Tipped worker pay cut dies in Senate

Restaurant workers in seven states — including Oregon and Washington — dodged a bullet Aug. 3 when the U.S. Senate failed to pass a Frankenstein bill that the House passed July 29.

House Resolution 5970 would have cut the estate tax on wealthy heirs and heiresses, raised the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour by $2.10 over a three-year period, and mandated that all states count customer tips as part of a worker’s wage (which would allow employers to pay tipped workers less than the minimum wage).

Oregon and Washington have state laws that require tipped workers be paid the minimum wage in addition to whatever tips they earn. The bill would have superceded state law.

The Republican author of the bill, California’s Bill Thomas, combined such unrelated measures as a way to be clever.

Polls show widespread support for a raise in the minimum wage, which has not been increased since 1997. But Republican Congressional leadership has not allowed a minimum wage increase to be voted on as a stand-alone measure, because of opposition from big business. Instead, the minimum wage is paired with things that give many Democrats heartburn, like tax cuts for the very rich. That way, Republicans can tell constituents they voted for a minimum wage increase. If it passes, they achieve some other priority as a consolation prize. If it fails, they can say Democrats voted against a minimum wage increase.

In the Senate, the House bill didn’t get an actual vote. Senate procedures allow unlimited debate (known as a filibuster) unless three-fifths of senators vote to close off debate. That allows legislation to be blocked if 41 senators stand against it. A vote to close off debate — referred to as cloture — is usually the same as a vote for a measure.

On this bill, the motion to close off debate was 56 to 42.

The vote was largely along partisan lines, except for four Democrats and three Republicans who broke ranks.

Oregon U.S. Senator Ron Wyden voted against cloture, along with Washington’s Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, while Oregon Senator Gordon Smith voted for cloture.

The bill is also a window to how political leadership in Washington is conducting the nation’s business. In addition to the estate tax and minimum wage changes, the bill contained a tax cut for the restaurant industry of $418 million a year, a $7.5 billion research tax credit, a provision to return liquor taxes to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, a tax on two vaccines, a provision allowing combat pay to be counted toward the earned income tax credit, a $100 million a year increase in charges for surface mining, a reduction of premiums paid by coal companies for retiree benefits for certain retired coal miners, and funding a program giving grants to states to clean up mines.

The estate tax cut would have lowered federal government revenues $15.4 billion in 2007.