For Immediate Release
Thursday, February 01, 2007
GOP Demand For Billions in Corporate Tax Breaks Is Political Ploy To Muddy Minimum Wage Debate
McEntee: “Business doesn’t need another break, but the working poor do”
WASHINGTON —Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, issued the following statement today after the Senate passed minimum wage legislation loaded with corporate tax breaks.
"Republicans are demanding billions in corporate tax breaks in exchange for a $2 bump in the minimum wage. As they play their political games, low-income workers continue to wait for their first raise in a decade.
"Business doesn't need another break, but the working poor do. If the minimum wage had grown at the same rate as CEO pay since 1990, our lowest-wage workers would be earning $23.03 an hour. Instead, 37 million Americans are living in poverty today, including 13 million children. That's 5.3 million more than when George W. Bush took office.
"Making sure that minimum-wage workers earn enough to buy groceries and pay rent should not be a partisan issue. The Senate bill is full of poison pills intended to delay or defeat a long-overdue rate increase. Republican Senators are afraid of an up-or-down vote on a clean bill because they know it has overwhelming public support as well as majority support in both houses of Congress.
"The American people have spoken on the minimum wage issue. Republican leaders had better start listening to them, or their lopsided November defeat is going to be a preview of what's to come in 2008."
