you already have the information. As I walked by the television the other night, I overheard the tail end or summary of something. It seems the democrats want to raise the national minimum wage to $7 something by 2006? The next statement said the conservatives are debating to raise it to $6 something per hour, but what came next floored me. Mentioned was some want to do away with the 40 hour work week? Tell me I am wrong!
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is gearing up for a vote on whether to raise the minimum wage for the first time in eight years as Democrats and Republicans offer competing proposals they want to add to bankruptcy legislation.
Looking ahead to the expected votes Monday evening, the Democratic plan would increase the current $5.15 hourly minimum by more than $2. The GOP proposal couples a more modest raise with a change to the 40-hour work week.
The plan from Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, also includes tax and regulatory breaks for small businesses. His amendment would lift the minimum wage by $1.10 over 18 months, in two steps of 55 cents.
The rival proposal from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, would boost the wage to $7.25 in three increments over 26 months.
The bankruptcy bill, long a priority for Republicans, is intended to make it more difficult for people to eliminate personal debts by declaring bankruptcy.
The minimum wage amendments will need 60 votes in the Senate to survive; it is not clear if either one has that support.
A minimum wage increase faces a tougher road in the more conservative House. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin, said late last week that the House was ready to quickly pass the Senate's bankruptcy bill under the condition that the Senate reject any further substantive amendments.
DeLay also had said that the House had no plans to vote this year on a minimum wage increase, which business groups claim would drive up costs and force small businesses to lay off workers.
Santorum's proposal contains an idea that Republicans have advocated, without success, for years: "flex-time," which gives employees the option of shifting their work hours over a two-week period. Supporters say this would allow workers to adjust their schedules to meet family needs.
Kennedy said this would end the 40-hour work week by denying workers overtime pay for up to 10 hours every two weeks.
Kennedy also said restaurant workers would be harmed because Santorum's proposal allows tips to be credited for purposes of complying with any future minimum wage increases in states where tips are not now credited. Santorum said his plan would not reduce cash wages in any way.
The GOP plan says small business enterprises with less than $1 million in receipts would be exempt from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets minimum wage, overtime and record keeping standards. The current ceiling is $500,000.
The proposal includes more than $4 billion in small business tax breaks, headed by a 15-year recovery period for certain restaurants, at a cost of $3.4 billion. The tax breaks are offset by such measures as tightening tax requirements on companies that move their companies overseas to avoid U.S. taxes and increasing penalties on tax fraud and underpayment.
Santorum's spokeswoman said the senator is introducing his amendment in response to Kennedy's. The Pennsylvania Republican recognizes that it has been 7 1/2 years since the last raise but also wants to ease regulatory burdens on small businesses, the aide said.
Kennedy, in a statement, said the GOP plan would help only 1.8 million people, compared with 7.3 under his.
He told fellow senators that under the last minimum wage raise, voted by Congress in 1996 and reaching its current level in 1997, minimum wage workers earn $10,700 a year, $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three.
During the same eight-year period, members of Congress have raised their own salaries seven times, by a total of $28,500, he said.
Mentioned was some want to do away with the 40 hour work week? Tell me I am wrong!
No, it's true. That banter has been going around for years. It will never happen in my lifetime (i hope). Look what wonders it did for the French and German economies.
This matter, minimum wage, was disussed here before. It is supposed to be a wage for entry level position and part time help. It is not a "living wage".
The higher they froce the Wage the fewer people the small business will be able to hire before they pass the cost on to the consumer. It's like a liberal dog chasing its tail. The thing is those dogs don't know their tail from a hole in the ground[8D] That's why they keep tripping.
The forty hour (some 48) work week is not going anywhere. We are seeing more and more 4 day work weeks with 10 and 12 hour days. With benefits being as costly as they are, it is better busines to have fewer workers working longer hours at time and a half than it is more workers with costly benefits. If you regular scheduled week is a 4 day 10 hour day, you don't get the o/t after 8 hiurs. You can have more people working longer hours and reduce cost.
Also, more and more companies are reclassifying positions into salaried rather than waged positons to avoid the matter entirely.
