The Morning Plum: Can minimum wage lift Dems in 2014?
The White House’s dropping of Chained CPI signals a shift towards an emphasis on job creation over austerity, which could help sharpen the contrast between the parties about how to boost people’s economic prospects, amid a stagnant recovery, heading into the 2014 elections. Central to that contrast will be the minimum wage hike.
Today it’s becoming clearer that, if the Senate can pass a minimum wage proposal, the House GOP leadership will not allow a vote on it. The Hill has dredged up an old quote from John Boehner, back when he was head of the House Republican conference: “I’ll commit suicide before I vote on a clean minimum-wage bill.”
That probably means he won’t allow a vote on it. This history is also relevant:
The only time Boehner voted to increase the minimum wage came in 2006, and that was on legislation destined for death. Boehner backed a GOP measure that raised the minimum wage to $7.25 over three years, but it also included deep cuts to the estate tax that made the bill dead-on-arrival in the Senate. In this case, Boehner was trying to help his party by scheduling the vote. The bill was an election-year gambit by Boehner aimed at keeping the minimum wage from becoming a campaign issue for Democrats in 2006, the year they won the House.
More here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/02/21/the-morning-plum-can-minimum-wage-lift-dems-in-2014/
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