ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
note: lede
The Senate approved a 90-cent increase in the minimum wage Tuesday, raising the prospect of bigger paychecks for more than 10 million Americans. Lawmakers rejected a Republican proposal to narrow the number eligible, culminating months of acrimonious debate.
The 74-24 vote to raise the minimum from the current $4.25 an hour to $4.75 initially and to $5.15 by next July was a victory for Democrats who have sought to make it a central election-year issue. Both Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Charles Robb, D-Va., voted for the measure.
``The invisible Americans who have been left out and left behind were recognized today by the U.S. Senate,'' said Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a leading proponent.
The bill was part of a package of tax breaks aimed mainly at business that passed the House by 281-144 in a similar version May 23. The two chambers still must work out differences in the tax section of the legislation.
Sen. Majority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., said he might try to block the House-Senate negotiating conference until Democrats give ground on stalled health care legislation. But Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Republicans would obstruct final passage ``at their own peril.''
Americans overwhelmingly support the increase and Nickles ``would be held responsible should he decide to pursue that course,'' Daschle said.
President Clinton urged Congress to send him the bill quickly for his signature. ``There is no reason that minimum wage workers should have to wait any longer for their raise. This is not a time to nickel-and-dime our working families.''
Vice President Al Gore made a rare appearance in his capacity as president of the Senate to oversee the final vote and stress its importance. ``If you are looking for a straw in the wind'' to see how political fortunes are blowing this year, ``look no further than this vote,'' he said.
The Clinton administration has campaigned vigorously for the wage increase and has chided Bob Dole, President Clinton's likely opponent in November, for not speaking out in behalf of it. The minimum wage issue bedeviled Dole's final days as Senate majority leader, with Kennedy and other Democrats blocking movement of other bills because of GOP reluctance to take up the minimum wage.
Dole's campaign said the Republican candidate had made clear his support of a raise in the wage and said Clinton had ignored the issue in his first two years and was now ``playing maximum politics with minimum wage.''
Clinton, while saying the increase was crucial in helping millions of working Americans escape poverty, had promised to veto the bill if it contained an amendment, proposed by Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., to exempt newly hired employees and workers in businesses grossing less than $500,000 a year.
Bond's measure would have allowed employers to wait six months before meeting the minimum wage. It would also have delayed until Jan. 1 the date for raising the wage to $4.75 and until Jan. 1, 1998, for instituting the full $5.15, both six months beyond the House-set dates.
The House bill allows for a 90-day period when teen-agers can be given a ``subminimum'' or ``training'' wage of $4.25. Bond would double that period and make it apply to all new workers.
His amendment was defeated 52-46, with five Republicans joining all 47 Democrats in opposing it. Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt., who joined GOP Sens. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Alfonse D'Amato of New York and Mark Hatfield of Oregon in voting against it, voiced concern that businesses would fire workers after six months to avoid paying the minimum wage.
The Senate also rejected 52-46 an amendment by Kennedy that would have reduced the training wage time for teen-agers to 30 days and removed House language capping the hourly wage that must be paid to those receiving tips.
Supporters of the bill argued that the minimum wage has not been raised since 1991 and is nearing a 40-year low in purchasing power. They said the $8,800 an individual can earn on the minimum wage is slightly more than half the poverty level income for a family of four.
But Republicans said the raise could force small businesses to make large-scale layoffs of low-income workers, adding to the welfare rolls.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB