Democrats see minimum wage hike as good economics -- and politics

Many of the people working cash registers and cleaning stores this holiday shopping season earn little more than $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage. Some congressional Democrats think that's a shame.

They also see it as potentially good politics.

President Obama and many Democrats are expected to push for a federal minimum wage hike ahead of the 2014 election. The president earlier this month called closing the nation's income gap "the defining challenge of our time." In January, lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate will take up a bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 and index it to inflation so that it rises automatically with the cost of living.

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, one of the most liberal Democrats in Congress, has campaigned on this issue for months. He's appeared alongside striking fast-food workers seeking a $15 an hour minimum wage from their employers. He's even pitched the idea to conservatives that a wage hike would cut the cost of government programs for the nation's very poorest.

"The American taxpayer has to supplement their income so that they can make a living," said Ellison, who's also asked the president to order a wage hike for some 2 million minimum-wage workers employed by federal contractors. "I think if we paid people more money, they would pay their own bills."

The issue will at least help frame Democrats' message as they campaign during midterm elections, Ellison added. "Even if we don't pass it, I think that we should do that because I think the American people need to know who stands where."

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken is also framing the minimum wage hike as an economic boost.

"When people at the bottom have more to spend, it helps the economy," said Franken, a co-sponsor of the Senate wage hike bill. "They will spend every dollar, practically, that you give them because they need to, whereas people at the top don't."

Lawmakers also point to opinion polls showing overwhelming public support for a lift in the minimum wage from across the political spectrum. For example, a November poll by the Washington Post and ABC News found 66 percent of those surveyed supporting a minimum wage increase, including 50 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of Democrats.

Despite those poll numbers, the issue has only recently made it to the top of the policy agenda for most Democrats in Congress.

That might be because it's a lot harder now for Democrats to tout the successes of the Affordable Care Act after months of bad headlines about the health care law, said Larry Jacobs, a professor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School for Public Affairs.

"For the president and congressional Democrats, the minimum wage is far short of what they had dreamed of when the president was elected," Jacobs said. "But it is a step, and it's a step that they may feel like having some chance at achieving."

Realistically, the odds of passing a minimum wage hike are slim. Democrats would need to win at least some GOP votes to prevent a Senate filibuster. Any bill would still need to go through the GOP-controlled House where some tea party Republicans have questioned the need for a minimum wage at all.

"I'm of the opinion that there is plenty of burden right now on the economy and on businesses," said Minnesota GOP Rep. John Kline, who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee that has jurisdiction over wage issues.

Democrats, though, say an increase in the minimum wage won't lead to widespread layoffs.

"I think that given the timing with our economy, that we're adding jobs, 200,000 a month, that it gives us that opportunity to look at the fact that an increase to the minimum wage helps a lot of people," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat.

Kline says he doesn't oppose the minimum wage, although he made it clear he has no interest in helping Democrats take the health care law out of the spotlight. "We need to address the problems that Obamacare has put on" business, he said, "and not look for further burdens to put on employers if we're trying to get Americans back to work."

States can set their own wage policies separate from the feds. No matter what happens in Washington, Minnesota lawmakers in 2014 may consider increasing the state's minimum wage above the federal level. Minnesota's current minimum wage is $6.15 an hour, although most workers earn at least the federal minimum of $7.25.

Minnesota state representatives passed a bill to set the rate at $9.50 an hour by 2015, with automatic future increases based on inflation. That's higher than the $7.75 per hour approved by the state Senate. Even though Democrats control both Minnesota houses, negotiators will still have to close that wide gap.