Draining the swamp, Pelosi-style [UPDATED]
According to the Washington Times and Congressional GOP members, these two are related in yesterday’s passage of the minimum wage bill. Pelosi’s constituent, Starkist tuna, benefitted by having it’s plant in Samoa exempted from the minimum wage hike the Democrats have been whining about for a decade. If it’s OK for employers as far away as the Mariannas to be subjected to the hike, and if the hike is needed for all Americans, what’s wrong with Samoans? Is this how Pelosi intends to “drain the swamp” in Congress? Can you imagine if a Republican had done this?
UPDATE (7:16 AM 1-13-07): According to the Washington Times, Pelosi is moving to close the Samoan loophole now that she’s been busted on it. The most important part of the story, though is the reaction of non-voting Rep. Eni Faleomavaega of Samoa;
A “decrease in production or departure of one or both of the two canneries in American Samoa could devastate the local economy, resulting in massive layoffs and insurmountable financial difficulties,” he said in a statement provided to The Times.
    “The truth is the global tuna industry is so competitive that it is no longer possible for the federal government to demand mainland minimum wage rates for American Samoa without causing the collapse of our economy and making us welfare wards of the federal government.”
    Melissa Murphy Brown, vice president for Del Monte, warned in a statement yesterday that applying the minimum wage at the tuna packing plants in American Samoa would “severely cripple the local economy.”
Now the Democrats have claimed that raising the minimum wage wouldn’t hav an adverse effect on our economy, but here they are defending NOT raising the minimum by warning of the impact it would have on the economy. So which is it?
Category: Politics
[…] Nearly two weeks ago, I wrote about Nancy Pelosi’s exemption of Samoa from the new minimum wage bill. Well, she promised to change the bill and include Samoa, however as we read in the Washington Times this morning from Charles Hurt;  ”I have asked the education and labor committee as they go forward with the legislation to make sure that all of the territories have to comply with U.S. law on the minimum wage,” Mrs. Pelosi said earlier this month.     The House, however, passed the minimum-wage bill with the American Samoa exemption. And yesterday, Senate Democrats were moving ahead with the original legislation, which for the first time would enforce the minimum wage on the Northern Mariana Islands, another territory in the Pacific with a similarly low minimum wage.     That bill is co-sponsored by several dozen Democrats, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California.     In addition to San Francisco-based StarKist, San Diego-based Chicken of the Sea also has a cannery in American Samoa. Together, the California companies employ about 75 percent of the Samoan work force. […]