On April 30, 2014, Ryan Denson writes on Addicting Info:
Let’s take a step back and look at what we’ve got here: the same people who continuously complain that there are too many people on food stamps, too many people on welfare, too many people on unemployment, who haven’t passed a single jobs bill, and who think liberals are being too hard on Walmart just blocked a minimum wage raise – again.
The bill failed to pass because of a nearly party-line vote of 54-42. Even though the Democrats hold the majority in the Senate, supporters fell short of the 60 votes that would have been needed to end a procedural roadblock. Even though the Democrats have the majority, the Republican minority can say ‘no way, Jose’ and obstruct critical access that will help nearly 28 million Americans.
America, I hope you’re paying attention to what just happened: 41 Senators, all Republican (with the exception of Reid’s NO vote as a procedural move) just voted to deny 28 million workers a raise that over 70 percent of the country supports.
But, my God, we must have gotten through to one Republican – Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who joined the Democrats in voting to advance the bill, which would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour during the next three years and then adjust it for inflation in the future, something that hasn’t been done for nearly two-decades. The federal minimum wage is now at a stagnant $7.25 an hour.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had the audacity and the stupidity to mock the Democrats’s efforts, saying:
“They don’t even pretend to be serious about jobs anymore.”
This, coming from the guy who was quoted as saying bringing jobs to Kentucky “Isn’t my job.” Oh yes, you’re right, Mitch. We don’t care about jobs anymore. Because the 50+ repeal attempts of Obamacare, the countless abortion bills, the numerous false Benghazi and IRS hearings, all perpetrated by the GOP, is really a STELLAR jobs commitment.
And as if McConnell has any room to speak about jobs and the minimum wage when an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday indicated that by a 49-33 percent margin, Americans say that the Democratic Party is closer to their views on the issue than the GOP is.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has also estimated that the bill would raise the wages of about 16.5 million Americans directly and lift about a million out of poverty. Lifting working American’s out of poverty, and raising the wages of 16.5 million Americans in a recovering economy doesn’t constitute being serious about jobs? In what world does the Minority Leader live in?
President Barack Obama in February showed the Republicans hows it’s done and signed an executive order which raised the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for federal contractors beginning in 2015, and was hoping Congress would follow in his footsteps of real leadership.
But when it became clear that republicans weren’t budging, President Obama called them out:
“It’s time for Republicans in Congress to listen to the majority of Americans who say it’s time to give America a raise.”
Although I applaud the President for calling out the Republicans, it’s a fat chance that they would listen to the will of the American people. They didn’t listen when 90% of Americans wanted stricter background checks.They didn’t listen when the majority of Americans wanted to end the pay discrimination. They didn’t listen when the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, for it has been waiting legislative action in the House for over a year. Boehner, along with immigration reform and minimum wage, refuses to bring it up to a vote.
They don’t listen to the will of the people. They haven’t since they’ve promised us “jobs” and they won’t in the future. The only people that seem to care about the well-being of America are the Democrats. Never mind the fact that today’s federal minimum wage will lose two percent of its value by mid-2014; Republicans have more important things to do with their time.
