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TRICKY, TRICKY. Oh, those Republicans. Tired of being such grinches on the minimum wage, they flipped on the bill, crafting a proposal to raise the wage and rollback the estate tax. The Democrats, it seems to me, have precisely the right response to this gambit:
Its political blackmail to say the only way that minimum wage workers can get a raise is to give a tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. "Members of Congress raised their own pay � no strings attached. Surely, common decency suggests that minimum wage workers deserve the same respect.""It's outrageous the Republican Congress can't simply help poor people without doing something for their wealthy contributors," said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.And it really is. But there's something kind of awesome about seeing the GOP's strings so clearly -- they really can't help the poor without further wrecking the country to aid the rich. According to my sources on the Hill, Democrats do plan to stand against this, but it's unclear whether they can really block the effort. That said, they should do their damndest. The elimination of the estate tax would deprive the government of billions that currently go to programs that help the neediest Americans -- the practical effect of this bill, then, would be a lift in wages, but also further instability and frugality in such programs as Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, and Social Security. Progressivism and regressivism, together at last.
--Ezra Klein