Split appears in GOP as more call for raising federal minimum wage

by confuzzled dude Fri May 09, 2014 10:45 pm

"Several leading Republicans have called for raising the federal minimum wage and others are speaking more forcefully about the party’s failure to connect with low-income Americans — stances that are causing a growing rift within the party over how best to address the gulf between the rich and poor.

Romney, who has previously said that the federal minimum wage should be indexed to inflation, joined a group of prominent Republicans who have urged the party’s congressional wing to consider lifting

“The issue has not yet risen to the level of attention it deserves, both inside and outside the party,” Pawlenty said in an interview. “Republicans may benefit from near-term tail winds this fall, but the demographic reality is that diverse voters have a diminishing view of Republicans and that needs to be addressed.”

Speaking Monday on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown,” Santorum voiced similar views. “Let’s not make this argument that we’re for the blue-collar guy but we’re against any minimum-wage increase ever,” he said. “It just makes no sense.”

In making their case, Republicans often cite a February report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that said raising the minimum wage could reduce overall employment by 500,000 jobs. The report also said that raising wages could boost earnings for more than 16 million Americans.

Several public polls have found that most Americans support raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour — 69 percent said so in a March Bloomberg News poll, and 65 percent agreed in a February CBS News/New York Times survey. In the latter poll, sizeable majorities of independents (62 percent) and Democrats (86 percent) supported a higher wage, while 54 percent of Republicans opposed the idea.

Last month, Senate Republicans voted to block debate on a bill sponsored by Democrats to incrementally raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) was the lone Republican who voted to proceed."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/split-appears-in-gop-as-more-call-for-raising-federal-minimum-wage/2014/05/09/fce84490-d7ab-11e3-aae8-c2d44bd79778_story.html?hpid=z1

-> Let's hope common sense prevails at some point.