Grrrrrrrrrrrr - Dems Kill Minimum Wage Increases

[kpete]

Democrats Also Took the Minimum Wage Out Of Bush's Supplemental Request

Under the deal that Democratic leaders cut with the White House, the House will vote today on an Iraq spending measure that basically conforms to President Bush’s supplemental request, with some additional language on benchmarks. Members will then vote on a second measure containing the minimum wage increase and numerous spending measures

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-democrats-bracing-for-unpalatable-iraq-vote-2007-05-24.html

Bush can now veto the second measure with full impunity.

[NightWatcher]

1. so they accomplished nothing????

WTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTFWTF

[ThomCat]

27. They caved in 100% and accomplished NOTHING.

:grr:

How the fuck is this any better than electing republicans?

[liberaldemocrat7]

67. Do you want the minimum wage increased? Go here http://wage.dmocrats.org/

Do you want the minimum wage increased? Go here http://wage.dmocrats.org

[Richard Steele]

49. A-yup. nm

[MH1]

53. Actually that is NOT the way I read it.

I read yesterday that the Senate would vote on it as a combined bill.

The idea was for House members to be able to vote against the war funding but FOR the minimum wage increase and other items. Otherwise anti-war Dems would have to vote AGAINST BOTH.

[bigtree]

74. you've got it right. some folks would rather continue to beat up on Democrats

the OP is false

[AndyA]

2. If this is true, Pelosi is fast becoming an enemy, just like Bush is an enemy

of the people.

:mad:

[Horse with no Name]

3. So they gave him EVERYTHING he wanted

a blank check with no strings attached.

[NightWatcher]

7. not even a speedbump

[IChing]

20. OH, shit I wake up and see even worse shit

Well........At least we "support' our troops....including the ten that just died
for the "freedoms" they fight for.

:sarcasm: :banghead: :banghead:

[Warpy]

4. Full impunity? I don't think so

Hiding it in another bill was not the way to go with this. Everybody, including the stingiest bastard on the right side of the aisle, knows the minimum wage needs to rise by a considerable amount. If Stupid vetoes it, he's going to alienate both parties.

Let the POS veto it. Let the POS veto it every month until he's either ousted or his term is up.

Let his party reap the whirlwind.

[Gormy Cuss]

I agree. I'm guessing that was the plan.

By isolating it Bush would have no cover ---with a veto he'd be saying no to an increase in the minimum wage with no excuses.

[Marr]

17. There won't be any whirlwind for a Bush veto. The people who ought

to be most upset will never even hear about it.

[spooky3]

37. I totally agree.

[liberal N proud]

5. The Congress does not represent the people of the United States

It is the Corporate States of America and the Constitution has been changed to For the Corporations by the Corporations.

We are just their peasants.

[enfield collector]

58. I totally agree

[NotGivingUp]

60. exactly. nt

[n2doc]

6. Oh for the love of god...Why?

The whole point is to force Shrub to have to make difficult decisions. We get nothing out of this, nothing.

:puke:

[malaise]

8. Let him veto the mimiumum wage

with gas prices at an all time high. Until the economy really bites, American citizens will do nothing about Bush. Anyone who believes the Dems will force Bush's hand is naive.

[treestar]

24. Bush is insane

A normal opposition party Congress might have a chance at making it politically difficult for Chimpy to veto a thing like this. But Chimpy is just insane - he doesn't care - he's going to do what he says God tells him even in 99% of the people opposed - he's already proven that. Forcing his hand seems like not an option. The Amurkan people can accept it to, they chose him for President (leaving aside arguments they cheated - even if they did, we are stuck with him until 2009. He'll never resign, not matter what.)

[Demeter]

38. He's Not the Only One! He's a Vector Spreading Insanity Across the Globe

and I'm coming down with it.

