Senate ups wage to $7.25 over two years

Yahoo! News The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to boost the federal minimum wage by $2.10 to $7.25 an hour over two years, but packaged the increase with controversial tax cuts for small businesses and higher taxes for many $1 million-plus executives

Why is it controversial. They are raising taxes on $1 million-plus executives. Do the House Dems oppose tax cuts so much, even on small mom-and-pop businesses that are going to be hurt the most by the minimum wage increase, that they are willing to risk the increase in the minimum wage.

.... The bill must now be reconciled with the House version passed Jan. 10 that contained no tax provisions. House Democrats have insisted they want a minimum wage bill with no strings attached, though some have conceded the difficulty of passing the legislation in the Senate without tax breaks.

Maybe they will be so stupid as to refuse to pass the bill at all, and the small businesses will not be hurt, and the fat cats can avoid a tax increase.

Republicans stressed the importance of the business tax breaks in the bill, though it was a significantly smaller tax package than Republicans had sought during previous attempts to raise the minimum wage.