Raise to minimum wage denied

A Senate proposal to raise the wage to $7.25 in three steps is defeated along party lines

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday.

They rejected 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. A full-time worker paid $5.15 an hour would earn $10,700 a year, "almost $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three," he said.

Kennedy said lawmakers' annual pay has risen by about $30,000 since the last increase in the minimum wage. Last week, House lawmakers accepted a $3,300 pay raise to $168,500 for themselves for the seventh consecutive year by rejecting a bid to challenge the automatic cost-of-living increase.

Republicans said a minimum wage increase would hurt 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 top-down mandates work."

In North Carolina, minimum wage workers might still get a raise this year. The General Assembly has approved plans to boost the rate by $1 to $6.15, and Gov. Mike Easley has said he supports the increase.

Democrats in Washington had conceded in advance that the effort to raise the minimum wage would fare no better than their previous attempts. They also have made clear in recent days that 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 are women.

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

"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 $5.15 minimum wage by 20 percent. North Carolina Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr, both Republicans, voted against the provision.

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 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."

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.

Alternate proposal

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 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. 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.

North Carolina's delegation split on that measure, with Dole voting in favor.