Minimum Wage Debate Going Nowhere

While minimum wage was scheduled to rise in December, the Senate has postponed its debate again until late March – early April. An increase in minimum wage was one of President Obama’s top priorities in his State of the Union speech, but despite multiple strikes in the fast food industry last year, the rate has remained at $7.25.

Before the conference on minimum wage, Democrats are looking to have 60 votes in favor of the bill. However the Democratic caucus is made up of only 55 members, 54 of which are in favor of the increase in pay. As MSNBC points out, this means it would only take six Republicans to end the obstructionism. Unfortunately for the chamber vote, those six do not appear to exist yet.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has also stated that compromising to a lower minimum wage in an effort to sway some of the Democratic no-votes is out of the question. Refusing a possible compromise might cost Democrats persuading the votes of hesitant Democrats such as Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Mark Warner of Virginia. As Warner stated to SF Gate, “There ought to be an increase in minimum wage…I think there’s a valid debate about amount and timing.” When asked if there was the possibility of a compromise over the amount increase of minimum wage, Reid responded with, “Not with me.”

The ferocity to not budge on the proposed minimum wage raise is due to current calculations of where the poverty line rests. One of the authors of the bill, Sen. Tom Harkin, tells CBS News, “If you don’t like $10.10, what you are saying in effect is, ‘I want a minimum wage whereby if you work full time in a job you are going to [live] below poverty…'”

Part of the reason for the Republican resistance comes from projections that job security will decrease if minimum wage is raised. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 could result in the loss of 500,000 jobs. Senator Mitch McConnell states, “The last thing we need to be doing right now in our country is passing legislation that destroys even more jobs…”

While the standstill over minimum wage remains, it is apparent that something needs to be done, as many Americans are attempting to live with wages well below $10.10 an hour, and you can’t put life on hold for a couple months.