How can these senators sleep at night?
From Hearst Newspapers via truthout.org:
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US senators - who draw salaries of $162,100 a year and enjoy a raft of perks - have rejected a minimum wage hike from $5.15 an hour to $6.25 for blue-collar workers.
Can you believe it?
The proposed increase was sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-MA, and turned down in the Senate by a vote of 51 against the boost and 49 in favor. Under a Senate agreement, it needed 60 votes to pass.
All the Democrats voted for the wage boost. All the negative votes were cast by Republicans.
Four Republicans voted for it. Three of the four are running for reelection and were probably worried about how voters would react if they knew that their well-heeled senators had turned down a pittance of an increase in the salaries of the lowest paid workers in the country.
The minimum wage was last increased in 1997.
Kennedy called the vote "absolutely unconscionable."
The lawmakers are hardly hurting. They get health insurance, life insurance, pensions, office expenses, ranging from $2 million on up, depending on the population of a state. The taxpayers also pay for their travel, telecommunications, stationery and mass mailings.
AFL-CIO president John Sweeney said the rejection was "outrageous and shocking."
Sweeney said minimum-wage workers "deserve a pay raise - plain and simple - no strings attached."
He said it is "appalling that the same right-wing leaders in Congress - who have given themselves seven pay raises since the last minimum wage increase - voted down the modest wage increase proposed by the Kennedy amendment."
During the same period since 1997, raises that the Senate has given itself bolstered senatorial pay by $28,000 a year, Kennedy said.
"If we are serious about helping hard-working families, we will give a fair raise to America's low-income workers without taking away essential protections," he added.
The Senate also killed an amendment proposed by Sen. Michael Enzi, R-WY, which also would have increased the minimum wage by $1.10 but included drastic measures such as wiping out the 40-hour work week, cutting overtime pay and weakening job safety and health protection.
At the same time, Enzi wanted to sweeten the pot for small business by providing tax and regulatory relief and to exempt small business from the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Kennedy likened the Enzi bill to an "anti-worker poison pill" and said it would "severely hurt millions and millions of workers."
According to the Census Bureau, there are 37 million Americans living in poverty, up 1 million in just a year.
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