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Sunday Morning News

Clinton and Congress At Odds Over Minimum Wage Bill

Aired March 12, 2000 - 9:31 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Low unemployment has the effect of increasing the pressure to raise wages, and Congress is feeling that pressure in a bill to raise the minimum wage by $1 over the next two years, but the White House says it will veto the bill in its present form.

CNN's Kelly Wallace explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For President Clinton, it's an easy question.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... why Congress can't do something as simple as raising the minimum wage without loading it up with special favors.

WALLACE: But the GOP has its own question. Why would the president veto what he asked for, a $1 increase in the minimum wage over two years?

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MAJORITY LEADER: This is a political year. He's committed to his sidekick there, Albert Gore, and he'll try to politicize everything.

WALLACE: Republicans believe the White House wants to use a failure to pass an increase in the minimum wage as ammunition against GOP candidates. But Democrats argue the congressional Republicans either don't want a minimum wage and don't want to pay a political price, or they're trying to push through their tax cuts.

JOE LOCKHART, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This wasn't a serious vote, it wasn't on the level.

WALLACE: Attached to the minimum wage bill, a $122 billion tax package. Of that, $79 billion pays for estate tax cuts. The Democrats charge those are breaks for the wealthy. The Republicans say they help family farmers and small business owners.

REP. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO: Well, if you have a family farm or a small business, the government shouldn't take it and not allow you to pass it on to your children.

WALLACE: A $1 increase in a $5.15-an-hour minimum wage amounts to $2,000 a year for a full-time worker. And if there is no agreement, political analysts say both sides will take the fight to the voters.

STUART ROTHENBERG, "LOS ANGELES TIMES": Hopefully, this is going to be about who you believe. Do you believe the Republican Congress, or do you believe the president of the United States? And so far, the president has won every one of those tests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we may hear more from the president on the minimum wage issue later today, when he gives a speech to a Washington meeting of the National League of Cities. Aides say the president will also talk about gun violence and renew his call for Congress to pass tougher gun control laws.

Earlier this week, the president met here at the White House with key congressional leaders charged with trying to move stalled gun control legislation. And one aide said the president may express some concern that since that meeting, no progress appears to have been made.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting live from the White House.

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