Political Action Update

August 10, 2006 

S  P  E  C  I  A  L    E  D  I  T  I  O  N

Attention - Iowa Union Leaders

The following pages include articles from the Political Action Update and the Iowa AFL-CIO News related to Jim Nussle.  Also included is an issue by issue review of Nussle’s anti-worker voting record in Congress as well as talking points to assist is the creation of new material.  Newsletter Editors and other union leaders—feel free to copy any of this information in part or in total for use in newsletters, letters-to-the-editor, workplace flyers, letters to members, or any other venue that will help share Nussle’s record with your members.

Where's the Bag?

In 1991, a young Jim Nussle wore a paper bag over his head in Congress in a publicity stunt to show he was ashamed of the actions Congress was then taking.  Now, as Budget Chair, Nussle is leading the charge to provide tax cuts to the rich by cutting programs for the poor.  Congressman Nussle, where’s the bag? 

No matter what the issue is, from providing the wealthy with yet another tax cut or to increasing the minimum wage, the odds are great that, during his career in Congress, Jim Nussle has voted against the interests of working families.

The stories reprinted inside this Special Edition along with a summarized version of  Nussle’s AFL-CIO voting record chronicle his history of voting  against workers and for America’s wealthiest citizens and the world’s most profitable corporations.

With Nussle seeking Iowa’s governorship, it is now more critical than ever that union leaders and newsletter editors use all of the tools in our toolkits to expose his anti-worker record.  The importance of exposing Nussle’s past record is demonstrated on the minimum wage issue.  After an entire career of opposing increases in the minimum wage, Nussle recently flip-flopped and said that an increase in the minimum wage “is long overdue.”  Then on July 29 Nussle did vote to increase the minimum wage...but only in a cynical “poison pill” package that also gave a multi-billion dollar estate tax break to the wealthiest families in the nation.  His record is stark and he can’t run from it—Jim Nussle has been and is an opponent of an increased minimum wage.

In the next three months, our task is to make sure that our members are aware of Nussle’s horrible record.   

AFL-CIO

Congressional Voting Record*

*Does not include 2006 votes

Nussle-Related Articles That Can Be Used Whole or In Part By Newsletter Editors and Union Leaders.

Budget Leaves Iowans in the Cold

  The budget bill promoted by U.S. House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) and passed by the U.S. House and Senate sets the spending level for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) at the same level as last year in spite of a predicted 44% increase in home heating costs for Iowans this winter.  In an effort to stretch the budget and serve as many people as possible, Iowa’s LIHEAP assistance grants will be the same dollar amounts as in 2004, even though 2005 energy costs are much higher.  Through October and November, more than 52,000 Iowans have filed requests for energy assistance, an 8% increase from last year.  Last year more than 85,000 Iowans received energy assistance.  

Congress Raises the National Debt Limit

On March 16, the Republican Congress, for the fourth time in the Bush presidency, voted to raise the ceiling on the national debt.  When George W. Bush took office the U.S. had enjoyed four straight years of budget surpluses.  Since then, annual budget deficits, caused largely by Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and the cost of the war in Iraq, have continually driven up the national debt.  The bill sent to the president will increase the current debt ceiling of $8.2 billion by $791 billion to just under $9 trillion.

Trillions and billions of dollars are difficult to visualize.  Some simple math  makes the numbers more meaningful.  On March 14, 2006 at 1:09 CST, according to the on-line National Debt Clock, the national debt stood at $8,279,173,662,091.09.  Dividing that number by the estimated U.S. population of 298,772,665 yields a more easily comprehended amount, the $27,710.61 in debt owed by every man, woman and child in the United States.

And it keeps getting worse.  Since September 30, 2005 the U.S. national debt has increased, on average, by more than $2 billion per day.  George W. Bush, referring to the national debt in his first State of the Union address, said, “We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act now.”  The debt, $2 trillion then, has more than quadrupled during the Bush presidency.

