House OKs Minimum Wage Rise to $4.55 : Vote Invites Clash With Bush, Who Backs Hourly Rate of $4.25

The House, setting the stage for a confrontation with President Bush, on Thursday approved a measure increasing the federal minimum wage to $4.55 an hour by 1991. Bush, who supports an increase to $4.25, has vowed to veto any legislation providing for a higher rate.

On a 247-172 vote, the House passed a final version of the measure and sent it to the Senate, which is expected to endorse the legislation next week.

Democrats, who sponsored the increase to $4.55, fell short of the 289 votes that would be needed in the House to override a presidential veto. Still, they predicted a tough fight over the issue and taunted Bush for refusing to support their proposal.

‘Three Thin Dimes’

“What this all comes down to is three thin dimes, that’s the difference between us and the President,” said Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.). “We’re talking about helping the millions of people who work but live in poverty and giving them a living wage.”

Republicans shot back, however, that Bush supported a 90-cent increase in the minimum wage, from the current $3.35 rate to $4.25. The President “supports an increase of nine fat dimes and that shouldn’t be forgotten,” said Rep. Bill Goodling (R-Pa.).

Under the House legislation, the minimum hourly wage would increase to $3.85 on Oct. 1, 1989, to $4.25 in 1990 and to $4.55 by 1991. The current hourly rate has not been increased since 1981.

In a compromise intended to satisfy concerns voiced by Bush, the measure would allow employers to pay new workers a training wage not less than $3.35 per hour or 85% of the minimum wage rate, whichever is greater. Employers could pay the subminimum wage to all new workers until their individual experience in the work force totals 60 days.

Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the minimum wage should be increased. But they clashed over the impact of the proposed $4.55 hourly rate.

In an unusual use of props, Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) held aloft different glass bowls filled with dimes to compare the increase called for in the Democratic-backed measure with the increases in salaries earned by public officials and business executives.

One bowl, containing 400 dimes, illustrated the $40-per-hour increase in the vice president’s salary called for in recommendations made by Bush, he said. Another bowl, holding three dimes, showed the difference between Bush and Democrats over the proposed increase in the minimum wage.

“This is a matter of elemental fairness for the working poor of this country,” Wright said. “These are people who work, and they pay taxes. They do work that most people don’t want to do, and they deserve better treatment.”

Loss of Purchasing Power

Other sponsors noted that the cost of living has increased 40% since 1981, while the purchasing power of the minimum wage has decreased nearly 30%.

“It is astonishing to me that George Bush is using the full power of his presidency to keep poor working people from earning an extra 30 cents an hour,” said California Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae). “I can’t understand anyone who says our nation can’t afford that.”

However, Republicans predicted that the $4.55 hourly rate would cause employers to eliminate nearly 670,000 low-paying jobs across the nation and said that Democrats were playing politics with the issue.

“This is a futile exercise and everyone here knows that,” said Rep. Thomas E. Petri (R-Wis.). “The President will veto this, and his veto will be sustained. Those in favor of this hope only to score a few political points, and I doubt whether they will even do that.”