The U.S. Senate rejected competing
Republican and Democratic proposals to raise the $5.15 hourly
minimum wage as lawmakers conducted what amounted to a staged
debate about whether increases would help or hurt low-paid
workers.
A proposal by Massachusetts Democrat Edward M. Kennedy to
raise the minimum wage to $7.25 over two years failed to get the
60 votes for passage required under an agreement with
Republicans. The Senate also defeated a Republican proposal by
Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to raise the wage to $6.25
over 18 months.
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Both were offered as amendments to legislation that would
make it harder for consumers to cancel debts in bankruptcy.
Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican, urged senators to defeat
both proposals because leaders of the House of Representatives
have agreed to seek passage of Senate-passed bankruptcy
legislation without amendments.
“I hope, candidly, we don’t pass either one of these
amendments at this time,” Santorum said. “I don’t think it is
any secret we would very much like to keep this (bankruptcy) bill
on the floor the way it came out of committee.”
Kennedy’s proposal fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed for
passage. Santorum’s amendment came within 22 votes of the
required total.
Kennedy chided Congress for failing to allow debate last
year or to raise the minimum raise since 1997, although lawmakers
since then have voted themselves five annual pay raises totaling
$28,500.
“It’s baffling to me why in the world we can’t get an
increase now,” he said. “What is the reason when we heard so
much about values. Don’t we think that rewarding work is a
value?”
Last year, Senate Republicans used procedural tactics to
avoid votes on Kennedy’s proposal before last November’s
election.
“The purchasing power of the minimum wage is now at
probably its second-lowest purchasing level in the history of the
minimum wage,” Kennedy said.
Republicans said any increase would hurt small businesses
and the lowest-wage workers by making it more expensive to hire
new employees.
“When you raise the minimum wage, you price workers out of
the market,” said New Hampshire Republican John Sununu. He
mentioned entry-level workers, first-time job seekers and those
making the transition form welfare to work.
To offset the impact on small businesses, Santorum proposed
expanding the number of small business whose workers are exempt
from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and
giving tax breaks to restaurants and other small businesses. His
plan would have raised to $1 million from $500,000 the annual
revenue of small businesses exempt from the overtime provisions.
Kennedy said his proposal would reach about 7.3 million
workers and dismissed Republican arguments that raising the
minimum wage 41 percent over two years would fuel inflation.
The increase amounts to “less than one-fifth of 1 percent
of the $5.4 trillion” earned each year by U.S. workers, he said.
He said a worker earning the current minimum wage of $5.15 an
hour earns $10,700 a year, which is $5,000 below the poverty
level for a family of three.
Santorum urged senators to consider the minimum wage as part
of legislation to extend welfare reform legislation enacted in
1996. He called his proposal “much more targeted relief” for
low-wage workers than Kennedy’s “very blunt, forceful and
destructive” proposal.
Democratic Leader Harry Reid urged passage of Kennedy’s
proposal, saying “a hard day’s work should bring a decent day’s
pay.”
Bloomberg News