Senate defeats minimum-wage plans
Clash unfolds as part of debate on overhaul of bankruptcy laws
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate defeated dueling proposals Monday to raise the $5.15-an-hour minimum wage -- one backed by organized labor, the other salted with pro-business provisions -- in a day of skirmishing that reflected Republican gains in last fall's elections.
Both plans fell well short of the 60 votes needed to advance, and signaled that prospects for raising the federal wage floor, unchanged since 1996, are remote during the current two-year Congress.
"I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, arguing for the Democratic proposal to increase the minimum wage by $2.10 over the next 26 months.
Republicans countered with a smaller increase, $1.10 in two steps over 18 months, they said would help workers without hampering the creation of jobs needed to help those with low skills. "Wages do not cause sales. Sales are needed to provide wages. Wages do not cause revenue. Revenue drives wages," said Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming.
The Democratic amendment was defeated, with 46 votes for and 49 against. The GOP alternative fell by a wider margin, 38 for and 61 against.
While the outcome was never in doubt, Democrats said in advance they hoped to use the issue to increase chances for passage of state minimum wage initiatives in 2006, as well as to highlight differences with Republicans who will be on the ballot next year.
Kennedy accused Republicans of advancing a "deeper poverty agenda" for the poor by including several provisions to cut long-standing wage and overtime protections for millions of Americans. He took particular aim at Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, a conservative who is atop the Democratic target list for 2006 and the lead supporter of the GOP minimum wage alternative.
"The senator from Pennsylvania has a record of opposing increases in the minimum wage," Kennedy said. "He has voted against it at least 17 times in the last 10 years."
"I have not had any ideological problem with the minimum wage, " Santorum responded, adding he voted for the last increase to clear Congress, in 1996. He said the other elements of the GOP plan were designed to help small businesses and give workers more flexibility in their work schedule, and not, as Kennedy said, weaken their rights.
Democrats sought minimum wage increases in three steps of 70 cents each, to $7.25. Republicans countered with raises in two steps of 55 cents apiece, to $6.25, as well as several pro-business provisions.
These include an option for employees to work up to 80 hours over two weeks without qualifying for overtime pay; a provision restricting the ability of states to raise the minimum wage for restaurant employees; and waiving wage and overtime rules for workers in some small businesses now covered.
The clash unfolded as part of a debate over business-backed legislation to overhaul the nation's bankruptcy laws.
The overall measure enjoys bipartisan support, although no vote on passage will occur until the Senate settled the minimum wage dispute and resolved a companion controversy over allowing protesters at abortion clinics to avoid paying court fines by entering bankruptcy.
Republican aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had the votes to prevail on that showdown, as well, and send the measure to the House.
Democratic aides did not dispute that, although some held open the possibility that they would seek to delay final passage of the bankruptcy bill past the end of the week. These aides spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to predict the outcome publicly.
Democrats conceded in advance they were certain to lose the minimum wage vote, particularly given the Republicans' four-seat gain in last fall's elections.
Chief among Democratic targets was Santorum, the third-ranking member of the GOP leadership and an outspoken conservative. Democrats and Republicans alike said his decision to be the public spokesman for the Republican alternative reflected the potential significance of the issue.
At the same time, the Republicans' decision to allow a vote reflected their confidence that they could prevail. The GOP majority maneuvered successfully in the past two years to block votes on the issue, when Democrats might have won.
"When you raise the minimum wage you are pricing some workers out of the market," said Sen. John Sununu, R-New Hampshire. "It is an economic fact, and the proponents of raising the minimum wage like to dismiss this by saying we have a hard time measuring it and the economy is large."
Countered Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa: "This is a values issue. This is at the heart of what kind of country we want."
While Democrats sought only an increase in the minimum wage with their proposal, Republicans expanded theirs to include business regulatory relief as well as tax breaks totaling $4.2 billion, most of it directed toward the restaurant industry.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, and I hope I am! What I got out of the hours per workweek argument is that with the republican flex time proposal, your 80 hour two week work schedule can be split into working 50 hours one week and 30 the next. Kennedy is upset that workers wouldn't get overtime when they work that first, 50 hour work week. But flex time lets workers decide how to split up their work. It is to their benefit, so obviously since they're still only working 80 over two weeks, they shouldn't get overtime pay because they decide to work a lot one week and a little the next.
Help me do a search unless.....
