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.”
Unsubscribe from The Progress Report:
http://www2.americanprogressaction.org/dia/organizations/americanprogress/content.jsp?content_KEY=1098&t=ActionFund.dwt