Re:Estate Tax--GOP Fighting For Tax Breaks, Dems Fighting For Living Wages

The debate on the House Floor today is a stark illustration of how different Democratic priorities are from Republicans'. While Republicans push through yet another tax cut for the wealthiest few among us, Democrats are fighting for the hardworking Americans who struggle to make ends meet on the minimum wage. The minimum wage has not been raised since 1997 and is at its lowest level in 50 years when adjusted for inflation. Some say that an increase in the minimum wage would only help teenagers but in fact 6.6 million Americans, the vast majority of whom are over 20 years old, would benefit from a minimum wage increase - including hundreds of thousands of parents. Opponents also claim that an increase would hurt job growth, but research shows the exact opposite effect. After Republicans push forward a virtual repeal of the estate tax, which will add hundreds of billions of dollars to our nation's deficits in the next ten years, they are contemplating playing games with the minimum wage so that they can get rid of this political liability. The American people will not be fooled and Democrats will not stop fighting until we have a fair vote on a real minimum wage increase.

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