WASHINGTON - July 29 - The proposal by the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives to add repeal of the estate tax to a bill increasing the minimum wage is yet another cynical poison pill that cannot be tolerated. If estate tax repeal is added to the minimum wage increase, there will be no increase for minimum wage workers because the Senate has already rejected the estate tax repeal. That is unlikely to change, and Republican leaders of the House know it.

The minimum wage increase should not depend on whether billionaires get another tax break. For nine years, there has been no increase in the minimum wage. Minimum wage workers should not have to wait for Paris Hilton to get another tax cut before they can get a wage increase.

There is a majority in both houses of Congress for an increase to $7.25 and Republicans are twisting themselves into knots when a simple up or down vote would do.

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