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Clinton vies for
minimum wage increase
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Release Date:
09/06/00
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President Clinton said
Tuesday that the highest priority for Congress
should be passing a $1 increase in the hourly
minimum wage, rather than trying to corral
enough votes to override his veto of a bill
repealing the estate tax.
The AP reports
that the president huddled with his party's
leaders to plot strategy for a fall
congressional session, destined to be dominated
by the presidential campaign's final stretch.
"They've got a right to try to override
any veto that I make. That's the way the
Constitution works," Clinton said of the GOP.
"But I wish they'd try just as hard to muster up
the two-thirds to raise the minimum wage."
The estate tax veto override is a
priority for House Republican leaders, who hope
Congress will address the issue first when it
reconvenes. Beyond that, the GOP has said that
if elected, George W. Bush would kill the death
tax.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart
said the White House is confident that the
estate tax veto and Clinton's previous veto of a
tax cut for couples will be sustained.
NFIB has fought hard against the minimum
wage increase, and even harder for the death tax
veto. The minimum wage legislation, introduced
by Rep. Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., would increase the
wage by $1 over the next three years and,
thereafter, index the minimum wage to the cost
of living.
"We are committed to breaking
the legislative logjam," Clinton said.
"Unfortunately, the strategy pursued by the
Republican leaders in Congress, I believe, would
squander (the surplus) on massive and reckless
tax cuts for the privileged few. This isn't
fiscally responsible. It isn't fair."
Lockhart said Clinton -- with no
campaign of his own and little time left in
office -- is willing to devote his full
attention to budget negotiations, even if they
spill over into the campaign's final stretch.
"If Congress can't get their work done
by Oct. 1, we're not going any place," Lockhart
said. "We'll stay here through Election Day if
need be."
9.06.00
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