Edwards has been challenging candidates to raise minimum wage, and Hillary's just NOW on board?

[PresidentObama]

For month after month after month, Senator John Edwards has tried to convince the other candidates and specifically Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to commit to raise the minimum wage in this country to $9.50.

Now we know how Senator Clinton LOVED Edwards healthcare plan.

So much, she simply stole it and called it her own.

And that was months after Edwards was the first candidate to introduce a plan.

Now after months of challenging candidates to raise to commit to raise the minimum wage, Senator Clinton answers the challenge 14 days till Iowa.

With her poll numbers in Iowa slipping, and Edwards surging...Clinton FINALLY answers the call?

Is this what it takes for Hillary to bring about the change we need in this country? Bad polling?

So many people bitch about how Edwards and Obama's record doesn't match their rhetoric, suggesting they'll do anything and everything to get nominated.

But I don't see anyone of them pulling this last ditch effort like Senator Clinton in desperation.

[Evergreen Emerald]

1. No. Actually she pitched it in the summer of last year.

[cali]

2. As I understand it she introduced legislation some time ago.

which make your OP a tad embarrasing for you.

[ccpup]

3. I think basically everything about the OP

is a tad bit embarrassing for the OP. A lot of b.s. can happen when one writes from a strong sense of righteous indignation without a firm grasp of the actual facts.

[rinsd]

4. Um she just introduced the legislation but she has been working on raising min. wage for awhile.

June 27, 2006

Senator Clinton Reiterates Call to Tie Increasing the Minimum Wage to Congressional Pay Increases


Washington, DC – Senator Clinton today underscored the urgent need to increase the minimum wage and reiterated her call to tie an increase to Congressional pay raises. Senator Clinton highlighted her proposal today on a conference call with Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union. Senator Clinton's bill, the “Standing with Minimum Wage Earners Act”, was inspired by an idea submitted to SinceSlicedBread.com, the Service Employees International Union’s contest that asked Americans for bold ideas that would make life better for working families. Senator Clinton also noted that today she joined the Senate Democratic Leadership in announcing that Democrats will block a Congressional pay raise until Congress increases the minimum wage and urged the Republican leadership to join this effort.

“It is unacceptable that Americans working full time are living in poverty. Every day the minimum wage is not increased, it continues to lose value and working families fall further behind. It is past time to stand up for working families and raise the minimum wage,” said Senator Clinton. “I also believe we should tie the minimum wage to Congressional pay raises. If we in Congress can give ourselves a raise, surely we can raise the pay of working families struggling to make ends meet.”

In 1989, Congress passed legislation that provided for an automatic salary increase for its Members every year tied to an inflation-adjusted cost of living allowance (COLA). Congress can decline to accept the pay raise and has done so five times since the automatic increase was put into effect. Pursuant to this new law, Congress in 1991 also gave itself a 25 percent salary increase to make up for past years when its salary remained unchanged.

In 1991, the minimum wage was $3.80 per hour. It is currently $5.15 per hour and was last increased in 1997. If the minimum wage had increased at the same rate as Congressional salaries, it would now be $6.51 per hour. If the minimum wage had also received a 25 percent bump in 1991, it would now be $7.48 per hour.

A single mother with two children who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year earns just $10,700 per year – almost $6,000 below the federal poverty line for a family of three. The minimum wage in New York is currently $6.75 per hour and will increase to $7.15 per hour in January 2007. If the federal minimum wage ever exceeds New York’s wage, New York law stipulates that the federal law would prevail.

Senator Clinton is a strong advocate of increasing the minimum wage. Senator Clinton is an original cosponsor of legislation introduced by Senator Kennedy that would increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour over a two-year period.

http://www.senate.gov/~clinton/news/statements/record.cfm?id=257945

Here's the bill she introduced in May 2006

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.2725:

[hayu_lol]

7. Edward's call for a minimum wage increase to $9/hr is fraudulent...

His plan takes three years to reach that level. Many of the progressive states already have minimum wage levels above $8/hr. His state is apparently one of those states who sit on the Fed minimum and are content with it.

One city in CA already has a mandated minimum wage of $10/hr.

In the three years that Edward's plan takes to reach it's goal, other states will be in the $12-14/hr range.

Edwards on the minimum wage is a fraud.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. At least she's in a position to do it

unlike Edwards.

[PresidentObama]

10. And? If Edwards is President, he'll be in the position to push it forward.

[killbotfactory]

6. Obama supports a living wage.

And has supported every increase in minimum wage that has been put before him.

Why is specifically supporting an increase to $9.50 an hour so important? Why not $10/hour? It seems arbitrary. Is there something I am missing?

[VarnettaTuckpocket]

8. Just FYI OP, there are Edwards supporters who prefer Clinton to Obama

We don't all view Hillary as a she-devil. I just see it too often assumed, that it's Edwards and Obama supporters, vs Clinton.

[PresidentObama]

9. You're kind of stupid if you think I think Hillary is a she-devil.

I respect and admire Senator Clinton, and plan on working on her campaign as a volunteer IF she wins the nomination....

I simply don't believe she's the right candidate to lead our nation, however. Senator Edwards is.

[VarnettaTuckpocket]

11. Well dear, you're more than a little stupid to have gotten all the details of this matter wrong

See post #4

[cali]

14. *snicker* yeah, your OP is so respectful and admiring

I wonder how that poster could ever have gotten the idea that you don't like her.

[mtnsnake]

16. Amazing how stupid he must think everyone is if he thinks anyone buys his act.

Doesn't get any phonier than that!

[mtnsnake]

15. You're the last person on this board who should be calling anyone "kind of stupid", Kerry

You're so full of it, Kerry2008, nobody is buying your goody-goody two-shoes routines anymore. Plus you act like the biggest flip-flopper in the history of DU, *zing!*, yourself.

I clearly remember you starting phony baloney threads about how you admire Hillary and blah blah blah, and then you'd go from that bullshit to attacking anyone who you deem as being pro-Hillary by crashing their threads out of sheer jealousy and putting on your feeble Mr Psychology routines in dumbass efforts to marginalize what those OP'ers were trying to say and to attempt to get their threads off track.

You've always been one of the original Hillary haters, so enough with your lame efforts to tempor your distaste for her by thinking anyone is "kind of stupid" enough to believe you'd ever volunteer to help her if she gets the nod. You must think everyone here is a fucking idiot. Either you're as phoney as they come or you're a little bit confused....or a combination of the two!

[wyldwolf]

12. so, did this thread get 5 recs so everyone could see how dumb it is?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. This Thread Got Five Recommendations

The truth has died on this board ...