Slog - The Stranger's Blog

Line Out

The Music Blog

« Big Brother's Jack in the Box | Dedicated Followers of Fashion »

Thursday, August 3, 2006

Re: “How Will Cantwell Vote?” Answer: No Way

Posted by on August 3 at 11:49 AM

Here’s her press statement on it:

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) issued the following statement announcing her opposition to the cloture vote on the legislation scheduled for a vote before the full Senate later this week.

“The Republican trifecta plan is a perfect storm for Washington state. It cuts salaries for Washington state’s minimum wage tip workers, it does not make permanent the state sales tax deduction, and it would not make permanent the R&D tax credit. All these measures can and should be passed on their own. Therefore, I will oppose the cloture motion.

I have fought to raise the minimum wage, make the sales tax deduction permanent, and make the R&D tax credit permanent. This is a cynical ploy on the part of the Republican leadership in an election year.

Cutting the salaries of Washington’s tip workers by more than five dollars an hour is horrible. Over 122,000 tip workers could see a pay cut of as much as $5.50 an hour in our state.

Washington voters passed a minimum wage increase adjusted for inflation in 1998 by a wide margin. It is senseless to roll it back now.

I support estate tax reform.  I support a 100 percent repeal of the estate tax for 99.7 percent of all Americans, including small businesses and family farms. Every American should be able to pass their first $7 million to their children without paying an estate tax. 

A 55 percent tax rate is unfair for Americans and our small businesses and family farms deserve relief. Yet there are four years before changes to the estate tax expire, so Congress has time for a cleaner package. We need estate tax reform, but it needs to be within reason.  We need a well thought-out policy, and I will continue to push for a compromise that will truly help America prosper.

So, Cantwell didn’t take the bait. Good for her. (By not voting for cloture, it means she supports filibustering this election year political ploy by the GOP to undermine the Democrats’ advantage on the minimum wage issue.)

Her opponent, GOP Senate Candidate Mike McGavick supports the bill.

That raises a serious question about McGavick. The main theme of his campaign is: Ending the cynical partisan gamesmanship that plagues Washington, DC.

I kind of believed he was sincere about that. Until now. It seems to me, this bill represents the height of ugly politicking that McGavick claims to detest. Basically, the GOP wants to ram through a tax cut for the wealthiest .3% of Americans by coupling a minimum wage increase to entice Democrats. I agree with Cantwell that a minimum wage increase should be voted on it its own right.

The bill wouldn’t even up the minimum wage in Washington state anyway. Ours is currently at $7.63 p/h and the new fed wage would be $7.25p/h. The fed bill also includes a tip credit deduction provision would also lower the wage to $2.13/hour for workers that earn tips. In Washington that’s 122,000 people. Compare: The estate tax repeal at the Washington state level would help 250 families whose estates are valued at $2 million.

To tempt Cantwell (who was perceived as a swing vote by the GOP) the bill also had some pork for Washington businesses like Weyerhaeuser and Microsoft. I think this bill defines the cynical type of partisan politics that McGavick claims to be against.


CommentsRSS icon

This is good news. I hope Patty Murray will follow suit. I cannot think of a more cynical way for Republicans to pass such measures than combining them as they have. Another reason a line item veto would be appropriate - if we had a President with the right values using it.

So this bill gives the Feds the right to override WA laws on minimum wage? Is that even constitutionally legal? I thought the Constitution protected states' rights to decide these things on their own. As long as WA pays people above the minimum wage, it should be their business how they pay their people. What garbage.

Why does McGavick hate our hard-working waiters and waitresses so much?

I'm going to go eat in the diner across the street here next to Gas Works and tip them extra just because of how cruel McGavick and his Alaskan masters will be to them.

Oh, and Patty already said no way is she voting for this - hah! beat the other Will!

Remember, red commie Bushies don't care about states rights or constitutional rights, under God Emperor Bush, they just do a signing statement and give more tax cuts to Party Elites like they do in Red Russia.

What's the point of tipping if this bill passes? In that scenario, tipping is just a subsidy to restaurant owners so they don't have to pay their waiters a decent wage.

So they want to repeal the estate tax to give tons of money to the already fabulously wealthy... They want to simultaneously carve into the wages of wait staff... This is a very simple equation. There is no excuse for voting Republican. IT is not a difference of oppinion, it is a severe character flaw, like being racist, or liking pro wrestling. I cannot wait for them to spin this that they fought for higher minimum wage against the Dems. Nothing less than a complete outrage.

The motivation behind this bill: slavery is freedom (just like war is peace), and cutting into the working class' wages is a guarantee of continued servitude for millions of Americans working in hospitality. Wages are power, so with backlash growing, reducing wages reduces the public's power.

Keshmeshi - that's what they think in New Zealand - they get offended if you tip them.

Remember - friends who find other friends are voting GOP - well, let's just say you just found a use for that large shovel.

CLANG!

Seriously, a couple years ago one of my D friends went on a loud and obnoxious tirade against one of my R friends right in the middle of a very busy Lindas. (It was punctuated by a poetic, "You Fucking Republican!")I didn't disagree with anything he said, but i was so embarassed at the time i vowed never to be seen there with him again (that vow didn't last long). But today, i am proud of him. He, with an assist from Jose Cuervo, was fighting the good fight.

Jesus Christ, these days the following passes for a liberal opinion:
"Every American should be able to pass their first $7 million to their children without paying an estate tax."

There's really no wonder why the United States has the least social mobility in the developed world:
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3518560
(not the article I was looking for, there's a more explicit one...)

So I mean, who that had less than those 7 million dollars could vote for that women if she wasn't running against a member of a legion of hellspawn?

Something's seriously wrong in this country.

Tennis stars photos here: <a href=http://tennisstars.info>Tennis Stars</a>

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 45 days old).