Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Federal Minimum Wage

by Chris Bowers, Thu Jan 25, 2007 at 11:42:58 AM EST

That title is not a joke. Bob Geiger, who might be the best Senate reporter in the blogosphere, once again has the story:Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), evidently convinced that he was beating a dead horse by continuing his quest to ban flag-burning and discriminate against gay people, announced this month that he would not seek reelection in 2008 and the thought of having so little time left to screw the working poor from a comfy U.S. Senate seat must have just been eating him alive.

Allard, who has voted against a minimum wage increase more often than Fox News smears Barack Obama, went for broke this week and introduced a bill that would have eliminated the Federal Minimum Wage entirely and left the wage rate for the lowest-paid workers to each state.(...)

"In its current form, the bill attempts to blindly blanket the Nation with a new Federal minimum wage without regard to unique economic conditions of each individual State," said Allard in fighting the proposed $2.10 increase in the federal minimum wage. "Less Government intervention, at all levels, enables the private sector to attract, recruit, and retain the best possible employees and reward increased productivity and responsibility with higher compensation."(...)

Fortunately, saner heads prevailed and Allard's disgusting legislation was killed, but with 28 Republican Senators voting in favor of no federal oversight of the lowest wage an American worker can be paid. Clearly, with only 28 of 49 Republicans voting for this bill, the reason Republicans did not try and pass this legislation during their time in the majority was because they did not have the votes. Forget that it is insane, 19th century, political suicide--that didn't stop them most of the time. It it is enlightening to look at the Senators who did vote to abolish the federal minimum wage, including Cornyn, McCain, Hagel and Sununu. Does Cornyn think that he is invincible in Texas in 2008, despite his 44% approval rating? Does Sununu even plan on running for re-election in New Hampshire? Does anyone still think McCain is a moderate? This is the sort of vote that is even less popular than escalation. Also, can we please tone down the Hagel worship in the blogosphere?

Yikes. Maybe they were all scared by Hugh Hewitt's latest pledge to not support any Republican who refused to defend the divine right of the Hapsburg crown against unruly Serbian nationalists.

The AFL-CIO blog also has coverage of this latest episode of extremist, Republican wingnuttery.

Tags: Republicans, Senate 2008 (all tags)

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Re: Republican Senators and the Minimum Wage

Perhaps Cornyn was putting concisence ahead of the polls. I certainly disagree with his stance on the issue, but I'm not going to ask him to vote against his personal beliefs because he has to run for re-election. And the fact is, he may very well be invincible. Texas isn't as solid Republican as it was a few years ago, but the state Democrats are fairly conservative (ala Connelly), and if they're unable to pick a strong candidate to run against Cornyn soon, they won't have enough time to raise the money they need to beat him.

Sununu - Live Free or Die. The fewer laws, the better. NH voters (I'm in NH now) are more libertarian than anything, though I do imagine this paritcular vote will hurt him.

Anyone who ever thought McCain was a moderate was nuts. He's always rated very high on ACU-type scorecards. He's a maverick, and he's not an idealogue, but neither of those things means he's a moderate. Same with Hagel and apparently Graham.

by Nathan Empsall 2007-01-25 12:01PM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Fede

McCain voted to abolish the federal minimum wage? WOO HOO!

Please, someone write an article about it so that we can use it in the Googlebomb campaign.

by nstrauss 2007-01-25 12:21PM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Fede

I was thinking exactly the same thing. I wanted to use that as my next target.

by Chris Bowers 2007-01-25 12:25PM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Fede

MoveOn should make another ad.

by Populism2008 2007-01-25 01:09PM | 0 recs

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tone down the hagel worship. No

The issue of war in Iraq is that important. Even reactionaries like Hagel and Ron Paul deserve praise for their stand. I think democrats should be very careful. Unlikely to happen, but an antiwar Hagel would probably beat a prowar Hiliary.

by syvanen 2007-01-25 12:22PM | 0 recs

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Re: tone down the hagel worship. No

Ok.

Here's the thing.

There were issues before the Iraq War, and there will be after. Building up the political discussion around that issues alone is myopic. Some day (hopefully soon) we will leave Iraq, and if we build a coalition solely concerned about the Iraq War there will be no Democratic party when that day comes.

