http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Minimum-Wage.html

GOP - Run Senate Kills Minimum Wage Increase

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 21, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed
election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday, rejecting Democratic
claims that it was past time to boost the $5.15 hourly pay floor that has
been in effect for nearly a decade.

The 52-46 vote was eight short of the 60 needed for approval and came one
day after House Republican leaders made clear they do not intend to allow a
vote on the issue, fearing it might pass.

The Senate vote marked the ninth time since 1997 that Democrats there have
proposed -- and Republicans have blocked -- a stand-alone increase in the
minimum wage. The debate fell along predictable lines.

''Americans believe that no one who works hard for a living should have to
live in poverty. A job should lift you out of poverty, not keep you in
it,'' said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. He said a worker paid $5.15 an
hour would earn $10,700 a year, ''almost $6,000 below the poverty line for
a family of three.''

Republicans said a minimum wage increase would wind up hurting the low-wage
workers that Democrats said they want to help.

''For every increase you make in the minimum wage, you will cost some of
them their jobs,'' said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

He described the clash as a ''classic debate between two very different
philosophies. One philosophy that believes in the marketplace, the
competitive system ... and entrepreneurship. And secondly is the argument
that says the government knows better and that topdown mandates work.''

The measure drew the support of 43 Democrats, eight Republicans and one
independent. Four of those eight Republicans are seeking re-election in the
fall.

Democrats had conceded in advance that this attempt to raise the minimum
wage would fare no better than their previous attempts. At the same time,
they have made clear in recent days they hope to gain support in the coming
midterm elections by stressing the issue. Organized labor supports the
legislation, and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said that contrary to some
impressions, most minimum wage workers are adults, not teenagers, and many
of them are women.

''When the Democrats control the Senate, one of the first pieces of
legislation we'll see is an increase in the minimum wage,'' said Kennedy.

His proposal would have increased the minimum wage to $5.85 beginning 60
days after the legislation was enacted; to $6.55 one year later; and to
$7.25 a year after that. He said inflation has eroded the value of the
current $5.15 minimum wage by 20 percent.

With the help of a few rebellious Republicans, House Democrats on the House
Appropriations Committee succeeded in attaching a minimum wage increase
last week to legislation providing funding for federal social programs.
Fearing that the House would pass the measure with the increase intact, the
GOP leadership swiftly decided to sidetrack the entire bill.

''I am opposed to it, and I think a vast majority of our (rank and file) is
opposed to it,'' House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Tuesday.

Pressed by reporters, he said, ''There are limits to my willingness to just
throw anything out on the floor.''

On Wednesday, his spokesman, Kevin Madden, said Boehner has told fellow
Republicans ''the House will have to deal with this some way.'' He said no
decisions had been made.

While Democrats depend on organized labor to win elections, Republicans are
closely aligned with business interests that oppose any increase in the
federal wage floor or would like changes in the current system.

Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee, offered an alternative that proposed a minimum wage
increase of $1.10 over 18 months, in two steps.

The increase was coupled with a variety of provisions offering regulatory
or tax relief to small businesses, including one to exempt enterprises with
less than $1 million in annual receipts from the federal wage and hour law
entirely. The current exemption level is $500,000, and a Republican
document noted the amount had ''lagged behind inflation.''

Additionally, Republicans proposed a system of optional ''flextime'' for
workers, a step that Enzi said would allow employees, at their discretion,
to work more than 40 hours one week in exchange for more time off the next.
Unions generally oppose such initiatives, and the Republican plan drew 45
votes, with 53 in opposition.

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