Utah's two senators were on the losing side of a 74-24 vote Tuesday that approved raising the nation's minimum wage by 90 cents an hour from $4.25 to $5.15.
But Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, argue that instead of ending low wages, the vote will bring no wages to 500,000 or so Americans whom they predict will lose their jobs because employers will no longer be able to afford them.And they charged in interviews and debate that Democrats and others pushed the minimum wage hike not out of concern for workers, but merely to score political points in an election year.
"It is a political device, not an economic devise. It won't do anything to relieve poverty, and it will cost 500,000 jobs," Hatch said. "It is being used for one reason - because it resonates well politically."
Bennett added, "The last time we raised the minimum wage, the group that got the biggest hit were the teenagers." He said their unemployment rate dipped for years as employers could not initially afford the higher wages.
Bennett said black teenagers were especially hard hit last time. He said their employment rate was 28 percent before the hike, and then it dropped to 20 percent. "It took six years to get it back to 28 percent. So what are we going to do? Raise minimum wages to watch it go back down again."
Hatch and Bennett also were on the losing side of a closer 52-46 vote that would have exempted small businesses earning less than $500,000 a year from paying minimum wage and would have allowed a six-month, subminimum "training wage" - which Democrats said could push workers out of jobs after that time.
President Clinton had vowed to veto the bill if such loopholes were attached - which Democrats said would have exempted half of all minimum-wage earners. Five liberal and moderate Republicans crossed party lines to help Democrats defeat it.
On the final overall vote, 27 Republicans and the Senate's 47 Democrats voted for the minimum wage increase - and only 24 Republicans opposed it.
After waging tough battles for months to bring the issue to a vote - including, at one point, killing the Utah wilderness bill through parliamentary maneuvering over the wage hike - Democrats exulted in their victory.
"This has been a difficult fight, but it turned out to be a real victory for working families," Clinton said.
He added, "I'm gratified they rejected the killer amendment that would have pushed employees out of their jobs in six months. I call on Congress to send me the bill quickly so Americans can get their raise as soon as possible."
But the fight isn't over yet. Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla., an opponent of the hike, said he will block any House-Senate conference to work out differences on their versions of the bill until Democrats stop blocking a similar conference on a health-reform bill.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. - the chief sponsor of the minimum wage hike - has for two months blocked the health-care bill conference because the House version of that bill to guarantee health coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions also would allow tax-free medical savings accounts, which Kennedy opposes.
The minimum wage bill does provide small businesses some tax breaks to help them absorb the cost of higher wages. It gives them more generous write-offs for investment expenses, pensions, for hiring the disabled and for helping pay for the education of workers.
Still, Hatch said, "There are a lot of small businesses in Utah that will throw their arms up in the air with this. They won't be able to hire more people and may have to lay off some."
He added, "This just kills young people and poor people - especially young Hispanics and young blacks. It makes it so they won't get that needed first job. It really hurts young kids without any experience."
Bennett agreed, saying, "We are denying those experiences to more and more teenagers when we do what we are proposing with the minimum wage."