Boehlert Predicts GOP Action on Minimum Wage

— -- On Capitol Hill today, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) said that the House Republican leadership "probably will be having a major announcement about the minimum wage before the end of business today." He quickly added that the close of business can come quite late. Rep. Boehlert's comments followed a conference with the Republican congressional leadership held earlier today.

Following his remarks at a press event sponsored by the Main Street Partnership, a Republican group seeking to move the GOP in a moderate direction, Rep. Boehlert told ABC News that the GOP leadership plans to bring up the minimum wage with no "poison pills" - no provision that would make the measure unacceptable to Democrats.

But neither will the House GOP leadership simply bring up the minimum wage on its own, according to Rep. Boehlert who supports a higher minimum wage.

The plan is to bring it up with a provision that makes it possible for small businesses to band together through "associational health plans" to lower the cost of buying health insurance.

However, it was unclear at press time whether the GOP leadership would include other sweeteners for business and whether Democrats could support the associasional health plans mentioned by Boehlert.

When Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), an opponent of a higher minimum wage, was asked about how Speaker Dennis Hastert's (R-IL) "majority of the majority" rule would apply to the minimum wage given that a majority of House Republicans appear to be opposed to a higher minimum wage, he said: "It's a rule of thumb. It's not an ironclad rule," citing a vote the majority gave him on a Metro bill he was pushing that did not have the support of the "majority of the majority."

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill today, House and Senate Democrats once again emphasized that one of their top six - "Six for '06" - priorities if they were returned to power is to "prohibit the congressional pay raise until the nation's minimum wage is raised."

When asked about Rep. Boehlert's prediction, a House Republican leadership aide said: "Discussions are still ongoing, but no decisions have been made just yet."