This week, low-wage workers will get their first mandated pay increase since 1997, when the first phase of the Democrats' minimum wage bill comes into effect and boosts the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $5.85. The minimum wage will then increase by 70 cents every till 2009, when the national minimum wage will come to rest at $7.25.
All in all, not bad, and a real, tangible accomplishment for the Democratic Congress. Brian Beutler thinks having this legislation to point to will give "the Democratic leadership...a freer hand to bring one of a handful of its Constitutional crises with the president to a head." In other words, having something tangible lets them pursue abuses of power without being subject to the "get something done!" charge. I'm skeptical, even though I don't think the Democrats are going to get much done beyond the minimum wage no matter what they spend the rest of the session on. It wouldn't matter if they were passing six pieces of legislation daily. As soon as they begin focusing on more abstract issues of executive privilege and power, the GOP will accuse them of neglecting the people's work. This despite the fact that the GOP is obstructing that same work in a literally historic fashion.
You know, if we had a press that pointed these sorts of things out, this would be a moot point, and folks would understand why the executive power questions are tied in with what the Congress can and cannot do. But we do not have that sort of a press.
