The minimum wage bill is not complete: While adding tax breaks for small business, they should be adding tax increases for big business.

I hope those that vote nay will be passed over for an increase in their pay. Everyone gets a cost of living raise except those on minimum wage. no matter how high products go, these people have to make $5.15 an hour streach. Some have three or four children to feed. Deloris

How the hell much more tax breaks does business, big or small need? All the Repugs have done is create Corporate welfare.

Any small business not secure enough to raise bare bone $5.00 min. wage workers up to $7.00, should probably not be in business in the first place. How much loyalty and hard work do you get when you are sticking it up the ass of your workers?

No tax breaks for the rich! Bottom line. The minimum wage bill should be THE MINIMUM WAGE BILL AND NOTHING ELSE!!!
The Democrats control the House and Senate, do they really feel they need to pander to K-street to get things done?
Or is is that the Republi-lite sell-outs in the Democrat Party need to be primed to vote for anything that helps the American people????

This should be passed! It is a step on the way to reducing poverty, which would help not only those in poverty but everyone else too! Less social strain, better economy- in fact the cost of ending world hunger is a mere $19 billion annually, according to the Project - which is nothing compared to the over $300 billion we have spent on the Iraq conflict so far. Now lets tell our senate to get those $19 bilion dollars into the right place.

Perhaps this nation should decide whether or not these politicians deserve a raise each year. It only seems fitting that we tax payers should decide such things given the fact that it represents a clear conflict of interest for any politician.

Markets can't exist without rules.
The people's government makes the rules.

Yes, the PEOPLE's governments should make the rules.
The next step after passing the minimum wage bill needs to be killing Fast Track, and re-negotiating the very expensive "free" trade agreements.
Markets DO need rules.
The old saying about "Teaching a man to fish" should have another line added.
IF YOU SEE A MAN IS FISHING, DON'T DRAIN THE POND!!!
or to use another metaphor. This rising tide is being caused by the people in yachts drilling holes in everybody else's rowboats.
Refill the ponds! Confiscate the drills!

Free; That should be every technical analysis FUNDED BY BIG BUSINESS says raising the minimum wage does little to help low wage working families.
Actually you have a point there, but not the one you are trying to make.
The biggest help for working families would be to kill "free" trade and stop this nation from bleeding jobs to countries that have sweat shop labor, child labor, and no safety or environmental regulations.
But on your second point; any time the people of this country are being abused or exploited, it is the role of the federal government to step in. If you think that the working poor in this country aren't being exploited; you take only the clothes you are wearing, nothing else, and try living in housing they can afford, with the income they have, and the lack of medical benefits for one year. I'll bet you wouldn't even last a month.

I agree that if we have a minimum wage that we must increase it. If we aren't going to increase it we should just get rid of it and stop giving businesses an excuse to underpay their workers.

Why do there need to be tax breaks for small business? Or tax breaks for any business? Wouldn't it be nice if every business paid the same taxes? I don't see why everyone thinks that business owners are always the bad guys. Just a thought.

Make hiring an illegal alien a felony and McDonald's will be forced to pay well above any proposed minimum wage to staff their kitchens.

Free; Illegal aliens are few and far between in Montana. Immigrants tend to go where there are jobs. The people who are the vast majority of minimum wage workers here are US citizens. They are still getting squat!
These fast food corporations don't care about their employees, that's the bottom line.

"i agree with the fast food thing they need to care for there empoyees which o know they have not done. i have worked there for four years now and it does not change they dont hire good people they hire whoever comes to them. but money needs to be give to the poor and keep this country going in the right way."

The BBC(http://news.bbc.co.uk), this morning, has an interesting piece. It's called "The End of the American Dream." It was linked through another piece about "US unemployment on the increase", which is also worth reading. It's under the Business News, and the "End of the American Dream" piece is on the right under analysis.
It has some really good information and graphs.
Something you won't find on Faux News.
It proves what I've been seeing here in Montana, where people are working twice as hard for half the pay, and not making ends meet.
We don't need people who are making 400 times anyone else to preach to us about giving people enough to live on is bad for the economy. They just need to shut up and stop being so damn greedy.