[wakeme2008]

9. He will vote the minimum wage and blame it on the

Spending measures. :grr:

[Le Taz Hot]

10. Mark this day on your calendar.

LTH is officially speechless. :banghead:

[Individualist]

11. I'm not at all surprised.

[gravity]

12. Shouldn't minimum wage be it's own bill?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

30. Repugs won't pass it without a crazy tax cut.

That's the reason it hasn't moved. Unfortunately, such is life in a sharply divided Senate.

[depakid]

63. That's the reason why it was attached to Iraq funding

so that we could get around Republican fiscal irresponsibility.

There's NO WAY AT ALL to paint this as anything other than the most craven of sell outs.

[OregonBlue]

13. I understand that it is two votes but will go to the Senate as one bill which will go to

the president as one bill. Maybe I'm wrong but that is what I read.

[Bluerthanblue]

14. her talk is empty if this is the best she can do- * is on

the tube now gloating and strutting.

what a dissapointment-


what a reality check- our 'democracy' is toast.

[bigscott]

22. the new congress

has completely disappointed me - i had such high hopes for these congressmen/women - once again i am let down. Sometimes I wonder why the fuck i bother getting my hopes up. Six months into the term and what have the accomplished that we asked them (read:elected them) to do? Fuck the 100 days - this is all bullshit

[Bluerthanblue]

26. 'new improved ' but when you come right down

to brass tacks it's the same old same old-

and we common people are impotent.

how i wish i could be comfortably numb.

[Clovis Sangrail]

15. I thought they were being submitted as a single bill

listening to the reading on CSPAN this morning it sounded like if both pass they will be merged and submitted as a single bill

:shrug:

[wakeme2008]

16. kick and nom nt

[Neecy]

18. gee, what more can they hand Bush?

Maybe a new truck for the "ranch"...or a cool new military costume...maybe a few bones for his dogs.

Welcome to the new boss, same as the old boss...

[durablend]

68. How about a diamond encrusted gold crown

Since we're pretty much headed that way, get the coronation over with already...

[Beelzebud]

19. Reid and Pelosi BOTH have got to go. They are USELESS.

I owe no allegiance to these two professional grifters.

Such a shame the Democratic party has convinced so many good liberals that it's evil to vote for a 3rd party.

[MessiahRp]

25. I agree that Pelosi and Reid need to go and NOW

THIS is why people don't vote for fucking Democrats. Republicans might be wrong in every fucking way possible but at least they have a spine about what they believe in.

The Democrats are proving to the masses that they are fucking cowards.

I'm almost to the point of complete abandonment here. I say take the good Dems to another party and take back our country that way.

There's Liberals, Republican-Lite (Democrats) and hardcore Right Wingers (Republicans).

The Liberals are the only one without a major party representing them and most of America agrees with them on pretty much every issue right now.

Rp

[Nite Owl]

21. Can't find the link but

but on DU last night there was an article about how the house was going to pass two bills and send it to the Senate as a package for one vote. In the end it would be one bill. I'm figuring this is the only way that it can get through the house or it wouldn't pass and there would be no bill because the GOP house members wouldn't vote for the whole package just the part they want, the war funding. * gets to sign the whole thing then. I don't know if this was right or not, it seems that information is really scarce on what is in this bill.

[magellan]

23. WTF?!?!

And yet some still insist the Dems are BETTER than the Repugs? In the face of this and caving on the war funding and dealing on Free Trade without a caucus and secret votes (according to DailyKos), I'd like to know HOW.

[snappyturtle]

31. I think they just DO it...no protocol, no rules and definitely

not respresentative of the country. THEY do what THEY WANT....I guess that's how it works.

[MLFerrell]

28. I worked for five years to get THIS bunch of fucks elected?

That's it, I'm changing my registration back to Libertarian. I mean hell, if the Democratic party's elected officials are going to be a slave to corporate interests, what's the difference? At least the Libertarian party supports non-interventionist foreign policy, and an end to the war on some drugs.

Fuck the Democrats. Fuck the Republicans more, but fuck the Democrats!

[IronLionZion]

29. What makes you think he'll veto it?

So far he has just vetoed stem cell research and threatened to veto the troop withdrawal deadline. He has signed everything else so far.

