House passage of a plan to raise the minimum wage shifts the partisan battle to the Senate, where the leading proponent of an increase is urging President Bush to refrain from further veto threats while Congress settles on a final bill. The House voted 248-171 Thursday in favor of legislation that would raise the minimum wage from the current $3.35 an hour to $4.55 by October 1991, with the first increase taking effect later this year. The House then joined the Senate on an Easter recess that ends April 3. High on the Senate agenda when it returns is a bill sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that would raise the minimum wage to $4.65 by 1992. Kennedy has said he is open to amending his bill, and in a statement issued after the House vote he asked Bush, who has threatened to veto any attempt to raise the hourly minimum above $4.25, to keep an open mind until the House and Senate agree on a bill. ``This is an excellent opportunity for Congress and the administration to demonstrate that they can work together and in doing so achieve a fair increase in the minimum wage and an honest training wage,'' Kennedy said. Bush has insisted that a six-month sub-minimum training wage covering all newly hired employees be created in any legislation to raise the minimum wage, a provision he said will help offset potential job losses caused by raising the minimum. Sponsors of the House bill, while disputing GOP projections of massive job losses, added a provision allowing a sub-minimum wage to be paid to new hires for two months provided it was their first job. That falls far short of the White House demand and, with Kennedy also opposed to Bush's training-wage proposal, that issue likely will be a major sticking point in any attempts to reach a compromise. Several Republicans insisted that Democrats were going to have to give in to Bush _ who appears to have the votes to sustain a veto _ or let a ninth year pass without any change in the minimum wage. ``The question is do you want a bill or do you want a political issue?'' Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Wis., said during an unsuccessful GOP effort to substitute Bush's proposal for the House leadership's measure. ``If you truly want to raise the minimum wage this is the only game in town.'' But Democrats argued they had given enough by cutting the final increase from $4.65 an hour to $4.55 and by adding the new-hire wage. As amended, the House bill would boost the minimum wage to $3.85 an hour on Oct. 1, to $4.25 on Oct. 1, 1990, and to $4.55 a year later. The provision for the new-hire wage, to be pegged at 85 percent of the minimum wage, would expire Sept. 30, 1992. It also would expand exemptions allowing small businesses to pay wages lower than the minimum wage and would allow employers of workers who earn tips to pay them 50 percent of the minimum wage, down from the current 60 percent. Current law exempts service businesses with annual sales of less than $362,000 from the minimum-wage law; the House bill increased that level to $500,000. The provision is rarely used, however, because of confusing regulations lawmakers say will be simplified in conference committee if the Senate passes a minimum-wage bill.
The House passed a minimum wage bill that exceeded the amount which President Bush said he would veto. The House asked the president to refrain from veto threats until after the Senate acts. In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Obama said, "I think it's important for us not just to have this debate but also to take action and pass something that's going to help working families in our The House bill would boost the wage to $4.55 by 1991 and would have a new hire wage pegged at 85% of the minimum. It also contained several exemptions for small business.