Note: Please see the list of Republican Obstructionists at the end.
This will be a quick one. But the Republicans seem to have learned nothing from last year's elections. Republican senators have just filibustered a clean minimum wage increase. The reason? They want big corporate giveaways if we want the minimum wage bill passed.
AP Reports:
On a 54-43 vote, Democrats lost an effort to advance a House-passed bill that would lift the pay floor from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour without any accompanying tax cut. Opponents of the tax cut needed 60 votes to prevail.
There is no way the Republicans are going to let the minimum wage be increased unless we consent to a big corporate tax cut. And there is no way we should let them get away with this. They want a tax cut bill? Fine, they can introduce an amendment in the senate, and see it get voted down. It is unconscionable that 43 senators would block a clean minimum wage increase supported by nearly 80% of the American people.
And that's where we come in. Let's make them regret this vote for the rest of their lives. Below is a list of the senators who voted to block this bill. Let's spread the message and flood their offices with phone calls, and get the message out to their constituents in any way possible that their senator doesn't want the minimum wage increased. Let's play hardball.
Here are the 5 Republicans who voted with us:
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Warner (R-VA)
Brownback (R-KS) did not vote.
And here are the Republicans that voted against it: (sorry, tracking down contact info on 43 senators is taking a little time, but the capital switchboard number is 1-800-839-5276 which you can call and ask for any senator:
Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Dole (R-NC)
| Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) | McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Roberts (R-KS) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Smith (R-OR) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Thomas (R-WY) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) |
I'll be working on the contact info, but I am at work, so it's cutting into this!
Please also read Developing: Clear Minimum wage Bill Dead by unlabeled.