Jim Nussle—His Record Proves He’s No Friend of Iowans Who Earn the Minimum Wage

 Congressman Jim Nussle has voted again and again against raising the minimum wage.  The same Jim Nussle has been cashing larger and larger paychecks—thanks to the nine pay increases that members of Congress have given themselves.  While his own pay increased by $31,600, Jim Nussle consistently opposed any increase in the minimum wage.  Nussle’s vision for the future doesn’t include those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Nussle Budgets Cut Food Assistance

In 2003 the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) described Jim Nussle’s budget cuts as “reminiscent of those proposed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.”  According to the CBPP, the budget presented by Nussle in 2003 cut food stamps $13 billion over a 10-year  period.  President Clinton vetoed the cuts.

In April of last year, Nussle’s House budget called for $5.3 billion in cuts for the Agriculture budget.  At that time, members of the House Agriculture Committee said they were prepared to make cuts to the food stamp program that were even larger than the $600 million proposed by the Bush administration.

The 2007 Bush budget changes food stamp eligibility rules and cuts roughly $250 million from the food stamp budget.  While it is inconceivable that Jim Nussle wouldn’t also support these cuts, we’ll never know.  Decision-making on the 2007 budget appears to be “on hold” until after the 2006 elections.

QUIZ

Q. Who was in charge of the budget in the U.S. House during the Bush years as the U.S. debt quadrupled?

A. Jim Nussle

The ‘06 Budget—Spending Cuts For Families, Tax Cuts For the Wealthy

In a 216–214 vote, U.S. House Republican leaders, backed by the Bush administration, muscled through a package of nearly $40 billion in spending cuts on Feb. 1, slashing programs vital to working families, especially low-income Americans and those trying to pay for college.  The cuts will slash health care funding for the poor and child support enforcement funds while taking $12.7 billion from the federal student loan program, the largest cut in the program’s history. Iowa Representatives King, Latham and Nussle voted for the bill.  Representatives Boswell and Leach voted No.  Iowa’s Senators split, with Grassley supporting the measure and Harkin voting No.

The Bush administration’s next step is already planned—$70 billion in tax cuts, mostly for the rich, to come up for a full congressional vote in late February or early March. 

Budget Cuts, Katrina Victims & Tax Breaks for the Wealthy 

The Con Game the Republican Congress is Playing on America 

You’d think that with household median income down, poverty up, jobs flowing overseas and the number of people protected by pensions and health care insurance plummeting, the powers that be would feel compelled to take extraordinary measures to address the difficulties facing working families.  You’d be wrong. Under the guise of needing to “get the budget under control,” and “to cover the cost of relief to Hurricane Katrina victims,” Iowa’s Congressman Nussle, as House Budget Chair, has led the way, not in helping the middle-class, but in cutting Medicaid, child support enforcement and child care—to the tune of $39.7 billion.

The Nussle plan, previously passed by the House, contained $50 billion in cuts to programs that benefit the middle-class.  After passing those middle-class budget cuts, the House promptly turned its attention to tax cuts for the rich.  In a series of votes, the House handed out $94 billion in tax cuts, largely benefiting the rich.

It is sad when our representatives in Congress falsely portray the cutting of programs for the poor and middle class as necessary and appropriate “budget-controlling” measures and as sacrifices required in order to provide much-needed assistance to Katrina victims.  This is a false portrayal because simple math (see box) proves that the tax cuts that followed the spending cuts ate up all, and then some, of the savings created by the budget cuts.  The money cut from middle-class programs didn’t go to balance the budget, nor did it go to Katrina victims, instead it was used to provide more tax cuts for the rich.

It is reprehensible that, not only are the rich spared from the sacrifices being asked of the middle class, but they become beneficiaries as they receive yet another round of tax cuts.

The Budget Con Game

Cuts to middle-class benefits

Tax cuts for the wealthy

Net impact on Budget deficit

Jim Nussle & Members of U.S. Congress Get Another Pay Raise 

Americans Earning the Minimum Wage Still Get Only $5.15

 Members of Congress think they’re doing such a great job they’ve given themselves eight pay raises over the past nine years, with the latest increase of another $3,400 added to their checks this January.

