Posted on 11/16/2006 11:10:42 AM PST by Quilla
It looks like full steam ahead for a significant boost to the federal minimum wage when Democrats assume control of Congress in January.
Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said Thursday that increasing the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 would be his top priority as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
On the House side, incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., already has listed an increase in the minimum wage as one of the issues that would be taken up during the first 100 hours of the next Congress.
"Americans are working harder than ever, but millions of hardworking men and women across the country aren't getting their fair share," Kennedy said during a speech outlining his legislative agenda for next year. "We're not rewarding work fairly anymore, and working families are falling behind."
President Bush signaled readiness last week to consider some Democratic priorities such as a minimum-wage increase, overhauling immigration policy and finding compromise on renewing the No Child Left Behind education law.
Critics of boosting the minimum wage say it kills job creation as employers hire fewer entry-level workers to compensate for the higher wage expenses. Kennedy said the minimum wage has remained at $5.15 an hour for nearly 10 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
This will be disastrous to many small businesses.
The city of Los Angeles just voted last night to force all companies in the city to pay $10.64/hour living wage. All companies, not just those doing business with the city like they did before.
But the Republican's tried to pass one and the demonrats defeated it...or did I read that wrong at the time???
I hope Bush is warming up his VETO stamp.... but I doubt it.
Disasterous for small business. Does this mean the Dems are going to raise their own salary also?
Bush has a veto stamp. Have you told him about it.
I doubt there are millions of people making the minimum wage.
And the republicans voted twice to increase the minimum wage this much, each time along with other things THEY wanted to pass, so it's hard for them to argue now that it's bad to do so.
Just be glad they aren't trying for ten bucks an hour now that they have the majority.
What will this do to McDonald's $1 menu?
He worked hard, got a raise to $5.50.
He worked well, got a raise to $6.00.
He worked very well, got a raise to $6.50.
Now he's gotta watch as the new kid (if they hire one) gets the same thing he gets.
A lot of small businesses are going to go bust, and a lot of low wage workers are going to be unemployed. I hope that the GOP legislators understand that before they decide how to vote.
I'd be shocked if introducing a raise wasn't their first piece of business.
This is all about the unions. Min wage goes up- union wages must rise.
Free money!
I'm pretty sure the pilot light went out.
"This will be disastrous to many small businesses".
...raising the minimum wage to $7.25 will not be disastrous. At present, very few companies, fast food etc pay less than $7.00. This whole minimum wage fiasco is the "FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS IN OUR 1st HUNDRED HOURS" (said in deeply toned echo) because it's popular. People are truly too stupid to realize how worthless it is. Dems get a quick thumbs up. THEN they can really sock it to us. Any minimum wage is wrong. It's wrong for government to tell a private business owner how to operate, but we have so many under-acheivers/losers it's a feather in the dem hat.
I believe that only applied to the hotels around LAX but it's still outrageous.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1739416/posts
anyone here ever gotten a 40% raise?
I don't think his office came with one.
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