As the Republican Do-Nothing Congress leaves for a month-long vacation, they left the American people with false hope and shallow promises that they would increase the minimum wage this year.

Instead, Congressional Republicans are playing election year politics again by adding a provision to slash estate taxes for the wealthiest 8,000 Americans to a minimum wage increase bill that would increase wages for 6.6 million Americans for the first time in nine years. The bill would also add $800 billion to the already-ballooning federal deficit. Democrats know this is a false choice and offer a new direction that puts increasing the minimum wage at the top of its agenda.

"The Senate late Thursday rejected, 56-42, a bill fusing the cut in estate taxes with a $2.10 increase over three years in the $5.15 minimum wage...Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the measure, which passed the House last Saturday." [Associated Press, 8/4/2006]

In the Senate, Republican Senators Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr supported this sham. In the House, Republican Representatives Charles Taylor, Robin Hayes, Sue Myrick, Patrick McHenry, and Virginia Foxx voted for this election-year stunt. In the years since Congress raised the minimum wage to $5.15 per hour, Congress has received a $30,000 raise and the President a $200,000 raise.

In contrast to the Republican Do-Nothing Congress, the Democratic-controlled North Carolina General Assembly passed a $1.00 increase in the minimum wage last month, which was signed into law by Gov. Easley and will take effect January 1, 2007.

"Senators Dole and Burr and Representatives Taylor, Hayes, Myrick, McHenry, and Foxx are playing cynical election-year politics with no intention of actually raising the pay of our lowest wage-earners," said North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek. "Even more disturbing is the Republicans' ironic pairing of the minimum wage with a tax break for the wealthy. These Republican Senators and Representatives are pocketing over $160,000 a year in Congressional pay alone. I challenge them to vote for a stand-alone minimum wage increase. Thankfully, North Carolina isn't waiting on the Do-Nothing Republicans. North Carolina Democrats have enacted a minimum wage increase."