Once again, the rules of the U.S. Senate have hurt the American people. With 56 percent of the Senate voting in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour and extending reductions of the death tax, a majority prevailed- but not a supermajority. I was one of the 48 House Republicans who encouraged our leadership to raise the minimum wage and was very pleased when 56 percent of the House voted to pass the measure. But 56 percent in the House is different than 56 percent in the Senate.
Some of the 44 percent of members who disagreed with combining a raise in the minimum wage with the extension of the death tax reduction want people to believe that the death tax reduction benefits only the super. Well, there are no Paris Hilton’s in the Fifth District of Ohio but what we do have a lot of are small business owners and farmers. In my district, there are more than 12,000 farms and with more than two-thirds of the new jobs in the U.S. being created by small businesses, Paris Hilton had nothing to do with this vote. I only hope we the American public can persuade the minority of the Senate who chose not to increase the minimum wage in order to satisfy their political base.