PittsburghAfterDark
08-04-2006, 06:03 PM
Senate rejects GOP estate tax, minimum wage bill
Updated 8/4/2006 5:49 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A bill combining an estate tax cut with a boost in the federal minimum wage, an election-year combination engineered by Republicans, may see another vote this fall.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told senators who voted against the bill to "rethink long and hard" during the four-week recess that began late early Friday. Congress reconvenes in September.
Frist also reiterated that the GOP will not split the minimum wage apart from the estate tax, and that future votes on the pay increase will be linked to cutting taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.
"These issues must be addressed as a package, all or nothing," he said.
The Senate late Thursday rejected, 56-42, a bill fusing the cut in estate taxes with a $2.10 increase over three years in the $5.15 minimum wage. The bill also would have revived a host of expired tax cuts, including a business research and development credit and deductions for state sales taxes, college tuition and teachers' classroom supplies.
Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the measure, which passed the House last Saturday.
For Republicans, the combination could have diluted a campaign issue for Democrats who say the GOP has prevented an increase in the minimum wage for nearly a decade. It simultaneously would have advanced the estate tax, which may have an uncertain future if the Republicans lose seats in the November elections.
The GOP strategy also put Democrats in an awkward position. Democrats could have voted against the bill, thus rejecting a minimum wage. Or, they could have voted for the bill, thus supporting a tax cut on large estates.
Most Democrats voted against the bill and criticized Republicans for using a wage increase to deliver a tax cut for wealthy families.
"This Republican plan was cynical, it was contemptible, and it was cowardly," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the vote "told the Republican leadership in no uncertain terms to stop playing games with the minimum wage."
Republicans complained that Democrats voted against the bill only to score a political point, the ability to blame Republicans for being unable to pass important bills.
"They want to say that this is a do-nothing Congress," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "Their strategy is block and blame."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the idea had always been a risky.
"The bottom line is that we bet on the wrong horses. Maybe we should've taken a bet that was more likely to pay off," he said.
A few lawmakers voted against the party line.
Four Democrats joined Republicans and voted for the bill: Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Two Republicans voted against the bill: Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and George Voinovich of Ohio.
An earlier bid to bring up an estate tax bill for debate fell three votes short of succeeding. House and Senate Republican leaders had hoped adding the minimum wage, along with a package of popular tax cuts, could carry it to passage.
Under President Bush's first tax cut, the estate tax shrinks through this decade and disappears in 2010. It reappears at older and higher rates in 2011.
The estate tax and minimum wage bill would, by 2015, increase the amount of an estate exempt from taxation to $5 million for an individual and $10 million for a couple. Estates worth up to $25 million would be taxed at capital gains rates, currently 15% and scheduled to increase to 20%. The top tax rate on larger estates would fall to 30% by 2015.
Information on the bill, H.R. 5970, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov
Link (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-03-minimum-wage-bill_x.htm?csp=34)
You will now note who was willing to make a compromise.
The Republicans want nothing to do with a minimum wage increase, the Democrats want nothing to do with eliminating the death tax.
One party compromised, one screwed "the working man".
Demonrat politics at it's most obvious. Screw anyone that won't vote for them even if they're screwing their "base".
Updated 8/4/2006 5:49 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A bill combining an estate tax cut with a boost in the federal minimum wage, an election-year combination engineered by Republicans, may see another vote this fall.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told senators who voted against the bill to "rethink long and hard" during the four-week recess that began late early Friday. Congress reconvenes in September.
Frist also reiterated that the GOP will not split the minimum wage apart from the estate tax, and that future votes on the pay increase will be linked to cutting taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.
"These issues must be addressed as a package, all or nothing," he said.
The Senate late Thursday rejected, 56-42, a bill fusing the cut in estate taxes with a $2.10 increase over three years in the $5.15 minimum wage. The bill also would have revived a host of expired tax cuts, including a business research and development credit and deductions for state sales taxes, college tuition and teachers' classroom supplies.
Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the measure, which passed the House last Saturday.
For Republicans, the combination could have diluted a campaign issue for Democrats who say the GOP has prevented an increase in the minimum wage for nearly a decade. It simultaneously would have advanced the estate tax, which may have an uncertain future if the Republicans lose seats in the November elections.
The GOP strategy also put Democrats in an awkward position. Democrats could have voted against the bill, thus rejecting a minimum wage. Or, they could have voted for the bill, thus supporting a tax cut on large estates.
Most Democrats voted against the bill and criticized Republicans for using a wage increase to deliver a tax cut for wealthy families.
"This Republican plan was cynical, it was contemptible, and it was cowardly," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the vote "told the Republican leadership in no uncertain terms to stop playing games with the minimum wage."
Republicans complained that Democrats voted against the bill only to score a political point, the ability to blame Republicans for being unable to pass important bills.
"They want to say that this is a do-nothing Congress," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "Their strategy is block and blame."
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the idea had always been a risky.
"The bottom line is that we bet on the wrong horses. Maybe we should've taken a bet that was more likely to pay off," he said.
A few lawmakers voted against the party line.
Four Democrats joined Republicans and voted for the bill: Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Bill Nelson of Florida and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Two Republicans voted against the bill: Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and George Voinovich of Ohio.
An earlier bid to bring up an estate tax bill for debate fell three votes short of succeeding. House and Senate Republican leaders had hoped adding the minimum wage, along with a package of popular tax cuts, could carry it to passage.
Under President Bush's first tax cut, the estate tax shrinks through this decade and disappears in 2010. It reappears at older and higher rates in 2011.
The estate tax and minimum wage bill would, by 2015, increase the amount of an estate exempt from taxation to $5 million for an individual and $10 million for a couple. Estates worth up to $25 million would be taxed at capital gains rates, currently 15% and scheduled to increase to 20%. The top tax rate on larger estates would fall to 30% by 2015.
Information on the bill, H.R. 5970, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov
Link (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-03-minimum-wage-bill_x.htm?csp=34)
You will now note who was willing to make a compromise.
The Republicans want nothing to do with a minimum wage increase, the Democrats want nothing to do with eliminating the death tax.
One party compromised, one screwed "the working man".
Demonrat politics at it's most obvious. Screw anyone that won't vote for them even if they're screwing their "base".