In that same period, minimum wage workers have seen zero increase. At $5.15 an hour, the minimum wage doesn’t even keep workers out of poverty—in fact, it should be at least $8.88 an hour just to keep up with inflation. 

While Republican leaders in Congress have refused to increase the minimum wage—which hasn’t budged since 1997—their salaries have risen by $31,600 over the same period.  Not that members of Congress, who on average will earn $162,000 this year, don’t work hard for their money. But so do the people who take care of our children and provide assistance for our elderly parents and sew our garments.

Today, a family with one full-time worker living on the minimum wage makes $10,712 a year, $5,378 less than the $16,090 needed to be above the poverty level for a family of three. A family’s average annual health care premiums exceed annual pay at the minimum wage. A couple with two children would have to work a combined 3.3 full-time minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. That’s 132 hours a week.

Unless the Republican-dominated Congress changes its mind and gives minimum wage workers a long overdue raise, 2006 will usher in the greatest gap between minimum wage and average-wage workers since the end of World War II.

Courtesy: James Parks, AFL-CIO NOW

Nussle Again Supports A Rotten Trade Deal 

Voting for a flawed trade deal is nothing new for Nussle.

On July 29, 2005 Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) voted Yes and helped to  pass the CAFTA trade deal into law.  Voting for a flawed trade deal is nothing new, however, for Nussle.  In 2003 Nussle voted for both the Singapore and the Chile trade agreements.  Before that, in 2002, 2001, 1998 and in 1991 he voted for “Fast Track” provisions to give expanded authority on trade deals to the President.  In 2000, Nussle voted for the bill to normalize trade relations with China.  In 1996, 1994, 1992 and 1991 he voted to grant Most Favored Nation (MFN) status to China and in 1999 he supported the African trade deal.  In 1994 he voted for the Uruguay Round of the GATT trade agreement and in 1993 he voted for NAFTA.

During Congressman Nussle’s tenure, American manufacturing jobs have disappeared at an unprecedented rate—in no small part because of his votes on trade issues.

Budget Deceit

The Republican Congress, ran up the largest budget deficit in the nation’s history by cutting taxes on the wealthy.  Now they have decided to cut funding for student loans, food stamps, Medicaid, foster care and child support enforcement.

Citing the need to fund hurricane recovery, Republican leaders insisted that sacrifices in spending must be made.  The cruelty and duplicity of the Republican request for sacrifice—cutting programs for the elderly, the sick, students and the poor—is that the lion’s share of the savings generated by the cuts will not be spent for hurricane recovery.  Instead, those dollars will be used to partially offset another $60 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy—the next item on the Republican agenda.

Iowa Republican Jim Nussle, Chair of the House Budget Committee, led the effort to pass the cuts in social programs.  Voting with Nussle were Iowa Republican Congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham.  To his credit, Iowa Republican Congressman Jim Leach voted against the bill.  Congressman Leach was quoted in the Los Angeles Times saying the bill was short on “economic balance and social justice.” The bill passed 217 - 215.  Every Democrat and 14 Republicans voted No.  

The Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

George Bush & Jim Nussle Have Been Great for the Top 1%

New figures on the Bush tax cuts through May 2006, by Citizens for Tax Justice, show that the most recent tax changes, extending the tax breaks for dividends and capital gains through 2010, have made the tax cuts even more regressive and costly.

• Over ten years, the total cost of the Bush tax cuts has grown to $2.4 trillion, included added interest payments (reflecting the fact that the tax cuts have been financed entirely with borrowed money).

• By 2010, when the estate tax is slated to be eliminated, 51 percent of the total tax cuts will go to the best-off one percent of all taxpayers.

• Over the 2001-10 period, the average tax cut for the best-off one percent will total $483,000—an average of $48,300 per year.

• In contrast, the average tax cut for middle-income Americans will average $659 a year over the same period.

• The average tax cut for the poorest 20 percent of all taxpayers will average only $77 a year over ten years.

• As shares of income, the 10-year tax cuts will equal 0.7 percent of income for the poorest 20 percent and 1.7 percent of income for the next 79 percent.  But for the top one percent, the tax cuts will average 3.9 percent of income.

