Senate campaigns focus on taxes, wages

Sen. Maria Cantwell cut cake for the 71st birthday of Social Security, and Republican challenger Mike McGavick brought in a key Senate leader to raise money and tour a medical clinic Monday as the two candidates vied for voter attention in Spokane.

Much of the political jousting centered on a bill that hit a brick wall in the Senate before Congress went on vacation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he might try for another vote on the bill that combines key tax breaks with a hike in the federal minimum wage. Cantwell voted to block the bill earlier this month, citing concerns over its effects on minimum wage earners who receive part of their pay in tips.

She called it “an election year ploy,” and McGavick accused her of giving in to “the party bosses” in Washington, D.C.

The bill combined the first increase in the federal minimum wage since 1998 with a reduction in the estate tax and temporary extensions in federal deductions for state sales tax and business expenses for research and development. Frist said the bill was “carefully negotiated” in an attempt to combine the desires of Republicans and Democrats, different regions of the country and different income groups.

It passed the House but couldn’t survive a vote to block a threatened filibuster in the Senate.

An increase in the federal minimum wage was a major Democratic priority, he said, yet most Democrats “followed blindly” and supported the filibuster.

But Cantwell unveiled a new ad that touted her opposition to the bill because it could have cut wages for those who receive tips. That effect was disputed, with congressional researchers and the state Department of Labor and Industries saying it could lead to wage cuts in states like Washington and the U.S. Department of Labor saying it would not.

“I expressed a willingness to sit down at the table” to discuss the question of tips, Frist said. “If there’s a problem, we’re going to work it out.”

Cantwell said that discussions stopped when she suggested removing tip provisions from the bill.

Through a legislative maneuver, Frist could bring the bill back to the Senate when Congress resumes in September if some senators signal they changed their minds during the monthlong recess.

But he said bringing up individually each provision of the bill – such as the sales tax deduction, which expires this year without an extension – isn’t likely with only about 30 days left in the session.

“I’m not going to be cherry picking … to try to appease everyone,” he said.

In the morning, Cantwell celebrated the 71st anniversary of signing the Social Security Act with a cake and a group of about 50 senior citizens at the Corbin Senior Center. She pledged to fight any effort by Republicans to privatize Social Security by setting up individual accounts that could invest workers’ salary deductions in the stock market.

A few hours later and few miles south, McGavick and Frist had lunch with about 50 supporters at a $100-a-plate fundraiser, then toured the Spokane Falls Family Clinic, where they got an explanation of Project Access.

That program connects patients at the clinic – most of whom are on Medicare, Medicaid or have no insurance – with a network of 700 doctors and six hospitals that donate services. The program donated about $5.5 million in medical care over a two-year period and is hoping for Frist’s support in adding federal grants to a congressional appropriations bill.