Minimum-Wage Hike Battle Heats Up in Senate

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 — -- Anyone listening to the radio in recent weeks in Albuquerque, N.M., might have heard a man with a voice like a game-show host intoning "Let's play 'Who Deserves a Pay Raise?'"

The "contestants" are a nurse's assistant who works long, hard days and earns $5.15 an hour, and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., who "just voted herself another $3,300 pay raise, and [is] saying no to increasing the minimum wage."

Versions of this ad -- paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- have been running in 10 competitive House districts across the country. But now they may have to undergo some creative editing.

Thanks to a hastily assembled package that passed the House in the wee hours of Saturday morning, vulnerable House Republicans like Wilson can now boast that they've voted in favor of a minimum wage hike. The bill, which passed with mostly Republican support, would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over the next three years but would also cut estate taxes and extend a host of other tax breaks.

Now the bill moves to the Senate, where Democrats are vowing to block it, calling it a cheap political ploy.

"This attempt at political blackmail is not going to work," said Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a speech at the liberal Center for American Progress. "[Republicans are] threatening to deny a $2.10 raise for 11 million Americans if they can't give away billions to 12,000 of their wealthiest friends."

Long-Running Battle

It has been nine years since Congress last raised the minimum wage, and by some estimates it is currently at the lowest level relative to the cost of living in 50 years. Democrats have been agitating for an up or down vote on the issue for months (a vote in the Senate in June drew majority support but failed to generate the 60 votes needed for passage).

Noting that congressional salaries have increased by more than $30,000 during the nine years that the minimum wage has remained flat, Democrats have vowed to block this year's congressional pay raise until the minimum wage is raised.House GOP leaders were not planning to bring up the issue, but they changed their minds last week when moderate Republicans -- many of whom were being pummeled by Democratic opponents -- threatened to block the House adjournment for the August recess unless they got a minimum-wage vote.

And even as it hurtled toward passage, many Republicans made little effort to hide their distaste for the measure, arguing that it was only the estate-tax cut that made the package palatable. "We think this package helps mitigate the negative economic effects of raising the minimum wage," said Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., Friday night.

But now, Republicans may have found a way to neutralize a Democratic line of attack, allowing them to argue that it was Democrats who ultimately denied minimum-wage earners a pay raise.

Last-Minute Maneuvers

How it will play out this week in the Senate remains uncertain. Some Democrats argue that if Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., can't muster up the votes to defeat a Democratic filibuster, he would be better off pulling the measure rather than allowing a third attempt to pass an estate-tax cut go down in defeat on his watch.

"[Frist] couldn't afford to risk this," said a Democratic Senate aide.

Going into the August recess on the heels of such a loss could also make Republicans more vulnerable to the charge of being part of a "do-nothing Congress."

But in this particular case, defeat could also work to Republicans' political advantage, since they will have put Democrats in the position of having to block one of their own main electoral priorities.

"I think both sides will characterize it the way they want to," said one GOP Senate aide.

It's possible Democrats could use delaying tactics to try to push the vote off past Friday -- when the Senate is scheduled to adjourn -- to save themselves from having to block the measure directly. But Frist could also extend the session, keeping members in town through the weekend if necessary.

On Monday Frist made clear that he intends to bring up the bill. "The Senate will address the death tax before we adjourn," he said.

Regardless of what happens, Democrats insist they will continue to campaign vigorously on the issue, arguing that working men and women will not be fooled by Republicans' political maneuvering. The party is planning to hold minimum-wage events nationwide on Labor Day.