It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
 | Take Action on Minimum Wage Legislation |
Yesterday, I posted an article documenting that the inflation-adjusted value of minimum wage in the United States has reached a 55-year low as of this spring. Today, I’m going to ask you to take some simple action to pressure members of Congress to remedy this shameful state. Here’s what I have in mind:
Senate
In the Senate, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan has introduced S. 14, a bill to increase the minimum wage to a more reasonable historical level. The additional 13 Senators listed below have added their names to S. 14 as cosponsors, and so deserve at least some appreciation:
Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Hillary Clinton
Senator Jon Corzine
Senator Mark Dayton
Senator Byron Dorgan
Senator Richard Durbin
Senator Daniel Inouye
Senator Edward Kennedy
Senator Patrick Leahy
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Senator Harry Reid
Senator John Rockefeller
Senator Charles Schumer
It should go without saying that each of the above are Democrats. We should hardly expect a typical Republican to care about the working poor in America. However, it is unfortunately the case that a number of Senate Democrats have not bothered to support an increase in the minimum wage. Below are the names of Democratic laggards on S. 14, along with contact information so that you can give them a quick, forceful nudge:
Senator Daniel Akaka (email) phone: 202-202-224-6361 fax: 202-202-224-2126
Senator Max Baucus (email) phone: 202-202-224-2651 fax: 202-202-224-4700
Senator Evan Bayh (email) phone: 202-202-224-5623 fax: 202-202-228-1377
Senator Joseph Biden (email) phone: 202-202-224-5042 fax: 202-202-224-0139
Senator Jeff Bingaman (email) phone: 202-202-224-5521 fax: 202-202-224-2852
Senator Robert Byrd (email) phone: 202-202-224-3954 fax: 202-202-228-0002
Senator Maria Cantwell (email) phone: 202-202-224-3441 fax: 202-202-228-0514
Senator Thomas Carper (email) phone: 202-202-224-2441 fax: 202-202-228-2190
Senator Kent Conrad (email) phone: 202-202-224-2043 fax: 202-202-224-7776
Senator Christopher Dodd (email) phone: 202-202-224-2823 fax: 202-202-224-1083
Senator Russell Feingold (email) phone: 202-202-224-5323 fax: 202-202-224-2725
Senator Dianne Feinstein (email) phone: 202-202-224-3841 fax: 202-202-228-3954
Senator Tom Harkin (email) phone: 202-202-224-3254 fax: 202-202-224-9369
Senator Tim Johnson (email) phone: 202-202-224-5842 fax: 202-202-228-5765
Senator John Kerry (email) phone: 202-202-224-2742 fax: 202-202-228-1411
Senator Herb Kohl (email) phone: 202-202-224-5653 fax: 202-202-224-9787
Senator Mary Landrieu (email) phone: 202-202-224-5824 fax: 202-202-224-9735
Senator Frank Lautenberg (email) phone: 202-202-224-3224 fax: 202-202-228-4054
Senator Carl Levin (email) phone: 202-202-224-6221 fax: 202-202-224-1388
Senator Joseph Lieberman (email) phone: 202-202-224-4041 fax: 202-202-224-9750
Senator Blanche Lincoln (email) phone: 202-202-224-4843 fax: 202-202-228-1371
Senator Bill Nelson (email) phone: 202-202-224-5274 fax: 202-202-228-2183
Senator Ben Nelson (email) phone: 202-202-224-6551 fax: 202-202-228-0012
Senator Barack Obama (email) phone: 202-202-224-2854 fax: 202-202-228-5417
Senator Mark Pryor (email) phone: 202-202-224-2353 fax: 202-202-228-0908
Senator Jack Reed (email) phone: 202-202-224-4642 fax: 202-202-224-4680
Senator Paul Sarbanes (email) phone: 202-202-224-4524 fax: 202-202-224-1651
Senator Ron Wyden (email) phone: 202-202-224-5244 fax: 202-202-228-2717
I urge you to contact your home-state senators, since senators tend to pay attention to feedback from direct constituents only. However, Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana is someone that everyone can call. The man apparently feels he is presidential material, which should make him interested in what every potential voter has to say about the minimum wage. If you have the extra time, get in touch with Sen. Bayh and let him know that a politician who doesn’t support the minimum wage just isn’t presidential material.
