AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND
The Progress Report
by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney
Amanda Terkel and Payson Schwin
www.progressreport.org
6/21/06
ECONOMY
Raise the Minimum Wage
The buying power of the federal minimum wage is currently at its lowest level in 51 years. Eighty-three percent of Americans favor an increase in the minimum wage (nearly half "strongly support" it). Yet, the House conservative leadership hasn't allowed a full floor vote on the minimum wage since the last increase went into effect, in 1997. Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee voted 34 to 28 against attaching a minimum wage amendment to a key spending bill, thus depriving it of a vote on the House floor. But last week, that same committee had agreed to attach the minimum wage amendment to a separate spending measure that funds the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services. Upon passage of last week's amendment, the House leadership announced it would delay bringing the Labor-Health bill to the floor for a vote, and in the meantime, will undoubtedly undertake efforts to strip the minimum wage provision from the bill. The Senate vote today on an amendment offered by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to raise the federal minimum wage, in three gradual installments over two years, from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. In the nine years since the federal minimum wage was raised, Congress has voted itself nine pay hikes totaling nearly $35,000 a year, while a full-time minimum wage worker’s annual pay has not budged from $10,712. Just a few days ago, House lawmakers cleared the way for a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500. "It’s the height of hypocrisy," said Kennedy.
CONSERVATIVES PLAYING POLITICS: The Senate conservative leadership is rallying opposition to Sen. Kennedy's minimum wage amendment by offering a "poison pill" measure that is meant to deter any debate on the issue. The alternative amendment, sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), would raise the minimum wage to $6.25, but would couple that raise with unpalatable "reductions in overtime pay and tax cuts for businesses." This isn't the first act of political gamesmanship by the Senate conservatives. Earlier, the Senate leadership, led by Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), floated the idea of trying to "sink the minimum-wage increase by linking it to an unrelated measure that would make it a crime to transport a minor across state lines to get an abortion." The House conservative leadership is playing its own brand of politics with the minimum wage amendment. They are using "a cruder legislative technique" -- simply refusing to allow the measure to come to the House floor for a vote. Just a week after voting to pass a minimum wage amendment out of the House Appropriations Committee, five committee members -- Reps. Bill Young (R-FL), Jim Walsh (R-NY), Don Sherwood (R-PA), Mike Simpson (R-ID), and Ray LaHood (R-IL) -- switched their votes yesterday and prevented the same amendment from being passed out of the committee on a separate bill. Two other congressmen -- Reps. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and John Sweeney (R-NY) -- voted for the minimum wage amendment last week but were absent yesterday.
Minority Whip Hoyer, a lead sponsor of the language, said he was confident a wage increase could pass on its own if allowed a floor vote, but Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said he is unlikely to allow it. "There are limits to my willingness to just throw anything out on the floor," he said.
THE JOBS MYTH: In the face of a growing movement behind increasing the minimum wage, the Right is in desperation mode and resorting to peddling regurgitated false claims that a raise hurts small businesses and job growth, increases poverty, and only benefits teenagers. In fact, the evidence as demonstrated below points in the other direction. Efforts to raise the minimum wage since 1997 have failed because business groups have opposed the measure and lobbied against it. "A group of more than 20 business organizations are fighting an increase this year, as part of the 'Coalition for Job Opportunities.'" Their members claim that they would have to cut jobs if the federal minimum wage were raised. In truth, the evidence indicates that small businesses benefit from a higher wage. A report by the Center for American Progress and Policy Matters Ohio found that the "11 states with a minimum wage above the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour had higher rates of small business growth between 1997 and 2003." A recent report from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development said last year's increase in that state's hourly rate produced $175 million in additional payroll and a $3 million boost in tax revenue, without creating job loss. Moreover, the evidence indicates higher wagers will not result in fewer jobs. A 1998 Economic Policy Institute report found that unemployment and poverty rates fell after the 1997 increase in the federal minimum wage, and economists David Card and Alan Krueger noted that increases in the minimum wage in various states in the late 1980s and early 1990s did not result in increased unemployment.
THE POVERTY MYTH: Another myth now being peddled by the right is a study by David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, that estimates poverty rates increase between 3 percent and 4 percent for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage by depressing employment of low-skill workers. But Neumark's claim belies historical evidence. Since President Bush took office, the number of Americans living in poverty has increased by 5.4 million. As Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute has argued, "The evidence unequivocally supports the view that increases in the minimum wage, by increasing the earnings of low-income workers without diminishing their employment opportunities, have historically helped to lower poverty rates."
