House Dems Cannot Cave on the Minimum Wage

Now that polling shows that the GOP stance against legislation increasing to the minimum wage is simply not tenable (74 percent of voters strongly favor boosting the minimum wage by more than $2 per hour), it's no wonder that House Republicans are finally going to allow a vote on such a proposal. But likewise, it should come as no surprise that Republicans are trying to add on serious anti-worker language, too, as the AP's Andrew Taylor reports.
The chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee said the GOP would embrace the increase to $7.25 per hour and probably attach a proposal passed last year that would make it easier for small business to band together and buy health insurance plans for employees at a lower cost. Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., said the minimum wage bill probably will not include tax cuts such as a repeal of the estate tax.
It was not clear what other potential add-ons might soothe unhappy lawmakers and GOP opponents of a wage increase such as the small business lobby.
House Democrats cried foul on Thursday, saying Republicans planned to add "poison pills" for their business allies. Many Democrats oppose the small business health insurance legislation because it would overrule state laws requiring coverage for procedures such as diabetes care and cancer screenings.
With all of the institutional advantages that Republicans have this year, the Democrats cannot afford to give away one of their strongest wedge issues, especially if the removal of that wedge issue is tied to truly bad legislation that will take away healthcare rights for working Americans. While I am not advocating the Democrats scuttle a minimum wage increase solely in order to increase the likelihood that they will win this fall, they must think twice before joining any Republican effort to take this issue off of the table before election day if that effort is accompanied by corporate giveaways and anti-worker amendments.
More broadly, Democrats cannot keep allowing Republicans to take away their wedge issues before elections. Elections have to be about different visions of the direction of the country. But if Republicans are allowed to co-opt Democratic ideas (just as Bill Clinton successfully co-opted Republican ideas leading into the 1996 presidential election) it's going to be difficult to impossible for the Democrats to get voters sufficiently riled up to throw out their current Representatives in favor of new ones.
It seems that Nancy Pelosi gets this -- to an extent, at least -- because she is demanding a stand-alone bill. But it's not good enough for just the leadership to stand strong against watering down this key legislation. Every single House Democrat must fall into line on this issue if Republicans try to play games with the legislation by adding amendments (which it seems they're planning to do). And if a vote is lost because a handful of Democratic Reps. care more about their own political viability than the party's chances to retake Congress, then those members should be stripped of their key committee assignments and left to rot away in the least popular and powerful committees.