Jim Nussle’s Role as House Budget Chair

While Jim Nussle was voting for the Bush tax cuts he was also, as House Budget Committee Chair, writing budgets that did not reflect the diminished revenues that resulted from the tax cuts.  The resulting bottom line—the nation’s budget and the tax cuts for the wealthy are being financed to a large extent with borrowed money.  Sadly, it is our children and grandchildren who will have to pay the bill for this fiscal irresponsibility.

As the House Budget Chair, Jim Nussle bears some, but not all of the responsibility for the mess Washington has made of the federal budget.  George Bush, Tom DeLay, Dick Cheney and many others share the blame with Nussle.  Still, Nussle’s role in the federal budget mess demonstrates a set of fiscal values that are clearly contrary to those of most Iowans.  Jim Nussle’s record on the federal budget is one that most Iowan’s wouldn’t want and can’t afford to see repeated here in Iowa.

Nussle’s 2006 Record - A  Pathetic 1 Right & 12 Wrong

The AFL-CIO 2006 Interim House Scorecard, documents a continuation of Jim Nussle’s anti-worker voting record that is summarized in the following pages.  Already this year Nussle has voted for a budget that cut billions from domestic programs such as student loans, Medicaid, child-support enforcement and health insurance for low income children (SCHIP) in order to pay for over $70 billion in tax cuts that mostly benefit wealthy investors and businesses.  Nussle also voted, this year, for a sham lobbying bill, for the $70 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy, for cuts in the estate tax, for language to gut portions of the Voting Rights Act, and for new powers for the president in the form of a line-item veto.  Nussle also voted for several parliamentary maneuvers that effectively blocked consideration of an increase in the minimum wage.  (See below for more on Jim Nussle and the minimum wage.)

The Jim Nussle AFL-CIO Voting Record (1991-2005)

Selected issue categories of the Nussle AFL-CIO voting record are printed below and on the following pages.  Use these for bullets in stories, press releases, letters to members or letters-to-the editor.  The complete Nussle AFL-CIO Voting Record and the (unofficial) 2006 Interim House Scorecard are available on-line at (voting record) http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/votes/vr_memb.cfm and at (2006 Interim Scorecard) http://www.aflcio.org/issues/legislativealert/votes/vr_all.cfm.

TRADE

• In 2005, Nussle voted for the CAFTA trade agreement.

• In 2003, Nussle voted for the U.S.—Singapore Free Trade Agreement which did not include enforceable core labor standards.

• In 2003, Nussle voted for the U.S.—Chile Free Trade Agreement which did not include enforceable core labor standards.

• In 2002, Nussle voted for the conference committee report for Fast Track trade authority which contained weak and flawed provisions on workers’ rights and environmental protections.

• In 2001, Nussle voted for Fast Track trade authority, under which Congress is stripped of its ability to improve proposed trade agreements negotiated by the president.  Congress is only allowed to vote “Yes” or “No” on entire trade packages.

• In 2000, Nussle voted to give the People’s Republic of China permanent normal trade relations status.  The bill solidified China’s entry into the World Trade Organization and effectively eliminated the U.S. government’s ability to impose trade sanctions on China for human rights or workers’ rights violations.

• In 1999, Nussle voted for a new trade and investment policy for sub-Sahara Africa.  The bill did not include enforceable worker protections and also allowed transshipments of foreign textiles and apparels through African countries, giving other nations trade benefits intended for African countries.

• In1999, Nussle voted against denying the People’s Republic of China an extension of normal trade relations with the U.S. 

• In 1998, Nussle voted for Fast Track trade authority, under which Congress is stripped of its ability to improve proposed trade agreements negotiated by the president.  Congress is only allowed to vote “Yes” or “No” on entire trade packages.

• In 1996, Nussle voted against a resolution to deny China the continuation of Most Favored Nation trading status.

• In 1994, Nussle voted against a resolution to deny China the continuation of Most Favored Nation trading status. 