TEENAGER MYTH: Conservatives have argued against the minimum wage by claiming that it only benefits teenagers. In 2005, about a quarter (26 percent) of minimum wage earners were 16 to 19 years old; nearly half (46 percent) were age 25 or older. A minimum wage increase would help people besides teenagers working their first job. Thirty-five percent of minimum wage workers are their family's sole earner, and 65.5 percent of these workers are women. About three-fourths (76 percent) of minimum wage earners work full-time. Sen. Kennedy writes, "A minimum wage worker, who works full-time, 52 weeks a year, makes $5.15 an hour—$10,700 a year. That’s not even enough to keep a single parent with one child above the poverty line!"
STATE INITIATIVES: House Speaker Dennis Hastert "said last week that he wanted to hold off on debating minimum wage legislation until possibly after the November elections." While Congress dithers and delays, voters in states such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Ohio stand ready this November to raise their minimum wages through ballot initiatives. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have already enacted minimum wages above the $5.15 federal level. Voters will have the opportunity to send the message to Washington lawmakers that they are out of sync with state legislatures and public opinion.
GOOD NEWS
New Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne "won praise Tuesday from both sides of Capitol Hill as lawmakers welcomed a new management plan for national parks that stresses conservation as the park service's predominant job. The policy reverses a proposal by Kempthorne's predecessor, Gale Norton, that would have shifted the parks' priorities toward recreation."
STATE WATCH
LOUISIANA: Suicide rates have nearly tripled in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
NEW YORK: Magazine survey of 36 big cities in 35 countries concludes that New York City residents are the most polite.
EDUCATION: Study finds that high school graduation rates across the nation are lower than previously believed.
BLOG WATCH
THINK PROGRESS: Progressives are unified on Iraq: Redeployment should begin immediately.
THE NOTION: Senate conservatives vote down investigation of corrupt contracting practices in Iraq and Afghanistan.
TPM MUCKRAKER: The Muckraker's Justin Rood rides the courthouse elevator with freshly-convicted Abramoff ally David Safavian.
BLOGGING FAITH: The blog of Faith In Public Life, a new group meant to ensure that the Religious Right doesn't dominate public discourse over faith.
DAILY GRILL
"If you want your taxes low, keep Denny Hastert and Bill Frist as leaders of the House and the Senate."
-- President Bush, 6/19/06, stressing the importance of keeping Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) as Majority Leader after the November elections
VERSUS
"Sen. Bill Frist (R) of Tennessee...is retiring from the Senate at the end of the current term."
-- Christian Science Monitor, 6/6/06
UNDER THE RADAR
MEDIA -- BUSH NOMINATES NATIONAL REVIEW CONTRIBUTOR TO PUBLIC BROADCASTING BOARD: Yesterday, President Bush announced his intent to nominate television producer and National Review Online (NRO) contributor Warren Bell to the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The CPB is intended to provide a buffer between independent public broadcast networks and vested or partisan interests in government. But instead of being a nonpartisan advocate of public broadcasting, Bell will likely be another advocate of Bush's agenda. Under Bush, the CPB has steadily pushed right-wing priorities, such as trying to put a conservative slant on programming. In his writings for National Review, Bell has been clear about his right-wing views: "I am thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues. I support a woman’s right to choose what movie we should see, but not that other one." He has also made it clear that he is unlikely to work in a bipartisan manner, stating in a 2005 column, "I could reach across the aisle and hug [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi, and I would, except this is a new shirt, and that sort of thing leaves a stain.” Congress and the White House need to protect independent and public broadcasting. Write your representatives and demand they save PBS from partisan operatives.
PRIVACY -- CONGRESS TO HOLD HEARINGS ON LAW ENFORCEMENT'S USE OF PERSONAL DATA: "Numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies," the Associated Press reported yesterday, "have bypassed subpoenas and warrants designed to protect civil liberties and gathered Americans' personal telephone records from private-sector data brokers." "These brokers, many of whom advertise aggressively on the Internet, have gotten into customer accounts online, tricked phone companies into revealing information and even acknowledged that their practices violate laws. ... The law enforcement agencies include offices in the Homeland Security Department and Justice Department -- including the FBI and U.S. Marshal's Service -- and municipal police departments in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Utah. Experts believe hundreds of other departments frequently use such services." Today, Congress will hold hearings on the controversial data collection. The House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee has already found that law enforcement agencies "often go to such companies for information...to save time and avoid seeking subpoenas or warrants for the information, even though the data brokers do not always obtain their information legitimately." AMERICABlog's John Aravosis, who has covered these privacy issues extensively, predicts the data broker issue is "getting hot."
