How About Giving Us a Raise?

Congress has record low approval ratings, but that did not stop them from voting themselves yet another yearly pay raise. I would not exactly wait by the mailbox for a thank-you card for the $3,300 in extra cash we paid them. That brings the grand total to $168,500 if you were wondering. I don't think Representative Matheson, a dem from Utah, made any friends when he suggested (oh, the horror!) that there should be an up-or-down vote to block the increase. That novel idea got shut down as fast as my fantasy final in the World Cup: Trinidad and Tobago vs. the good old USA. (I'll explain that one later.)

Let's hope we can be the gander to their goose and they show us as much financial compassion as they showed themselves. I was in college the last time the American worker got a raise and I think we more than deserve it. A new Pew Research Poll found that 83% of Americans agree with me and feel the minimum wage should be raised from its current $5.15 to $7.15 an hour, with half of the respondents saying they "strongly support" the idea. The poll showed the issue cut across party and economic lines, with all groups showing widespread support.

Republicans lawmakers read these polls and know that if it came up for a vote it would have to get bipartisan support or they might not be in Congress to collect their next raise. For the last several years, Democrats have been pushing to raise the minimum wage; Republicans have blocked it every time.

You'd think the Republicans, who so closely associate themselves with "family values" would support a hike in the minimum wage. This is a moral issue. And what could be more moral, more life-sustaining, than ensuring that a working family will be paid the wages that can keep its members functioning?

Arguments that an increase would hurt small businesses (a GOP favorite promoted by the Employment Policies Institute), or that a raise would increase unemployment, or that more teens than adults are affected by the minimum wage (seven of 10 minimum-wage workers are 20 or older, 35% of whom are their family's sole provider, and 61% of these workers are women) have been shown to be wrong.

This week the House Appropriations Committee voted to raise the U.S. minimum wage in increments to $7.25 an hour by January 1, 2009, with seven Republicans on the committee supporting the Democratic amendment.

The legislation faces many obstacles, but as the proverb goes, every long journey starts with a small step, so let's follow them all the way to its end.

To take action and let your Representatives know that you think we deserve a raise visit citizenhunter.

If you are a Citizen Hunter in Arizona, California, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma or Ohio, look to a ballot box near you as you will get to vote, and hopefully join 18 other states who got tired of waiting for D.C. to figure it out and raised the minimum wage above the federal level on their own.

Learn how to take action in your state at www.citizenhunter.com