February 1, 2007: Min Wage Passes Senate But Its Journey To President's Desk Is Far From Over

[18:41]
The Senate passed its version of the min wage bill but there is still lots of work to be done before a min wage bill is on the President's desk.  First, because the Senate version of the bill was the first to add tax provisions the bill must first go BACK to the House before its goes to conference.  The Constitution requires that tax provisions in bills originate in the House.  This means that the House is going to have to create a new tax bill and then add on the min wage provisions.  The House will then have to pass that bill.  It remains to be seen what tax provisions the House will tack on to the wage provisions.  Second, I am not sure whether the House's new min wage bill must go back to the Senate or can go straight to conference.  Finally, the two houses must reach a compromise at conference on the bill.  I am unclear as to whether Republicans have any power at conference to prevent Democratic conferees from agreeing to strip the Senate's tax provisions from the final bill.  But maybe Bush would veto such a bill.  Either way, this is going to take a while longer.  Also, I read in the Wall Street Journal that the Congress would pay for the small business tax breaks by closing some existing holes in the tax law that allow for tax shelters and quirks with executive pay.


[15:32]
The Senate is in a quorum call.  Majority Leader Reid said that he hopes to have the final vote for passage of the minimum wage bill tonight.  In any event, there will not be any votes tomorrow.  Although min wage is still the pending business of the Senate, most of the cloakroom wheeling and dealing concerns the Iraq resolution(s).

Last night, the Warner and Levin/Biden/Hagel resolutions were melded.  This combo should bring along a good dose of Republicans including: Warner (VA), Snowe (ME), Collins (ME), Coleman (MN), Smith (OR), Hagel (NE), and probably Specter (PA).
 Interestingly, the Warner resolution does not have the support of Russ Feingold (WI) or Joe Lieberman (CT).  Recalling that Tim Johnson (SD) cannot vote, this leaves 48 Dems plus 7 Reps equals 55 votes in favor of the resolution.  Warner and Co. will need to round up five more votes.


[11:40]
It's been a slow day so far in the Senate.  The senators are about to vote on a series of judge nominations.  These are not controversial judges.

The other speeches have concerned Iraq.  Jon Kyl (AZ) quotes from newspapers including the Washington Post to make a case that the Iraqis are starting to take on more responsibility in Iraq on security matters.

Arlen Specter (PA) then referred to a handful of Supreme Court cases to argue that there is plenty of precedent for Congress sharing with the President the power to make decisions in wartime.  Specter cited cases either where the Congress prevented the President from taking a certain action or placed conditions on Presidential action during wartime.  Specter has been vocal in rebuking the President for saying that he is "the sole decider" when it comes to decisions about war.  Specter referred to these cases as a way to say, "No, you're not."