by Mike Hall, Jan 30, 2007

Step by slow, painful step, the U.S. Senate moves closer to a vote on raising the federal minimum wage. Today, after more than a week of what was described as a Republican “filibuster by amendment,” the Senate voted 87–10 to end debate on a bill to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25.

But the fight is far from ended. The unofficial filibuster may be over, but between now and a final vote on the Senate package—which includes the more than $8 billion in business tax breaks Republicans demanded as ransom before ending their weeklong stall—more amendments likely will be offered and that could slow the process even further. And it will take still longer for a conference committee to iron out differences between the Senate bill and the House version, which the Republican minority voted to kill because it was a clean bill with no business tax giveaways.

The House bill sailed through with 82 Republican votes as part of the new House Democratic majority’s First 100 Hours agenda. The Senate fight is now in its second week. Says Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is leading the Senate fight for the increase:

During the week since this bill came to the floor, each of us in this room has earned almost $3,200. That’s what a minimum wage worker earns in about four months of hard labor. During those four months, a minimum wage fast food worker has probably served thousands of meals. A minimum wage hotel maid has cleaned over a thousand hotel rooms. A minimum wage child care worker may have taught a child to count or taught them their letters. We haven’t been nearly so productive in the United States Senate. We¹ve been generously compensated, yet we haven¹t managed to pass even this one simple bill to raise the federal minimum wage.

(Click here to see Kennedy slam the delaying tactics during last week’s debate.)

Don’t let the 87–10 vote fool you into thinking most Republican senators have had a great reawakening of their social conscience. (BTW, Bob Geiger here IDs the 10 Republicans who voted to keep the filibuster alive—at least two of whom are multi-millionaires, according to the Center for American Progress).

Even Republican senators—except for the 28 who voted last week to repeal the minimum wage—recognize that the public demands they act. That was certainly the message last November when voters in six states approved wage hikes.

Word is the Senate will get to final passage on Thursday. We’ll keep you posted.

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