Finally, although most Republicans can be wholly written off when it comes to concern for America’s working poor, there are a few Republican Senators who occasionally show some evidence of reason. The following Republican members of the Senate just might respond to constituent pressure on the minimum wage:
Senator Lincoln Chafee (email) phone: 202-202-224-2921 fax: 202-202-228-2853
Senator Susan Collins (email) phone: 202-202-224-2523 fax: 202-202-224-2693
Senator Chuck Grassley(email) phone: 202-202-224-3744 fax: 202-202-224-6020
Senator Chuck Hagel (email) phone: 202-202-224-4224 fax: 202-202-224-5213
Senator Olympia Snowe (email) phone: 202-202-224-5344 fax: 202-202-224-1946
Senator Arlen Specter (email) phone: 202-202-224-4254 fax: 202-202-228-1229
House of Representatives
At least in the Senate, someone’s bothered to introduce minimum wage legislation. But in the House, apart from Rick Santorum’s stealth plan to gut the minimum wage further, there just isn’t a piece of legislation out there.
Before we can ask our Representatives to support minimum wage legislation, there’s got to be minimum wage legislation in the first place. So one thing you can do is to contact your Representative and ask them why in the name of all that is fair, just, and reasonable they haven’t stepped up to the plate and drafted minimum wage legislation themselves. But a special (and encouragingly positive) focus should be placed on Rep. George Miller of California. He’s consistently supported a progressive policy platform in the past, and in the 108th Congress, he introduced and promoted legislation to raise the minimum wage. It wouldn’t hurt for us to ask him to simply introduce that legislation again; and it wouldn’t hurt him to know that there are many Americans out there who care enough to want him to take the effort.
We’ve all been disappointed in the distant and not-so-distant past by politicians who have let us and those less fortunate than us down. I have to confess to feeling helpless at times. But I’m gathering up what pluck I’ve got left and contacting my senators and representative today. Getting psychologically perturbed on a lonely basis, we won’t be heard. Acting in concert, perhaps we can make some impact.
I know that here, I’ve only discussed actions to be taken on the federal Congressional level. But there are other things, at other levels, that can be done to move the minimum wage closer to a living wage. Perhaps you’re engaged in such efforts already. Consider this an invitation to share what you know about what’s already going on, to contribute your constructive ideas about what could go on, and to help build bridges between what might be disconnected but parallel campaigns.
Contact Us
I’m shocked.
Barack, who was your number two
bumper sticker guy for March and April, can’t get behind the minimum wage?
Why is he dragging his feet?
Does anyone have an answer from him?
Comment by mondopercipient — 5/12/2005 @ 4:07 pm
Yes, I wonder about Senator Obama (why in our society do women and non-white people regardless of their official status always seem to merit first-name status, while nobody would ever refer to old white guy Robert Byrd as “Robert”? Monica Lewinski was “Monica,” but Gary Condit was never “Gary.”) as well, along with Tom Harkin, Maria Cantwell and Russell Feingold.
Comment by J. Matthew — 5/12/2005 @ 5:19 pm
Well, now, J.Matthew, that ain’t necessarily so. We all referred to Reagan as “Ronnie-babe” out here in California…And, love him or hate him, President Clinton was always “Bill”…And, of course, our current president is, was, and will remain forever, “Dubya”…
Comment by mike — 5/12/2005 @ 8:26 pm
I typed him a heartfelt letter regarding packing the Supreme Court with radical right wing hardliners and backing a sensible minimum wage bill. Pressed send and got some “access to account denied” due to some computer bullshit. So much for gettin’ anything done. There’s a rally in Philly this weekend, maybe i’ll show up and preach to the choir . . .
Comment by Tom — 5/12/2005 @ 9:39 pm
[…] 17;t really care about working people - a strange idea, given that it’s liberals who support raising the minimum wage, and it’s […]
Pingback by Irregular Times: News Unfit for Print»Blog Archive » Tom Delay Dines With Elite, Attacks Working Class Americans — 5/13/2005 @ 8:19 am
The new Pew study shows 86% of Americans support this. It would be interesting to hear how Republicans will spin it so it sounds like their rich corporate sponsors are more important than what 86% of Americans want.
Comment by Jami — 5/13/2005 @ 3:51 pm
Democrats want to raise minimum wage
Democrats have written legislation taking into account the fact that the minimum wage is at a 55-year low relative to inflation. Hillary is a co-sponsor of the bill to raise the minimum wage.
Don’t let Republican corporate sponsors tell you any d…
Trackback by Hillary Now — 5/17/2005 @ 12:26 pm
Hello i really support the rise in minimum wage, im doing a paper on it, if anyone can send me sources on S14 or a raise in the minimum wage , advancment of employee rights, especially peer reviewed or academic ones. I could advocate raising it much easier. Thank you, my email is afroman47@hotmail.com
Comment by Kevin Reyes — 11/30/2005 @ 2:55 am