Ah, it’s refreshing to see that it’s back to politics as usual. From the Wall Street Journal (subscriber link):
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.
The vote sent a message to House Democrats and liberals in the Senate that only a hybrid tax and minimum wage package could succeed in the Senate. But any tax breaks in the bill would put the Senate on a collision course with the House, which is required by the Constitution to initiate tax measures.[...]
Mr. Reid is backing an $8.3 billion tax package that would extend for five years a tax credit for employers who hire low-income or disadvantaged workers. It also extends until 2010 tax rules that permit businesses to combine as much as $112,000 in expenses into one annual tax deduction.
The cost of the proposal would be paid with revenue realized from a proposed cap of $1 million on executive compensation that can be tax deferred. The tax package also would end deductions for court settlements or punitive damages paid by companies that have been sued.
The WSJ article doesn’t mention how the American Samoa crisis would be addressed by the Senate. You may recall that the minimum wage bill includes language to kill Abramoff’s pet sweat shops in the Northern Marianas, but apparently failed to include language that would make the minimum wage apply in American Samoa, where Pelosi’s investments in a tuna canning plant would be impacted…despite Pelosi’s pledge that American Samoa would be brought under the bill.