08/08/06 Senators Block Tax Reduction & Wage Hike

Senators block tax reduction & wage hike. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report. The U.S. Senate failed to overcome election-year differences on a bill to raise the minimum wage and permanently reduce estate taxes. In a 57 to 41 vote - the Senate fell three votes short of the 60 votes needed to end debate and bring up the bill. If Senators had voted to invoke cloture - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist expected to finish work on the measure before leaving for the August recess. FRIST: The Senate just had a majority vote to move forward to this bill which reforms the onerous death tax, raises the minimum for millions of Americans and provides a number of important tax relief extenders that will expire. Had the Senate invoked cloture, I'm confident we could have finished this measure this weekend and presented it to the President in the next couple of days to become the law of the land. Republicans had hoped to sway enough Democrats to vote for the combined estate tax relief and 40-percent minimum wage hike - passed by the House last week - to come up with the votes needed to move the bill. Instead - all but four Democrats blocked the bill - calling it another tax giveaway to the rich - though farm and small business groups supported it. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky - speaking on the Senate floor Thursday - said he just didn`t understand the problem with the bill - saying it all came down to a political game. MCCONNELL: The ink of the three parts of this bill are supported by a bi-partisan majority of the United States Senate. So what could possibly be wrong with passing the three bills together since they are each supported by a bi-partisan majority of the Senate. Now with today's Food Forethought, here's Susan Allen. Naturally drugs are the first thing that come to mind when I hear the word "Black Market or "illegal global trade". It is no surprise that second on the list, behind illegal drugs, are guns and weapons. The world is learning a hard lesson on just how pervasive the weapons trade is as evidenced by the repertoire of arsenals now employed by the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezzbulah. Yet I bet that number three on the global illegal trade list would stump the majority of us who live pretty oblivious here in the US to the fact that trading in endangered wild animals and plants now exceeds over 10 billion a year making it the worlds third largest source of illegal funds not to mention the havoc it wrecks on the environment. In a recent conference in Bejing, wildlife officials discussed tougher punishment of poachers and smugglers. China came under fire for it's inconsistencies and the fact that those who poach protected species often go unpunished while those who smuggle endangered animals can end up netting a ten year jail sentence. Thanks Susan. That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.