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House Approves Minimum Wage Increase

In an effort to help those living underneath the recognized poverty line, Republicans in Congress last week pushed through the first raise in the standard minimum wage in the past decade - though their Democrat colleagues are complaining about how they did it. The wage increase was paired with a 10-year, $268 billion cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion dollar estates, as well as $38 billion in other taxes. The bill proposed increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25, phased in over the next three years. Advocates for a minimum wage increase were expected to cheer the decision.

While the House passed the bill with 230 to 180 votes, as per procedure in the United States, the Senate will look at the issue next week and vote on that bill or its own version. If two different versions of the bill are passed, representatives from the House and Senate will have to negotiate a compromise both houses can live with.

Republicans admit they put Democrats in the uncomfortable position of voting against both the minimum wage increase and the estate tax cut, but they also accused the Democrats of keeping the issue alive. Why would they do that, you ask? Because if the minimum wage was not increased by November, it could have been a perfect issue for the Democrats to scream about before the mid-term elections. With the perceptions being that Republicans are in danger of losing one or both houses of Congress, they aren?t eager to give the Democrats prime economic-issue ammo to use against them.