Minimum Wage Hike Passed By House

GOP Bill Also Cuts Estate Tax

The House last night voted to boost the minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade while also permanently slashing the estate tax, a coupling that GOP leaders calculated might garner enough Senate support to become law.

House lawmakers also approved the biggest overhaul of the nation's pension laws in 30 years.

In the rush to bolster their party's accomplishments before leaving today on a five-week summer break, House Republican leaders effectively took a gamble. If the Senate follows the House and passes legislation shoring up the pension system, raising the minimum wage, permanently cutting the estate tax, and extending such measures as a research-and-development tax credit, Republicans can say they departed for the summer in a flourish of accomplishments.

But the maneuvering by House and Senate GOP leaders to package the measures over the objection of some Senate chairmen caused severely bruised feelings. Lawmakers from both parties said last night that the legislation could easily collapse in the Senate, underscoring Democratic contentions that Congress has become dysfunctional.

"It's a risk," said House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), "but I think it's the only way to proceed."

Democrats were incensed that the GOP leadership would couple the minimum wage hike, the first increase since 1997, with an estate tax cut that would reduce federal revenue by $268 billion over the next decade, to the overwhelming benefit of the country's richest families.

"This is beyond cynical. This is disgraceful," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).

Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) signaled he would try to scuttle the tax bill next week. "Republicans have made perfectly clear who they stand with and who they are willing to fight for: the privileged few," he said.

But Republicans believed they had found a way to snatch the minimum-wage issue away from Democrats, who had been using it as a cudgel, while securing passage of a central plank of their economic program: all but eliminating the estate tax.

"I know why you're mad," said Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.). "You've seen us really outfox you."

The minimum wage and estate tax measure passed around 1:30 a.m., 230 to 180.

The pension bill passed earlier with bipartisan support, 279 to 131, and it is seen as critical to more than 44 million Americans who receive traditional defined-benefit pensions. The Labor Department has reported that companies have underfunded their pensions by more than $450 billion, threatening to dump much of their pension liabilities on the federal taxpayer.