Last month the American people rejected the Bush Administration’s corporate-driven policies by saying “enough” to the do-nothing Republican Congress and electing a worker-friendly majority to office. Sadly, yesterday’s remarks by President Bush calling for a minimum wage raise only if coupled with even more tax breaks for business, makes it painfully clear that the President has learned nothing from the message working people sent at the polls in November.
Since Bush took office, business has enjoyed hundreds of billions in tax cuts, while health care, secure retirements and the minimum wage have all been on government’s back burner. And now Bush is calling for even more business tax breaks. He wants to hold the minimum wage hostage to pass his agenda, as Republicans have done time and time again for the last ten years. America’s workers deserve a clean vote on a $7.25 increase, with no strings attached. Such an increase helps everyone and hurts no one, since many studies have shown that increases in the minimum wage are not linked to job loss.
Working families are looking forward to working with the new Congress next month to give America’s lowest paid workers the “clean” – no strings attached — $2.10 raise they justly deserve.