Editorial: Political spat over minimum wage hike

Thursday, Aug. 31, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert has backed off his previous demand that he would only support a minimum wage increase if President Clinton would sign into law tax breaks that would benefit wealthy Americans. Nevertheless, Hastert still wants to link a minimum wage hike to other tax breaks that would aid businesses, tax reductions that Hastert contends would help offset the costs of the wage increase. But this simply is unfair.

After all, businesses and their executives have done exceptionally well since 1996 -- the last time the minimum wage was increased. Low-income wage earners should be allowed to share in this prosperity, too. Congress should increase the minimum wage by $1, guaranteeing that workers will earn at least $6.15 an hour. Even this modest amount is almost impossible to get by on, but an increase is long overdue.

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