I think the brave move is to keep it separate from the Iraq spending. Let's roll with this and champion our cause loudly instead of doing it in a sneaky way that is hidden from the public. The people want the higher minimum wage. Let's do this.

[Roxy66]

32. If he vetos it.... He will look like an ASS

[YOY]

34. We all know he's not afraid of doing that...

n/t

[bamacrat]

33. BOOO Crappy politicians.....

HOORAY BEER!

[Gregorian]

35. No wonder Congress elected to go to war in Iraq;.

I knew it. And people wonder why I've been so pessimistic.

Well, it's early and this is what I see through blurry eyes in the a.m.

[Ganja Ninja]

36. "Thank You Sir! May I have another?" n/t

[Mark Twain Girl]

42. Lordy, yes, no kidding... n/t

[ananda]

39. It's a one party corporate state dictatorship.

Need any more proof?

Anyone not convinced?

[Perky]

40. I understtod this was an amendemnt and not a a seperate measure.

If they pulled it out of the supplementall there is no reason for any DEM to vote for it ever.

[alfredo]

41. Put the Republicans on the record on the minimum wage.

They are already sweating 08. Voting against the minimum wage is like sticking their head in a chipper.

[WinkyDink]

45. You think so? With which voting demographic(s)?

[alfredo]

48. It is just another bit of evidence that the Republicans don't care

about us. Every bit of evidence of their cavalier attitude to the working class helps us.

I think it would pass on its own, but bush will veto it. I think we could override his veto. If not, the Reps will pay.

[MrPrax]

57. How?

R U seriously trying to say that President and the Republican Party, that is cruising below 30%, is going to catch a 'cold' from this veto?

How?

The people that might be in favour of it are hardly under any illusion about what Republicans' think regarding workers and wages?

Who else?

The people in the democratic party that might have wanted to see this passed?

Well I dunno if I would add that accomplishment to any door knocker speech -- "we failed even the minimum wage test, so now we will use it as a device to tell our own supporters how nasty the Republicans are?"

You actually think that the average American voter is going to ignore everything else and shout, "Gosh if only that bastard Bush didn't veto the minimum wage?"

Well good luck on that....

[WinkyDink]

43. What the Democrats miserably fail to grasp is that the 2006 Election results

were based on the public's conviction---a most recent one, it should be said---that the Democrats would be DIFFERENT; that they would CHANGE THINGS, esp. the "war".

If the Democrats do NOT, and quickly, change things, the voters will go right back to the Republicans.

STRIKING EXAMPLE:
http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/state/all-a1_5poll.5863352may24,0,3180312.story?coll=all-news-hed

[Bake]

44. If it had been in the war spending bill

That would put our side in a very bad spot: vote FOR the bill in order to get the minimum wage hike, and incur the wrath of anti-war Dems for funding the Iraq insanity, OR vote against the bill because they oppose funding the war and be on the record as voting against the minimum wage.

That's a stupid position to put ourselves in, don't you think?

Bake

[jefferson_dem]

61. I totally agree. With the "sweeteners" removed it makes it much easier to vote

against continuing to rubber stamp Chimpy's war mongering.

So...two steps - reject the war; raise the minimum wage.

[sakabatou]

46. WTF?!

:banghead:

[Blue_Roses]

47. It doesn't say that they took this out anywhere in the article

they are voting TWO bills. :shrug:

[Blue_Roses]

52. Here's the bill

H.R.2206
U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 (Introduced in House)

Subtitle A--Fair Minimum Wage

SEC. 7101. SHORT TITLE.

This subtitle may be cited as the `Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007'.

SEC. 7102. MINIMUM WAGE.