GLOBAL WARMING -- MAJOR CLIMATE BILL INTRODUCED AS STUDY SHOWS SPIKE IN GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION: The U.S. Public Interest Research Group released an analysis of government data yesterday showing that 28 states more than doubled their carbon dioxide emissions between 1960 and 2001. One major culprit of the spike in emissions: Increased combustion of oil to fuel our cars and trucks, which accounted for 40% of the total rise. “Oil emissions from the transportation sector soared over the period due to a dramatic rise in vehicle travel and the stagnating fuel efficiency of vehicles, while oil emissions from every other sector peaked in the 1970s." Also yesterday, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released the Safe Climate Act, the first bill to seriously address global warming and deal specifically with how to slow, stop and reverse the release of greenhouse gases. Under the Act, the level of U.S. emissions would be "frozen in 2010, gradually reduced by 2% each year through 2020, and then reduced by 5% each year through 2050."
THINKFAST
The two missing U.S. soldiers found yesterday were beheaded and showed signs of being "brutally tortured before their death." Their remains are being sent to the U.S. for DNA testing, suggesting they "had been wounded or mutilated beyond recognition."
The recently appointed head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection spoke out against a wall being built along the Mexican border. “I don’t support, I don’t believe the administration supports a wall,” Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said yesterday. "It's not practical."
The House will vote this week on an estate tax “compromise” bill from Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA). “To lure Democratic senators from Washington state and Arkansas, Thomas included a lucrative tax break for the timber industry, pushing the total cost of the bill to nearly $280 billion.”
Not exactly a free press in Afghanistan: “In a coordinated action this week," Afghan intelligence operatives delivered an "unsigned letter" to TV stations and newspapers "ordering journalists to report more favorable news about the government."
After revelations that AT&T set up a secret room in San Francisco that provided the National Security Agency with "full access to its customers' phone calls," Salon now reveals that AT&T has a "more integral" secret room in its Bridgeton, MO facility. "Although they work for AT&T, they're actually doing a job for the government," said a former AT&T employee.
Jack Abramoff's lawyer, Abbe D. Lowell, is calling for stricter ethics reform "that goes beyond what Congress is willing to even debate."
The AP has obtained the FBI files on playwright Arthur Miller, a “longtime liberal who opposed the Vietnam War” and “supported civil rights.” (In 1956, Miller famously refused to name names before Eugene McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee.) One FBI report said Miller's "religious" wedding ceremony was a "cover up" since he was a "cultural front man" for the secular Communist Party.
The conviction of Abramoff-linked former Bush official David Safavian yesterday "could embolden federal prosecutors to seek additional indictments against cronies of Abramoff." Said one analyst, "This is the type of conviction that tends to loosen tongues."
More media consolidation on the horizon? The FCC today "will embark on a new attempt to revamp media ownership restrictions," with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin joining large media conglomerates in pushing for increased consolidation. (Just in time, The Nation has updated their graph of the National Entertainment State.)
Conservative alumni at colleges such as Dartmouth, Hamilton, and Colgate University, are attempting to take over alumni association boards and are pulling in right-wing bloggers to help them out.
And finally: Doctors are investigating the deadly effects of World Cup fever. “An exciting match can cause fans’ hearts to skip not one beat, but several, leading to a rather worrying incidence of cardiac arrest among soccer die-hards.” In an ongoing study on the phenomenon, German heart attack victims “are asked precisely what they were doing at the time of the attack, whether they were following football on the radio or television, or even watching the pundits after the game.”
Nixon 1973: "I am not a crook!"
Clinton 1998 wagging finger: "I did not have sex with that woman!"
Bush 2005 wagging finger: "I did nothing illegal!"
+ $1,899,522,392,147 Social Security Trust Fund. – $8,367,894,586,992 The Gross National Debt $3,231,274,298,946.38 in foreign oil
Time will tell all the Truth.
VT
Sean Lewis/VirtualTruth/VT
Founder AOL Group OpenDebateForum
Founder Google Group Open Debate Political Forum IMHO
Founder of Blog Sean Lewis's Virtual Truth
Creator of Web Site The Center of Virtual Truth
Owner of GMLH http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Global_Media_Lightning_Headlines/
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