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Senate Rejects Kennedy and Santorum Minimum Wage Amendments

On March 07. 2005 the Senate rejected both the Kennedy and Santorum minimum wage amendments.

The vote on the UAW-backed Kennedy amendment was 46-49. All Democrats voted for this amendment, except for three Democrats who were absent (Baucus, Conrad and Mikulski). Four Republicans also voted for the amendment (Coleman, DeWine, Dominici and Chafee), and two Republicans were absent (Specter and Ensign).

The vote on the Santorum amendment was 38-61. All present Democrats voted against this terrible amendment, which combined an inadequate increase in the minimum wage with dangerous provisions exempting millions of workers from the FLSA and abolishing the 40-hour workweek.
In addition, some right-wing Republicans voted against the Santorum amendment because they did not support any increase in the minimum wage.