Reply #67: House Slates Vote on Raising Minimum Wage

[54anickel]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2247552&page=1

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House Republicans have yet to unveil the specifics of the bill and have been mulling what to add to it to ease the sting on small businesses and other constituencies such as the restaurant lobby. GOP aides and business lobbyists said no final decisions had been made about the specifics of the add-ons. Lawmakers were hoping to vote on the bill by Friday night.

Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said Thursday that GOP leaders may attach a proposal passed last year that would make it easier for small businesses and the self-employed to band together and buy health insurance plans for employees at a lower cost.

That idea was blasted as a "poison pill" by Democrats and labor unions. The small business health insurance bill exempts new "association health plans" from state regulations requiring insurers to cover treatments such as mental health and maternity care. And opponents fear they would offer inferior prescription drug benefits.

Opponents of the idea also worry that the new health plans would skim healthier workers from traditional plans, thereby increasing the costs and pressures on those plans.

"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.

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Lawmakers fear being pounded with 30-second campaign ads over the August recess that would tie Congress' upcoming $3,300 pay increase with Republicans' refusal to raise the minimum wage.

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Watch for another screwing of the American working class in those "unveiled specifics". :eyes: :hurts: