HARRISBURG, JUNE 13, 2006 – State Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione today made another push to dislodge a minimum wage bill from the stubborn grip of politics. Tartaglione issued a discharge resolution to force Republican leaders to allow a full Senate vote on a bill that passed strongly in the House, but has been stalled by Republicans in the Senate. “With today’s discharge resolution we are saying ‘give us the opportunity to vote -- if you disagree, vote no -- just give us a chance to vote’ – it’s that simple,” Tartaglione said on the floor of the Senate today. Last week, hundreds of Pennsylvanians rallied in the Capitol Rotunda calling on Republican leaders to allow the Senate to vote on a House bill that would raise the minimum wage in two steps to $7.15 an hour. At the rally, one prominent Republican Senator predicted easy passage in the Senate if leaders would allow a vote to bring the bill out of committee. “It is truly disappointing, that while 80 percent of Pennsylvanians support raising our minimum wage, one percent of the Senate’s majority party can keep us from a vote,” Tartaglione said. “I am disappointed that Democracy has stopped at the door of the Senate’s Labor Committee.” For more than six years, Tartaglione has been trying to convince the legislature to shore up the eroding minimum wage while more than 20,000 Pennsylvania families sank below the poverty line. House Bill 257, which passed by a vote of 145 to 50 on April 5, is similar to Tartaglione’s Senate Bill 926. The discharge resolution will force Senate Republicans to take some action, even if it means further stonewalling by tabling it. “This is a way to hold their feet to the fire,” Tartaglione said. |
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