Raising the Minimum Wage or Lowering Estate Taxes—Guess What House Republicans Picked?

by Mike Hall, Jun 21, 2006

Let’s talk about priorities. Imagine you’re a powerful leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. What would you say is more important—raising the $5.15 an hour minimum wage for the first time in nearly 10 years or making sure the small number of estates worth up to $10 million are permanently exempt from estate tax?

That’s the choice Republican House leaders are facing this week. And no surprise, they’ve chosen the side of the millionaires.

Republican leaders are adamant they will not bring the fiscal year 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill up for a vote because it contains an amendment to raise the minimum wage—now at it’s lowest value in 51 years—to $7.25 an hour.

(Click here to read about today’s Senate vote on the minimum wage.)

But yesterday, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) announced the House will vote on the estate tax this week. The bill would exempt estates of up to $5 million—$10 million for couples—and also lower the tax rate on all multimillion dollar estates.

The House voted last year for a full repeal of the estate tax for all estates no matter how high their worth. But earlier this month, full repeal failed to win Senate approval and now Republicans are looking for a so-called compromise to take care of the millionaire estates. Now they have one they hope can win both House and Senate passage. (Take a look at the super-wealthy families who are bankrolling the campaign to end the estate tax—including Wal-Mart’s Walton gang.)

But while the Republican leaders are scrambling to find yet another tax break for the wealthy—the $70 billion tax cut gift earlier this year apparently wasn’t generous enough—they won’t budge on the minimum wage.

Last week, the full House Appropriations Committee approved (32-27, with seven Republican votes) a minimum wage amendment to the Labor, Health and Human services spending bill that raises the wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The bill was scheduled for a vote this week until the wage hike was included.

Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) who offered the amendment to the Labor appropriations bill, tried again yesterday, offering the minimum wage increase as an amendment to the Commerce, Justice and State Department spending bill before the Appropriations Committee. This time it failed 28–34. According to reports, some of the Republican members who voted voted for it before they voted against it, said they had been heavily leaned on by the Republican leadership to change their votes.

Obey said Democrats would keep trying to attach a minimum wage increase to legislation “until we get a vote on the floor.”

So, while the Democrats are looking to give a raise to the hard-working single moms and other low-wage workers, Republicans are nuzzling up to the Paris Hiltons and other millionaire heirs in waiting.

It’s a matter of priorities.

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