Minimum Wage Increase Blocked?

I heard some radio news bites that Senate Republicans blocked the increase in the federal minimum wage. But looking into it, there is no news here. What Republicans blocked was passage of the House bill as it originally passed the House, but this was never going to happen. As I reported earlier, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus is the one who wants the tax breaks included in the package; that amendment passed out of the committee last week.

Reuters reports that Nancy Pelosi isn't happy about the vote:

"There is no doubt in my mind that we will get together quite quickly," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat. But Brendan Daly, an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said: "We should not delay a minimum wage increase another day in order to negotiate a tax package."

There is no indication here, however, that House Democrats might actually reject the Senate's additions and thus cause even further delay.

(Economist Thomas Sowell on the minimum wage.)