Minimum Wage Bill Dead--Byrd

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats said today that Republicans have effectively killed chances of raising the $3.35 minimum wage this year through a five-day filibuster.

“There is no point in our continuing to pound on their door,” said Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.). “I’m now conceding that the Republican filibuster was successful. I regret that. I would have liked to have seen this bill passed by the 100th Congress.” The bill by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) would have raised the wage floor, which has been at its present level since 1981, to $3.75 in January, $4.15 in 1990 and $4.55 in 1991.