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Maybe Congressmen should only earn the federal minimum wage
Yesterday, the Senate voted on a bill which would increase the minimum wage, over the next two years, from $5.15/hour to $7.25/hour. It still wouldn’t be enough for most folks stuck earning minimum wage, but it would certainly be better than nothing, especially since there hasn’t been a federal minimum wage hike in a decade. But the bill failed. Why for, you ask?
Well, the Republicans were the ones who got in the way, so I’ll give you one guess.
Yup, shocking as it may be, they wanted tax breaks built into the bill, to help relieve the poor business that will have to pay these higher wages. ‘Cause, you know, it’s not enough that they’ve been able to get away with cheap labor for a decade.
And it’s pretty unclear what will happen now. The Senate Dems have now put forth another bill, still raising the minimum wage to $7.25, but also including $8 million in tax relief. However, this bill may have trouble in the House because of the House Dems, who say that all tax bills are constitutionally required to come from the House, may block it. Of course, we all know that no matter who wins these various pissing matches, the real losers are the folks who actually need this money.
I’ll leave you with this chart showing the depressing decline of the minimum wage’s real world value:
