Morning Plum: The tea party and the minimum wage

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/03/24/morning-plum-the-tea-party-and-the-minimum-wage/

BY GREG SARGENT
March 24 at 9:21 am

So here’s the contrast we’ll see in 2014. House Republicans are preparing to try to pass another Paul Ryan budget as a blueprint for their campaigns. Senate Dems will counter by trying to pass the minimum wage hike, and campaigning on that and other policies as their 2014 blueprint.

Of course, a real Congressional debate over raising the minimum wage is probably impossible, given GOP control of the House.

In that context, AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka has an idea: How about a high profile debate over the minimum wage outside of Congress, one that puts the broader ideological contrast at the heart of the issue on display before the country?

Trumka has sent a letter to tea party chieftain Jim DeMint — who also heads the Heritage Foundation — inviting him to debate the minimum wage in a time and place of DeMint’s choosing. DeMint was selected because he is one of the most prominent tea partyers in the country and has favored doing away with the federal minimum wage entirely.

FULL story at link.