Washington – A Republican election-year effort to fuse a cut in inheritance taxes on multimilllion-dollar estates with the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade was rejected by the Senate late Thursday.
Republicans needed 60 votes to advance their bill, which links a $2.10 increase in the $5.15 federal minimum wage over three years to reductions on estate taxes next decade.
Passed by the House last Saturday, the bill got a 56-42 vote, four votes short of succeeding.
For Republicans, the combination could have neutralized a Democratic campaign issue while also advancing an estate-tax cut, a priority that may have an uncertain future if the GOP loses seats in Congress in November’s election.
The GOP strategy put Democrats in an uncomfortable position. Either they could vote against the bill – thus rejecting a minimum-wage increase – or they could vote for it – thus agreeing to cut taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.
Most rejected the bill, blocking a GOP victory months before the election.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, likened the minimum-wage and estate-tax bill to “a long-shot” bet on racing horses.
“Once they’re out of the barn and running around, it’s kind of hard to turn them around,” he said. “Senators can be similar, especially when a vote is highly political.”
Republicans were dealt a blow when two Democrats, Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, both of Washington, announced they planned to oppose the GOP’s bill.
“This is a cynical ploy on the part of the Republican leadership in an election year,” Cantwell said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., had tried repeatedly this year to repeal or reduce the estate tax, derided as the “death tax” by its opponents.
“This death tax punishes everyday Americans by forcing them to give up their business, to give up their farms,” he said. An earlier bid to move an estate-tax bill to debate fell three votes short of succeeding.
