[PAA-Discuss] My article in today's Galveston County Daily News

[June Bennett Larsen]

Following is my letter that appears in today's Galveston County Daily  
News.  They edited out
everything after the sentence ". . . but the minimum wage hasn't been  
raised since 1997."

A Few Words on the Minimum Wage
June Bennett Larsen
	In 1920 $5.15 an hour would have been a princely sum for a working  
man or woman.  It wouldn’t  have been too bad in the late 1960’s and  
70’s.  But in this new millennium in the year 2006, $5.15 an hour  
will seldom get you a prescription filled on this Administration’s  
Medicare D program.  Not to mention health care insurance.  Or to put  
it another way, it takes a full day’s pay to put gas in your car.
	As an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the  
amendment to raise the minimum wage passed in the Senate a few days  
ago--but not with the help of the two Texas Senators: Kay Bailey  
Hutchison and John Cornyn.  We in Texas owe them absolutely nothing  
except to see them not re-elected when their terms are up.  Ms.  
Hutchison’s is up this year.  When you are casting your ballot in  
November, remember that Senator Hutchison did not care enough about  
you to raise the minimum wage, so why should you cast your vote to  
see her re-elected?  And two years hence, the same will be true of  
Mr. Cornyn, a Republican with a core as hard as can be seen prancing  
around Washington these days.
	Although the amendment passed in the Senate with 52 Senators voting  
for it, it fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage under a  
procedural agreement.  Democrats have petitioned for the bill to come  
to the House for a vote.
	Congress constantly votes themselves a raise, but the minimum wage  
hasn’t been raised since 1997.  Despite the Democrats’ best efforts,  
they are outnumbered in Congress by hard core Republicans who fight  
against raising the minimum wage in our country.  Republicans look up  
to the very rich and give a plethora of tax exemptions to  
corporations and high income citizens, but to average folks they  
simply look away.  Remember this in November 2006 and 2008.




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