We have to talk about the minimum wage, healthcare, the Employee Free Choice Act that would allow workers the right to organize unions without being subject to dehumanizing NLRB elections when the company can break the law without fear of repercussions.

Someday Iraq will no longer be an issue. And we have to be prepared for that day. That's why people who focuse soley on that criteria for 2008 and beyond do the Democratic party a great disservice.

by ManfromMiddletown 2007-01-25 12:45PM | 0 recs

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Re: tone down the hagel worship. No

Ron Paul, a strict libertarian, is actually the third most liberal Republican in the House (behind only Chris Shays and turncoat Rodney Alexander whose voting score is due to his time as a Democrat). Hagel, on the other hand, scores around 7% on Progressive Punch. The rest of his votes are pretty horrible.

I would be a little easier on Paul and a lot harder on Hagel.

by David Kowalski 2007-01-25 01:25PM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Fede

28 of 49 is more than half the GOP senate caucus.

This isn't a handful of extremists voting for torture or some shit. This is the GOP mainstream.

"A majority of Republican senators support eliminating the minimum wage"

The ads write themselves.

by scientician 2007-01-25 12:33PM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Fede

Five Republican Senators voted against a federal minimum wage when their state has np minimum wage: Cochran and Lott (MS), DeMint and Graham (SC), and Lamar Alexander (TN). Sam Brownback voted for this crap and Kansas has a minimum wage of $2.65.

McCain is voting for this nonsense when the voters of his own state voted to raise the minimum wage to $6.75. Out of touch but only marginally cruel? Not if you live in Kansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, ot Tennessee. Then he's going for the jugular.

by David Kowalski 2007-01-25 01:31PM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Federal Minimum Wage

This result is not as bad as it appears on the surface. Small business owners need offsetting tax breaks to cover the higher wages they'll be dishing out. It wouldn't surprise me if the Senate is looking for a bill that nudges such tax breaks more in favor of larger corporations that provide seasonal positions, such as the fast food giants, theme parks, and megafarming. College students will benefit the most: more kegger money! The House will rewrite the bill and this will get done. What's disgraceful is that it's taken this long to even consider raising the minimum wage, and thanks only to last November's bloodbath. (Ah, the bloodbath...fond memories) Personally, I wish Congress had the guts to cut wasteful government spending to offset the wage increases, but who would ever think of that?

by joebob59 2007-01-25 01:00PM | 0 recs

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What wasteful government spending, exactly?

Small business owners need no such thing. Affects of raising the minimum wage are very minimal. While I might be able to compromise on this if I were in Congress, I think its important to be clear about this- tax cuts are not necessary.
If raising the minimum wage is a good thing, [Sen.Gordon Smith,] you should be willing to do it by itself, in a clean bill.

by jallen 2007-01-25 06:42PM | 0 recs

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Re: What wasteful government spending, exactly?

Oops, I meant the affects on employers of raising the minimum wage. They may have to lay off workers, but the net affects are minimal, and mostly disadvantage working students. The great number of other people (non-students) working who depend on minimum wage jobs are mostly benefitted by raising the minimum wage.

by jallen 2007-01-25 06:47PM | 0 recs

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Re: What wasteful government spending, exactly?

Sorry to nitpick, but affect is a verb, and effect is a noun.

by Left for the Left 2007-01-26 08:47AM | 0 recs

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Re: Senate GOP Leadership Tries To Eliminate Fede

Sununu voted for this because McCain did.

They are BFF, and their love will assure Johnny Sununu's defeat.

by Dean Barker 2007-01-25 02:38PM | 0 recs

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Maybe they want to have an all Democratic Senate

Seems to be the Republicans just want no one to vote for them. Next they will pass a we "hate women" bill.

by benb 2007-01-25 05:12PM | 0 recs

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Re: Google Bomb Material Wanted

I emailed the Washington DC reporter for the Arizona Republic, bringing McCain's vote for the elimination of the Federal minimum wage to his attention. Hopefully, he'll cover the story and if so, it's Google bombs away.

by gunnar 2007-01-25 05:43PM | 0 recs