Minimum help (updated)

Note that it's "political reality" they're giving in to, not "basic human decency."

House Republican leaders, giving in to political reality, plan a vote to raise the $5.15 minimum wage before leaving Washington this weekend for a five-week recess.

"Whether people like it or not, we need to go ahead with it," said Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supports the idea. "There's a general agreement among Republicans (opposing the raise) that "maybe we don't like it much, but we need to move forward with it just for political reasons."

Ah, doing the right thing for the wrong reason. And not a decade too soon.

It was a decade ago, during the hotly contested campaign year of 1996, that Congress last passed an increase in the minimum wage. A person working 40 hours per week at minimum wage makes $10,700, which is below the poverty line for workers with families.

Democrats have made increasing the wage a pillar of their campaign platform and are pushing to raise the wage to $7.25 per hour over two years. (By the way, someone working 40 hours per week for $7.25 an hour would make about $15,000 per year. For a family of three, that's still below the current poverty threshold. And the GOP wants to spread out that raise over three years, not two.)

In June, the Republican-controlled Senate refused to raise the minimum wage, rejecting a proposal from Democrats.

So the poor can expect help from the GOP every time Republican congressmen are worried about their jobs. Once the election passes, expect them to go right back to not giving a shit about anyone who doesn't shower them with gifts, fund their campaigns, or who makes less than six figures.

But, election or no, the GOP does nothing good without adding a little "sweetener" that makes it a little easier for the greedy swine they work for to swallow:

Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the GOP would embrace the increase to $7.25 per hour and probably attach a proposal passed last year that would make it easier for small business to band together and buy health insurance plans for employees at a lower cost.

Many Democrats oppose the small business health insurance legislation because it would overrule state laws requiring coverage for procedures such as diabetes care and cancer screenings.

Congressmen are busy people, so maybe the minimum wage just got lost in the shuffle for the last 10 years. After all, they have so many other salaries to nurture, like their own:

Inflation has eroded the minimum wage's buying power to the lowest level in about 50 years. Yet lawmakers have won cost-of-living wage increases totaling about $35,000 over that time. So House GOP leaders are bowing to the inevitable on the (minimum wage) increase.

Forty-eight Republicans, many of them moderates or representing districts with large working-class populations, wrote Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., requesting a vote this week on an increase.

"It is time for Congress to take responsible action to raise the minimum wage and ensure our hardworking constituents can provide for their families," said the letter, drafted by Reps. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, and Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J.

Whoa, not so fast, Steve and Frank:

Conservatives responded with a letter signed by 31 Republicans asking that no vote be held.

"Quickly increased labor costs unrelated to business conditions will encourage or force employers to fire employees, reduce working hours for existing employees, and/or postpone plans to hire additional employees," they wrote.

Working to block a vote on a minimal increase to a minimum wage that hasn't been raised in a decade. Trying to override state laws that mandate coverage for diabetes care and cancer screenings. It's called Looking Out for the Little Guy, Republican style.

I'm not sure how much more of their help this country can take.

UPDATE: Remember the GOP's taste for sweeteners?

The House of Representatives voted on Saturday to give some of the lowest-paid American workers their first raise in nearly a decade, while also handing a big tax cut to some of the wealthiest.

The House in the early hours voted 230-180 to raise the $5.15-per-hour minimum wage in three 70-cent steps until it reaches $7.25 in mid-2009.

The estate tax cut is estimated to help less than 1 percent of American families at a time of skyrocketing federal debt.

"Workers at the lowest end of the scale are being held hostage to 7,500 families," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record) of Maryland, the second-ranking Democrat in the House, who wanted a minimum wage increase bill without the estate tax cut.

Those 7,500 families are the number of wealthy families that would benefit from the estate tax cut. By contrast, some seven million workers would benefit from the increase in the minimum wage.

Republicans argue cutting estate taxes helps small businesses and farmers.

That last part is a lie, but a good-sounding lie. The truth is that this rollback of the estate tax is expected to cost this country more than $300 billion.

That money could pay for the entire Katrina recovery, with $100 billion left over, if Congressional estimates of the cost of the recovery are to be believed. But because that's no longer a priority for the GOP, it won't if House Republicans get their way (fortunately, the Senate probably will not play along).

Along with the Katrina recovery, if the GOP gets its way, the $300 billion also won't pay for proper equipment for our troops, healthcare for the poor and sick, vocational training for welfare recipients, Head Start and other education programs, environmental cleanup programs, more police and firefighters, housing aid for the disabled or homeless, or the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Instead, it'll be passed directly from fabulously wealthy parents to their fabulously wealthy sons and daughters. That way, neither the money nor its recipients will ever have to do anything to contribute to American society.

But look on the bright side: Maybe, if you watch MTV Cribs long enough, you'll be invited into the homes of these trust-funders to see how the money not being spent on body armor for the troops is put to use. You gotta admit, heated indoor swimming pools are SWEET.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., said that, before this election year, House Republicans "never raised a finger to help these individuals" who earn the minimum wage. He's right, of course, but he should have addded, "and almost certainly never will again."

Even when faced with contentious election fights, Republicans can't stop fucking the little guy to "help" the extremely wealthy. Makes you wonder how any person of conscience could vote Republican.

Well, if you're not super rich, they need you a lot more than you need them. They need you to keep believing their bullshit about how Democrats will take your guns away, about how we're winning in Iraq, about how eliminating mercury from your water will cost you your job, about how they're fighting to keep gas prices down, about how there's still serious debate about the reality of global warming, and about how this nation of immigrants is threatened by immigration. Most of all, they need you and your children to pay for the tax cuts they give to the people they really represent.

Give 'em what they deserve in November.