Mike Enzi: “for those who have been listening for the last 2 days, the argument has not been about whether we would raise the…”

“for those who have been listening for the last 2 days, the argument has not been about whether we would raise the minimum wage. There seems to be agreement to raise the minimum wage. The difficulty has been how do we take care of some of the impact to small business that will result. The Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Kennedy, has mentioned that the last time we passed the minimum wage, there was a small business tax package in it. That somewhat set a little different level for doing this kind of action. Incidentally, it was Senator Simpson from Wyoming who headed up that effort at that time. This bill could have happened earlier if we had some assurance that there was going to be this tax package. I congratulate the Senator from Montana, Mr. Baucus, and the Senator from Iowa, Mr. Grassley, for the way they have worked together and the way their committee worked together to put together a tax package that will benefit small business and reduce some of the impacts of the increase in minimum wage. The minority just needs some kind of a sense that will be a part of the bill, and we can move forward with the whole thing. We are trying to make sure we don't put the mom-and-pop businesses and their employees out of work and their services lost to the community.”