(a) IN GENERAL- Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:

`(1) except as otherwise provided in this section, not less than--

`(A) $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after the date of enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007;

`(B) $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and

`(C) $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day;'.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

more...






http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:4:./temp/~c110pRD67D:e198384:

[Forkboy]

50. They're as useless as tits on a bull.

[memory]

51. They are focused on 08

I honestly think that their strategy and focus is all about winning in 2008 and that is why they refuse to look at impeachment or standing their ground about Iraq.
They want the Republicans to look worse than them especially around election time.
They are not doing "the right thing" as they should be and as the people told them to (by voting for Dems).
It all politics and I wish we could change that but how do we do that?
Its easy to say vote them out and put "real" Democrats in their place but there are precious few of them that aren't owned by corporations with money and power enough to run. Not to mention the media paints the genuine article like Kucinich as "fringe" and that worst of words LIBERAL.
At this point, I think we need to BOMBARD Reid and Pelosi with our voices and make them understand everything Olbermann said in his wonderful commentary.
Strategizing to win 08 instead of effecting change NOW is costing this Country dearly every day and they should be ashamed.

[Matariki]

54. The minimum wage increase, as desirable as it is, should NEVER have been in the bill

in the first place.

That's a practice that should be stopped - sticking unrelated items into legislation.

[TNOE]

55. Bastards.

Fucking bastards. I just paid $3.50 for gas this morning!!! Rent just went up AGAIN, etc., etc., etc.

[Ilsa]

56. We can't even get minimum wage increases for the poorest of the

working poor? I'm really ashamed of this country, and ashamed of this Congress. And George W. Bush is a fucking bastard.

[JVS]

59. ugh!

[depakid]

62. Unbelievable- even I didn't think it would get this bad

It's almost as if a significant portion of the Dems WANT to see a viable 3rd party movement.

[peaches2003]

64. Reason there are TWO bills

They separated the Funding and the Min Wage Increase parts of the original bill so that the Dems can vote against the Funding and then vote for the Min Wage. And the Repukes could vote for the Funding and against the Min Wage.

[boobooday]

65. This makes me sick

I was thinking yesterday, when I filled my gas tank for 50 bucks, about the minimum wage workers who would have to work almost TWO DAYS for 12-14 gallons of gas.

This should be considered a CRISIS INTERVENTION for low-income families.

I keep wanting to have hope that at least the Democrats might mitigate the raping and pillaging of our country and our constitution, and they keep dashing those hopes, over and over.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :grr: :grr: :grr: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Megahurtz]

66. Woo HOO!!!!!!

:woohoo: More spinelessness! :woohoo:

:sarcasm:

[OneBlueSky]

69. "force a September debate" ????? . . .

are these people delusional? . . . do they have any concept of the damage BushCo can do between now and September? . . . Jesus, people, rent some fucking brains, will ya? . . .

[KamaAina]

70. Huh? It sounds like *McDermott* is ready to cave!

:wtf:

"With a stubborn, delusional president, we're never going to win," said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.). “We're dealing with an administration that refuses to deal with reality. We have no way to evict him from office."

Psssst! Jim, it's called "impeachment". Go to the White House executive washroom and pull on the roll of T.P. labeled "U.S. Constitution". :sarcasm: A few sheets down, you will see Article II, Section 4:

The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

[Herman74]

71. I don't think The Chimp will veto the minimum wage increase...

...Rove knows that if it were vetoed, Bushie's approval rating would drop to the mid-twenties, and the veto would further hurt Republicans' chances next year.

[Polemicist]

72. Naw, the minimum wage is still part of the deal...

Pelosi just did a maneuver so that Dems could vote for the spending bills and the minimum wage, while voting against the supplemental war funding. She knew the GOP warmongers would vote for the war money, so she split them to get both passed.

The two House bills are going to be combined with the Senate version in Joint Committee, into one bill sent to Bush for his signature.

The Minimum Wage increase, Katina funding and all the other stuff is going to be in the final version that lands on Bush's desk.

[Virginia Dare]

73. That is INCORRECT...

go back and check your facts and edit your post please.

[bigtree]

75. is it possible for folks to read and think before bashing the party?

this has been discussed in detail. The OP is false.

[Virginia Dare]

76. one of several that are incorrect..

and still on the GREATEST page...:mad:

[elehhhhna]

77. Time to impeach the whole effing Government. All of them.