The minimum wage and Paris Hilton do not go together

The Democrats want to raise the minimum wage.  The Republicans want to repeal the estate tax.  Bill Frist's latest tactic to get the estate tax passed shows just how connected he and his party is to the wealthiest lobbyists on Capitol Hill.  The Senate Majority Leader is telling Democrats that the only way a minimum wage hike will pass the Senate is if a repeal of the estate tax is part of the bill (morphing two unrelated bills into one).  Keep in mind that the estate tax affects only the richest 1% of estates.  And repealing it would add $1 trillion to the National Debt between 2012 and 2021.

In order to satisfy their big donors, the Republicans Senate leadership has been fighting hard for the last few months to do away with the estate tax, or what many refer to as the Paris Hilton tax.  Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid summed it up best:

"The only road to legislative heaven in this Republican-dominated Congress is to repeal the estate tax," he said.

So what do the Democrats do?  Should they continue to allow themselves to get bullied around by the GOP Senate majority?  Or do they vote it down?  If the Democrats vote against this bill, then the Republicans can come back and say that the Democrats were against the minimum wage being increased.  See the tactic!

I think it's a toss-up either way.  It's hard to support a measure that would add to the National Debt.  On the same token, a few incumbent Democratic Senators up for reelection might be put on the hot seat by their constituents if they oppose a measure that would raise the minimum wage for the first time since 1997.  Regardless, this is a sick tactic on the part of Bill Frist.  You'd think that because Frist is retiring from the Senate this year, he would want to leave with some integrity.
---------------------------------------------------------
Other blogs writing about Bill Frist: Americablog, The Carpetbagger Report, Hotline, Daily Kos, Wonkette, Political Translator, At Home, Not So Humble, Angry Bear, Volunteer Voters, Left Word, Political News.