Congress to consider raising minimum wage?

[Schmajo]

7/28/06
http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/07/28/20060728-A1-05.html

“WASHINGTON — Making an abrupt reversal just months before crucial congressional elections, House Republicans last night were working on a package that would raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. In a vote that could come today, GOP leaders have yielded to intense pressure from party moderates and virtually all Democrats to raise the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour for the first time since 1997.

But House Republicans want a minimumwage increase tied to a measure that would allow small businesses to band together to buy health insurance for their workers. Organized labor and many Democrats oppose that plan, arguing that it would allow small companies to avoid state health-insurance mandates.

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Pryce and Republicans Pat Tiberi of Genoa Township and Steven C. LaTourette of Madison have pressed House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, to agree to a floor vote on the minimum wage and the small-business health plans before the August recess. Another Republican facing a difficult campaign, Rep. Bob Ney, of Heath, also has been pressing for a vote to raise the wage.
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But some Republicans doubt opposition to the minimum wage hurts them politically. Barry Bennett, chief of staff for Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, said, ‘Of all the things we get mail about from our district — immigration, the pension bill, Iraq — we don’t really hear a lot about the minimum wage. Not too many people work at minimum wage anymore. I don’t think it gets you anywhere politically.’
***”

It's really surprising that Mean Jean's constituents that work for minimum wage don't send complaints to her, given the sympathetic response they would receive.