Lack of support among Democrats for minimum wage increase forces a delay in floor debate

Senate Democrats have again delayed debating a proposal to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour because not all Democrats are on board with the proposal.

Lacking the required 60 votes to block a potential filibuster, Democratic lawmakers now say a floor debate on the proposed legislation will be postponed until late March.

Nevertheless, despite the real reason for the postponement - namely, the lack of votes among Democratic lawmakers - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tried to save face by blaming Republican opposition to some of President Obama's nominees for slowing the chamber's work, thereby [supposedly] causing a delay in the minimum wage floor debate.

Among the Democratic lawmakers opposed to the proposed legislation are Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Warner of Virginia, who are up for re- election in November, who voiced concerns about "timing" [heh, re-election timing] and the "amount" of increase in the minimum wage, Bloomberg News reported.

“There ought to be an increase in the minimum wage,” Warner said. “[But] I think there’s a valid debate about amount and timing.” Yeah, right, re-election "timing", heh...

Sen. Pryor said that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour is “too much, too fast,” but he said on Tuesday that he may consider a smaller increase.

Sen Landrieu told reporters on Tuesday that while she supports some sort of wage increase, she hadn’t committed to the $10.10 increase proposed by President Obama.

But despite the aforementioned reservations, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was asked whether there might be a compromise to raise the minimum wage while keeping it below the $10.10 an hour level that President Barack Obama proposed, so as to ease the concerns of Democrats who are up for re-election this year and who may be reluctant to support the $10.10 an hour proposal, Mr. Reid responded, "Not with me!"

There will be no compromise between Sen. Reid and his Democratic colleagues!