Senate rejects estate, minimum wage bill

[ProSense]

Senate rejects estate, minimum wage bill

By MARY DALRYMPLE, AP Tax Writer 7 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A Republican election-year effort to fuse a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates with the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade was rejected by the Senate late Thursday.

Republicans needed 60 votes to advance their bill, which links a $2.10 increase in the $5.15 federal minimum wage over three years to reductions an estate taxes next decade. The bill got a 56-42 vote, four votes short of succeeding. The House passed it last Saturday.

For Republicans, the combination could have neutralized a Democratic campaign issue while also advancing an estate tax cut, a priority that may have an uncertain future if the GOP loses seats in Congress in November's election.

The GOP strategy put Democrats in an uncomfortable position. Either they could vote against the bill — thus rejecting a minimum wage increase — or they could vote for it — thus agreeing to cut taxes on multimillion-dollar estates. Most rejected the bill, blocking a GOP victory months before the election.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060804/ap_on_go_co/minimum_wage_estate_tax_18

[mike_c]

1. good for the dems-- they will have another opportunity to raise...

...the minimum wage after November, and they'll be able to do it without giving the wealthiest people in America yet another tax break.

[this_side_up]

2. Wrong. and is Frist making

threats?

The vote would have been 57-41, but Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., switched his vote in a maneuver preserving his right to debate the bill again this fall. He urged senators who voted against it to "rethink long and hard" before lawmakers reconvene in September.