Snowe, Collins "Fail the Test"
The Times Record notes that one of the amendments to the Bankruptcy bill that our Senators voted against this week was a raise in the minimum wage.
Neither Sen. Susan Collins nor Sen. Olympia Snowe joined fellow moderate Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., and three other Republican senators, to support the Democrats' bill, which sought minimum wage increases in three steps of 70 cents each, to $7.25. All the votes in opposition were cast by Republicans, and the bill was defeated 49 to 46.
"I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said this week. So do we. In fact, so do most Americans.
A 2001 Gallup poll showed 81 percent support an increase in the minimum wage; and a January 2005 report by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found 82 percent consider increasing the minimum wage an important priority and only 6 percent oppose it.
Their two votes would have passed the
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posted by @ 3:48 PM 
5 comments
5 Comments:
You write that the votes of Snowe and Collins would have passed the bill. Thats is not true. It would have attached a poison bill amendment to the bankruptcy bill and assured its defeat. Even if the amendment had passed, it would have not become law.
Posted by George
By "bill" I meant the amendment. Sorry about the typo, but I would have thought you could tell what I meant by the context.
You're right. If the amendment passed, there were two paths the bill could take.
1. The whole thing passes and some good comes from a bad bill.
or 2. (and much more likely) the amended bankruptcy bill is killed by the House.
Either way, millions of people who need help the most benefit from the result.
An interesting note about the bankruptcy bill: it has just about no public support whatsoever. Even Instapundit and the Freepers don't like it.
Posted by Mike
Just because someone posts to free republic that they don't like something, that does not mean all conservatives are against it.
Free Republic is so fast moving that 90% of it get unread by more than a handful of people.
Posted by Steven
[How does this amendment relate to Santorum's minimum wage legislation, which was really just a ploy to take away overtime pay. What is the downside to killing the bankruptcy bill?]
*original post deleted by an error in blogspot, this is a paraphrase
Posted by Eric
They were competing amendments on the bankruptcy bill. Both were rejected.
I haven't yet heard of a downside to killing the bill. If someone reading this supports the bill, please let me know why.
If you're looking for some good reading on this subject, you can't do much better than Fiengold's remarks yesterday.
Posted by Mike