Rapid Response: TELL SENATORS TO OPPOSE BAIT AND SWITCH MINIMUM WAGE PASSED BY THE HOUSE
The House of Representatives voted July 29 for a bill that:
-- CUTS THE PAY OF SOME MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS while raising the pay of others at an unacceptably slow rate.
-- GIVES BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TAX CUTS TO WEALTHY HEIRS to fortunes from Wal-Mart and other low-wage businesses.
To make matters worse, more tax cuts for the nation's richest heirs will translate into:
-- MORE BUDGET CUTS in health care, education, environment, community economic development and other vital services and infrastructure.
-- Hundreds of billions of dollars in INCREASED NATIONAL DEBT to be paid by working families in the future.
House bill HR 5970, The Estate Tax and Extension of Tax Relief Act of 2006, slowly raises the federal minimum wage to $5.85 an hour on January 1, 2007,
$6.55 on June 1, 2008, and $7.25 on June 1, 2009. In those three years, inflation will shrink the long-overdue raise.
HR 5970 cuts the minimum wage for tipped workers in seven states. Under current federal law, employers can pay tipped employees as little as $2.13 an hour if tips bring their pay to at least $5.15. Seven states require the same minimum wage rate for tipped and non-tipped employees: Alaska, California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. HR 5970 cuts the wages of tipped employees in these states by striking down state and local laws that require employers to pay a full minimum wage without relying on tips from customers. It would deal an especially severe blow to workers in states such as Oregon and Washington where the minimum wage is now $7.50 and $7.63 respectively, and adjusted annually for inflation.
HR 5970 undermines the Fair Labor Standards Act. As the Economic Policy Institute explains, "HR 5970 is the first time in history that the federal government has acted to put a ceiling on minimum wage levels, rather than establishing a national floor from which the states can make improvements."
TAKE ACTION NOW!
Call Your Senators Toll-Free, 800-459-1887* and tell them:
Vote NO on HR 5970 and any legislation that undermines the Fair Labor Standards Act and holds minimum wage workers hostage to budget-busting giveaways for BillionHeirs.
*The toll-free number directs you to the U.S. Capitol Switchboard - call twice; first ask for one of your Senators, then the other.
The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization whose work for social justice, peace, and humanitarian service includes campaigns for a moral budget and a fair minimum wage (www.afsc.org/economic-justice/). AFSC welcomes groups to circulate and use the toll-free number in support of nonpartisan budget goals and without linking the alert to a website soliciting donations or actions which may be used to support partisan lobbying or work.
RESOURCES
Let Justice Roll, States With Minimum Wage Above $5.15 Federal Rate http://www.letjusticeroll.org/stateminimumwagechart.html
Economic Policy Institute, House-passed minimum wage bill cuts wages for tipped employees in seven states by as much as $5.60 per hour, 7/31/06
http://www.epi.org/printer.cfm?id=2446&content_type=1&nice_name=pm114
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Comparing the House Minimum Wage and Estate Tax Proposals: Who Benefits and By How Much?, 7/28/06 http://www.cbpp.org/7-28-06tax2.htm
United for a Fair Economy and Public Citizen Congress Watch, Spending Millions To Save Billions: The Campaign of the Super Wealthy to Kill the Estate Tax, April 2006 http://www.faireconomy.org/reports/2006/EstateTaxFinal.pdf
*** PLEASE VISIT WWW.LETJUSTICEROLL.ORG FOR MORE INFORMATION ***
- Stephen Rockwell's blog
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Rich Republicans and the mustard seed.
I received another action call today on this issue. What the Republicans are doing is some of the most unbiblical tax policy i've ever seen. In order to raise the minimum wage for what Jesus called the least of these, we're giving another tax break in the estate tax to wealthy people who didn't ask for the tax and don't need it. Maybe some of the Christian wealthy realize Jesus's pronouncements against wealth. It will be interesting watching some of those rich, supposedly Christian, Republicans on Capitol Hill try to get squeeze themselves into a mustard seed getting into heaven.
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Within 24 hours, the Senate is expected to vote on a bill that demands $750 billion more in tax give-aways to America's super rich in order to raise the minimum wage just $2 an hour for America's lowest-paid workers. America's minimum wage workers haven't gotten a raise in over nine years! They deserve a raise with no strings attached.
The outcome is still in doubt. Please use our toll-free number below to contact your Senators immediately. Tell them to reject the cynical right-wing bill (HR 5970). Tell your Senators, "Don't hold the minimum wage increase hostage to more tax give-aways for America's wealthiest."
Call your Senators now, toll free, at
1-888-355-3588
Please click here to let us know you called.
This bill isn't about partisan posturing or clever compromises. It is about right and wrong.
It's simply wrong that Congress blocked efforts to raise the minimum wage for nine years -- and, in that time, raised their own salaries seven times, adding $35K to their incomes.
It's simply wrong that the conservative majority in Congress would seek to lavish $750 billion more in tax give-aways on America's wealthiest when they say deficits forced them to cut $12 billion from college loans, even while interest rates went up for students and parents.
And, it's simply wrong to hold a long overdue increase in the minimum wage hostage to yet another tax give-away for the richest Americans.
This bill just ain't right. And you should call your Senators and tell them so.
Call your Senators now, toll free, at
1-888-355-3588
Please click here to let us know you called.
Thank you so much for adding your voice to this fight.