Minimum Wage, Sick Leave Supported by GOP Winners

[cow451]

The kinder, gentler (?) GOP is not so far right in some issues that have been Democratic talking points:

Though these issues [minmum wage and mandatory sick leave] have long been core Democratic positions, they have become so popular with the general public that some Republican candidates looking to unseat Democrats backed the ballot measures. Dan Sullivan, who the latest returns indicate will beat Alaska Senator Mark Begich, said he would vote in favor of the initiative to raise the minimum wage to $9.75 from $7.75 by 2016 and peg it to inflation. That measure prevailed yesterday by a 69-to-31 margin. In Arkansas, where a similar law was on the ballot, raising the minimum from $7.25 to $8.50 by 2017, Republican Rep. Tom Cotton, who beat Senator Mark Pryor, had also backed the minimum wage initiative. It passed in that state by a 65-to-35 margin.

 

[ThisBrotherOfHis]

Adams didn't get her facts straight. She is, after all, a Forbes blogger, not a reporter.

Cotton didn't necessarily support the hike. He supported Arkansas voters deciding the issue rather than leaving it in the hands of the feds:

Tom Cotton on the Issueshttp://www.tomcotton.com/get-the-facts-about-tom/http://www.tomcotton.com/get-the-facts-about-tom/

Tom believes this issue is best left to the states and it’s a good idea to let Arkansas voters decide the matter.

Sullivan also considers minimum wage a state issue, not a federal one, and while he backed an increase in Alaska that will take the state's minimum wage to $9.75, he bases his support on Alaska's higher cost of living, primarily due to the distance in the interior from adequate supply lines of typical consumer goods. He still is not in favor of Obama's proposed national hike to $10.10.

Three other Republican Senate candidates also supported state-initiated minimum wage hikes, but also oppose Obama's national hike. There is nothing odd about this. Republicans often support state action on issues that the national Democrats have wanted to snatch up for their own purposes, i.e., garnering votes.

 

[Jeffwhosoever]

Well, I'm not sure the minimum wage is the total solution, but the middle class has continued to suffer under Obama and according to this measure, you can see why Democrats lost control:

Middle-class troubles in one chart - MarketWatch

I'd be OK with an increase in the minimum wage if someone could determine the point that would not lead to a major increase in unemployment.

 

[stamperben]

Adams didn't get her facts straight. She is, after all, a Forbes blogger, not a reporter.

Cotton didn't necessarily support the hike. He supported Arkansas voters deciding the issue rather than leaving it in the hands of the feds:Sullivan also considers minimum wage a state issue, not a federal one, and while he backed an increase in Alaska that will take the state's minimum wage to $9.75, he bases his support on Alaska's higher cost of living, primarily due to the distance in the interior from adequate supply lines of typical consumer goods. He still is not in favor of Obama's proposed national hike to $10.10.

Three other Republican Senate candidates also supported state-initiated minimum wage hikes, but also oppose Obama's national hike. There is nothing odd about this. Republicans often support state action on issues that the national Democrats have wanted to snatch up for their own purposes, i.e., garnering votes.

Maybe the GOP Senators are still out of touch with the constituents. I was thinking that maybe they weren't since on Tuesday the voters in four red states passed increases to the minimum wage.
Ah well, I can dream that they might have listened...

 

[Albion]

The kinder, gentler (?) GOP is not so far right in some issues that have been Democratic talking points:

Though these issues [minmum wage and mandatory sick leave] have long been core Democratic positions, they have become so popular with the general public that some Republican candidates looking to unseat Democrats backed the ballot measures. Dan Sullivan, who the latest returns indicate will beat Alaska Senator Mark Begich, said he would vote in favor of the initiative to raise the minimum wage to $9.75 from $7.75 by 2016 and peg it to inflation. That measure prevailed yesterday by a 69-to-31 margin. In Arkansas, where a similar law was on the ballot, raising the minimum from $7.25 to $8.50 by 2017, Republican Rep. Tom Cotton, who beat Senator Mark Pryor, had also backed the minimum wage initiative. It passed in that state by a 65-to-35 margin.

There doesn't seem to be any "news" in this report. These are pretty much the positions taken by the Republicans in Congress the last time the issue surfaced.

 

[cow451]

Republicans often support state action on issues that the national Democrats have wanted to snatch up for their own purposes, i.e., garnering votes.

Thanks for the clarification on Cotton. However, it is silly to rap Democrats for supporting minimum wage hikes but be OK with GOP candidates doing the same in their home states (where they are running for office), especially since it was probably clear from polling that voters in those states were going to approve it as a ballot measure.

 

[ThisBrotherOfHis]

Thanks for the clarification on Cotton. However, it is silly to rap Democrats for supporting minimum wage hikes but be OK with GOP candidates doing the same in their home states (where they are running for office), especially since it was probably clear from polling that voters in those states were going to approve it as a ballot measure.

It might appear so, but Cotton and Sullivan both are coming out of essentially local offices, and hear the complaints of their constituents more specifically that senators and presidents. They also know their local economy better than national offices do -- or at least they should.

It doesn't make any sense at all to raise Arkansas' minimum wage to $10.10, given its economy won't support it. But it will support a cost-of-living increase, which essentially what $8,50/hour would be. And as I said, Alaska has a much higher cost of living due to shipping costs, so $9.75/hour does make sense. (Remember when we were little and watching "Captain Kangaroo" and he would always slip a little disclaimer into the Schwinn bike commercials for parents' benefit? "Prices slightly higher in the west and south." Now it's Alaska and Hawaii. )

 

[Albion]

Thanks for the clarification on Cotton. However, it is silly to rap Democrats for supporting minimum wage hikes but be OK with GOP candidates doing the same in their home states (where they are running for office),.

I think there's a significant mistake in that assessment. Most of the Republicans--both at the state and at the federal level--voiced a willingness to raise the minimum wage.

The controversy was mainly over HOW MUCH and, to a lesser extent, HOW SOON. It's correct that most Republicans have not wanted to go to $15/hr for all workers, but every Republican legislator I know of who spoke out was agreeable to some increase.