in 1997, when President Clinton successfully prodded the GOP-controlled Congress to enact the increase. Republicans declined to approve another raise for the six years in which they held majorities in the House and Senate and President Bush was in the White House.

Organized labor and other supporters pitched the bill as badly needed assistance for the working poor. Business groups and other critics said it could lead to higher prices for goods and services, force small companies to pink-slip existing workers or hire fewer new ones, and crimp profits.

The White House issued a statement saying it opposed the bill because it "fails to provide relief to small businesses."

Senate Democratic leaders have already signaled they will accept changes designed to shield small businesses from adverse consequences of higher labor costs. "This bill increases costs for mom-and-pop businesses," said Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, contending the legislation doesn't do anything to help offset that burden.

Many businesses want the pot sweetened, perhaps by faster depreciation or other tax breaks or letting small businesses band together to buy health insurance for their workers.

The bill would raise the wage floor in three steps. It would go to $5.85 an hour 60 days after signed into law by the president, to $6.55 a year later and to $7.25 a year after that.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070110/...o/minimum_wage



House to Lift Minimum Wage;
Senate May Add Tax Breaks
Kim Chipman
Wed Jan 10, 11:32 AM ET

Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The House of Representatives is set to pass the first U.S. minimum wage increase in 10 years today and send it to the Senate where lawmakers may add tax breaks for small businesses.

House Democratic leaders want to boost the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, from $5.15 now, over about two years. They oppose joining the bill with tax cuts as urged by President George W. Bush, Republicans and Democratic senators such as Max Baucusof Montana, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee.

``The Congress will pass an increase,'' Baucus said in an interview last week. The question is ``the degree to which we can find ways to help small businesses, because a lot of small businesses are hurt sometimes by minimum wage increases.''

A minimum wage boost is part of the legislation House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California is trying to push through in the first 100 hours of Democratic control of the House. Congress and Bush face increased pressure to approve an increase following the passage of minimum-wage increases in six states in November.

Democrats such as House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, head of the Senate Labor Committee, are pushing Congress to send Bush a clean bill. ``This legislation will benefit literally millions of Americans,'' Hoyer said today as debate on the measure began.

He said a raise for the country's lowest-earning workers is overdue and won't hurt employers.

28 States

There are ``28 states that have a minimum wage that's above the federal minimum wage,'' Representative George Miller of California, head of the House Education and Labor Committee, said in an interview. ``A lot of the evidence is suggesting that communities are doing better with the higher wages, and businesses are doing better with the higher wages because people have more discretionary income.''

In October, a group of economists that included five Nobel Prize winners said a boost in the federal minimum wage wouldn't stunt job growth as some opponents claim. The value of the current wage, when adjusted for inflation, is the lowest since 1951, the economists said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer and frequent target of labor unions critical of the company's labor practices, also has said it supports a wage increase, saying it would be good for the company's customers.

Veto

Miller said he's not concerned that Bush would veto minimum wage legislation that doesn't include tax breaks. Bush said Dec. 20 that he supports the $2.10-an-hour minimum-wage increase as long as it is done ``in a way that does not punish the millions of small businesses that are creating most of the new jobs in our country.''

``I don't think the president is going to veto this bill,'' Miller said. ``Eighty percent of the people in the country not only support it, they see it as a matter of economic fairness.''

Still, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has said he's willing to consider adding tax breaks to a Senate version of the minimum wage bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, says he's working with Reid on a measure that would include tax relief. ``The package, we think, has bipartisan support,'' McConnell said last week.

The House and Senate would have to reconcile any differences in the legislation each chamber passes.

Charles Gabriel, a senior political analyst at Prudential Equity Group, said he expects the House will have to ``fall in line'' with the Senate to get a measure passed. That's in part because Senate Democrats would be hard pressed to get the 60 votes needed to bring the legislation to a vote without the tax provisions. Democrats have only 51 votes in the 100-member chamber.

Whatever happens, the tax relief package is ``very likely going to be less generous than what would have been the case if the Republicans had held onto Congress,'' Gabriel said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20...ava6fttwif98_1

[Jolie Rouge]

There oughta be a law
Tue Jan 9, 6:43 AM ET

Considering that the median U.S. wage earner makes about $34,000 a year, it's hard to muster a lot of sympathy for the financial plight of federal judges, who earn only $165,200 a year.

Yet it's also hard to argue that the judges don't deserve a raise.

Federal judges haven't had a significant pay hike since 1989. Their salaries go up only when members of Congress grant themselves raises; in five of the last 13 years, they haven't even gotten a cost-of-living adjustment. Federal judges now earn about half of what top law school deans make and about the same as first-year associates at the leading law firms.

In his annual report on the state of the judiciary, released last week, Chief Justice John Roberts lays out arguments for a raise and notes that some judges are leaving the bench because of stagnant pay. J. Michael Luttig, a highly regarded former appeals court judge who was on

President Bush's short list for the Supreme Court, cited the need to pay his children's college tuition as one factor in his decision to become general counsel of Boeing.


The chief justice weakens his case, however, with an injudicious comment that the pay imbalance amounts to a "constitutional crisis" that "threatens to undermine the strength and independence of the federal judiciary."


Please. Federal judges enjoy tremendous perks and power. They have lifetime job security and receive generous vacation time and full-salary pensions at age 65 if they've served 15 years. Nor are they fleeing the bench in droves. Of the 866 federal judges and justices, only about 1% quit each year. And there's no shortage of top attorneys willing to take big pay cuts for the privilege of becoming a judge.


If a modest pay raise would restore equity and help keep top jurists on the bench, we're all for it. We also don't think judges' pay should be held hostage to congressional egos and pay-raise politics. But the case for an increase is strong enough that hyperbole is unnecessary and unproductive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/200...reoughtabealaw