Minimum Wage and Bankruptcy Legislation
The Senate is considering legislation aimed at curbing bankruptcy abuse and providing additional protections to consumers. Fair enough.
The news surrounding the legislation comes from a proposed amendment put forth by Senator Kennedy, text here, that would increase the minimum wage by $2.10 over two years and an amendment from Senator Rick Santorum that would raise the minimum wage by $1.10 over eighteen months. The Santorum amendment, no text available yet, is drawing the ire of the left because it apparently has the gall to include measures that would increase the amount of revenue (to $1 million) required for a business to fall under the FLSA standards, currently $500k. Also drawing much attention is the idea of "flex-time." The left sees this concept as a means for employers to avoid overtime, effectively seeing an 80-hour two-week period rather than the current 40-hour per week standard before overtime is required. The intention of the change was to enable more flexibility for the employee, reduce cost and regulatory constraints on small businesses and, of course, increase the minimum wage.
Neither proposal is germane to the legislation at hand and both should be defeated.
Just for fun you might want to visit DailyKos or Nathan Newman to get the Democratic perspective.
UPDATE: Both amendments were defeated tonight. The Santorum amendment fell 38 - 61 with 17 Republicans voting against it. The Kennedy amendment fell 46 - 49 with 4 Republicans voting for it.
Why is it that no Democrats cross the lines but on almost any issue Republicans can be found ready and willing to jump ship! The Democrats may not have principled convictions when it comes to the issues, but their party principle is definitely still intact.
