Copyright 2000 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
February 03, 2000, Thursday 3 STAR EDITION
SECTION: A; Pg. 1
LENGTH:
860 words
HEADLINE: Senate backs wage boost to $ 6.15
an hour;
Clinton opposes GOP measure
SOURCE: Staff
BYLINE: JOHN C. HENRY, Houston Chronicle Washington
Bureau
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
WASHINGTON - The Senate approved a
Republican-backed minimum-wage increase Wednesday, setting the stage for an
election-year fight with the White House over how quickly to boost the lower end
of the pay scale to $ 6.15 an hour.
The $ 1-an-hour pay increase was
included in bankruptcy reform legislation that includes tax breaks for small
businesses and a provision to stop abortion protesters from
filing for bankruptcy protection to escape paying fines.
The House approved its own version of the bankruptcy reform bill in May,
but the measure included no mention of a minimum-wage increase. The legislation
will be sent to a conference committee to resolve the differences. The White
House, which opposes both versions of the bankruptcy bill and says they would be
too hard on debtors, weighed in Wednesday against the Republican proposal to
increase wages by $ 1 an hour over the next three years and to cut business
taxes by $ 76 billion over five years.
"That's not the kind of
legislation the president can sign," said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
"We don't think the actual rise in the minimum wage goes up quickly
enough," Lockhart said. "And we find that the tax cuts . . . in there are not
paid for and are skewed to those who don't necessarily need tax cuts at this
time."
President Clinton and congressional Democrats have proposed a
minimum-wage increase of $ 1 an hour over a 13-month period, a timetable opposed
by Republican leaders in both the Senate and the House.
Some House
Republicans - mostly moderates and urban members - are expected to support the
Democrats' schedule in hopes of avoiding attacks on the popular issue during
their re-election campaigns.
"I hate it," House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
said when asked about the election-year timing of the proposal to increase the
minimum wage.
The Sugar Land Republican said House leaders want any
pay-increase legislation to include a tax break. "Obviously, we don't have the
votes to stop minimum wage, so we ought to do something that lessens the burden
on people that pay the wages," he said.
The wage increase was attached
to legislation pushed by banks, credit card companies and retailers to make it
harder to use the bankruptcy laws to erase personal debt. Both the House and
Senate versions would subject bankruptcy applicants to a "means test" to
determine how much debt relief they need.
Debtors judged able to pay
some of what they owe would be disqualified from Chapter 7, the section of the
bankruptcy law that allows most unsecured debts, such as credit card bills, to
be wiped out. Those with sufficient income and assets would be put under Chapter
13, which requires repayment of those debts.
"This bill says that when
someone can repay their debts, they're not going to be able to take the easy way
out," said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who sponsored the
legislation. "This will end the free ride for deadbeats who walk away from their
debts and pass the bill on to the rest of us."
As passed by the Senate,
the bill would end Texans' right to shield their homes from creditors, a
shortcoming that Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said could force her to try
killing the measure.
The Senate put a $ 100,000 cap on homestead
exemptions, a provision aimed at keeping wealthy debtors from shielding their
assets in luxury homes in bankruptcy proceedings. The House version sets the cap
at $ 250,000 and would allow states to opt out.
"If states are not
allowed to keep their right to set their own exemptions, then I will have to try
to kill the bill and filibuster it," Hutchison, a Dallas Republican, said late
Wednesday. "A few of us (in the Senate) . . . feel strongly enough that it could
jeopardize the entire bill."
Texas and Florida allow unlimited homestead
exemptions, which debtors can use to keep their homes' value from being counted
among their assets in bankruptcy proceedings.
Before the Senate approved
the bill Wednesday, a provision was added to stop abortion
protesters from declaring bankruptcy to escape paying fines or
penalties when sued for harming abortion clinics or personnel.
The amendment making it easier to punish protesters drew support from
several anti-abortion Republicans who wanted to deny Vice President Al Gore the
chance to polish his abortion-rights credentials by casting a possible
tie-breaking vote.
Some anti-abortion activists,
including Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry, have declared
bankruptcy to avoid paying fines or penalties awarded by the
court when sued under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act passed in
1996.
The Senate also added provisions to the bankruptcy bill to tighten
penalties for selling illegal drugs to minors, close the gap in prison sentences
for sales of powder and crack cocaine, and increase penalties for makers of
methamphetamine, a drug known as speed.
Before passing the bill, the
Republican-led Senate rejected a proposed amendment that would have barred gun
makers and sellers from using bankruptcy laws to erase debts that might be
incurred if they are on the losing end of lawsuits by cities or victims of gun
crimes.
LOAD-DATE: February 4, 2000
