by Mike Hall, Jan 26, 2007

With their amendments and delays, Republican senators this week have tied up a minimum wage increase in more knots than you can find in a scouting handbook.

Maybe what they’re telling minimum wage workers is, “Don’t get pushy, it’s just $2.10 and you’ve waited 10 years. What’s another few weeks or months while we try to find a few extra billion for your bosses.”

For 10 years when they controlled the agenda, Republican leaders used all their power to block a raise in the minimum wage. Now, after the new Democratic-controlled House passed—with bipartisan support—a simple $2.10-an-hour increase to the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage, out-of-power Republican Senate leaders are running a guerilla war of delay with filibusters and amendments to deny minimum wage workers a raise. They even tried to repeal the federal minimum wage Wednesday.

Late yesterday afternoon, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) had it up to here. Kennedy lashed out at the Republican-led fight against raising the minimum wage unless the bill is filled with a multibillion pay-off to corporations or anti-worker poison pills.

Here’s Kennedy in his own words.

Mr. President, $276 billion in tax breaks for corporations, $36 billion in tax breaks for small businesses, increase in productivity of 29 percent over the last 10 years, but do you think there is any increase in the minimum wage? No. Five days on the floor of the Senate we have considered immigration issues, as we have now. We have considered Social Security issues. We have considered health issues. We are considering education issues. We are considering additional kinds of tax breaks for wealthy corporations. But do we hear from the other side a willingness, as this side is willing at this moment, at 12 after 5 today, on Thursday? I speak for all of our Democratic members and say we are prepared to vote now, now, in 10 minutes, 15 minutes on this issue.

But no, as we have seen for the last five days—no, no, we have other amendments, Senator. We have other amendments to offer…

…What is the price, we ask the other side? What is the price you want from these working men and women? What cost? How much more do we have to give to the private sector and to business? How many billion dollars more are you asking, are you requiring? When does the greed stop, we ask the other side.

That is the question and that is the issue, make no mistake about it. They have on the Republican side 70 more amendments—70 more amendments. We have none. We are prepared to vote now. Seventy more amendments. Oh, yes. We want an increase in the minimum wage, we want this, we want that, but silence over there, or let’s have some other kinds of amendments that have virtually nothing to do with this. Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments for other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try to raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something. Are you going to require us to have a cloture vote next week? I can see it already: Amendments that have already been filed that are going to be related in case we do get cloture to delay this even further.

What is the price workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive that you won’t permit even a vote, denying the Senate of the United States the opportunity to express ourselves?…This is filibuster by delay and amendments. I have been around here long enough to know it when I see it and smell it. That is what it looks like, that is what it is, make no mistake about it. Make no mistake about it. And it just puzzles me. It really does.

Well, hopefully the American people are going to understand about who is delaying, who is opposing, who is using every kind of parliamentary tactic known to every possible Parliamentarian to delay action on the increase in the minimum wage. It lies right at the feet of the Republican leadership—right at the feet of the Republican leadership. Make no mistake about it. Make no mistake about it. An amendment here, an amendment there, an amendment on Social Security, an amendment on immigration, and the chortling and the laughing as they go on about their business.

Well, for those millions of Americans who are headed home tonight, after having worked long and hard, to face their children and hoping that at least, after the House of Representatives voted, with 80 Republicans who voted for an increase in the minimum wage, certainly the Senate of the United States isn’t going to fail us, what do we tell them after five days? And $200 billion more in tax cuts here, $35 billion more in tax cuts there, $8 billion more in tax cuts for HSAs. How many more billions of dollars do we have to give you, Mr. Republican? How many more dollars do we have to give you to get an increase in the minimum wage? It is shocking. It is disgraceful. But hopefully working families across this country are going to see it for what is.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (0)