• In 1993, Nussle voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which eliminated or reduces tariffs and duties  on products made in Mexico (and Canada), giving U.S. firms an inducement to ship their jobs to Mexico.

• In 1992, Nussle voted against an amendment designed to boost the use of American-made parts by Japanese auto plants in the U.S.

• In 1992, Nussle voted against an override of President Bush’s veto of a bill that would have denied Most Favored Nation status for China for items produced by state-owned facilities if China continued to violate human rights, to sell nuclear weapons and to commit unfair trading practices.

• In 1991, Nussle voted against a resolution which would have denied the president Fast Track authority for a U.S.—Mexico trade deal and for the General agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT).

• In 1991, Nussle voted against a resolution that would have denied President Bush’s request to extend unconditional Most Favored Nation status for China

MINIMUM WAGE

• In 2000, Nussle voted against a $1 increase in the minimum wage.

• In 2000, Nussle voted against a Democratic amendment that would have eliminated provisions in the minimum wage bill to deny large segments of the computer industry, certain sales employees and funeral directors overtime protections currently provided by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

• In 1996, Nussle voted to block an increase in the minimum wage and to strip Fair Labor Standards Act protections from more than 10 million workers employed at businesses with less than $500,000 in annual revenue.

DAVIS-BACON ACT

• In 1997, Nussle voted against an amendment to strike a waiver of the Davis-Bacon Act for school construction and repairs in the District of Columbia that had been included in a spending bill.

• In 1992, Nussle voted against an amendment blocking the creation of a “helpers” category in construction projects.  The Davis-Bacon Act requires prevailing wages for “laborers and mechanics.”  “Helpers” would not be included under the regulation which Nussle supported.

• In 1991, Nussle voted wrong on “helpers” legislation that would have put up to 40 percent of the Davis-Bacon workforce on the street, replaced by low-paid, unskilled “helpers.”

• In 2004, Nussle voted to overturn a court ruling and stifle OSHA enforcement.  The legislation supported by Nussle would say that deference should be given to the OSHA Review Committee, rather than the Secretary of Labor, in interpreting OSHA standards.

• In 2004, Nussle voted to reimburse the legal fees of any small employer that prevails in any enforcement case or wins a challenge to an OSHA standard, regardless of whether OSHA’s actions were substantially justified.  Previously, those costs could only be recovered if the government’s action is ruled not substantially justified.

• In 2003, Nussle, voted against an amendment that would have blocked new regulations that allowed coal mine operators to increase their respirable dust levels by 400 percent.

• In 2001, Nussle voted to nullify federal rules implementing an “ergonomics standard” designed to prevent crippling repetitive stress injuries in the workplace.

• In 2000, Nussle voted for theFY2001 Labor, Health and Human Services bill that cut funding for worker protection programs.

• In 1997, Nussle voted for an amendment slashing millions from the Employment Standards Administration, which investigates and enforces labor laws.

• In 1996, Nussle voted against an amendment that stripped a ban on the gathering of information about repetitive stress injuries or passing ergonomics regulations.

• In 1995, Nussle voted for an appropriations bill slashing funding for workplace safety and labor protection programs.  The bill also prevented OSHA from developing an ergonomics standard and limited the NLRB in its ability to go to court to persuade a judge that an employer should stop an unfair labor practice during an organizing drive.

• In 1994, Nussle voted to strip money from an appropriations bill funding OSHA and other Department of Labor programs in an attempt to cripple workplace enforcement programs.

FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE

• In 1993, Nussle voted against the family and medical leave bill.

• In 1992, Nussle voted against the family and medical leave bill.

• In 1991, Nussle voted against the family and medical leave bill.

WORKPLACE FAIRNESS - RIGHT TO STRIKE

• In 1993, Nussle voted against the Workplace Fairness bill banning the use of “permanent replacements” during a lawful economic strike.

• In 1991, Nussle voted against the Workplace Fairness bill banning the use of “permanent replacements” during a lawful economic strike.

PRIVATIZATION

• In 2004, Nussle voted against an amendment blocking the Office of Management and Budget from implementing pro-contractor revisions to federal rules.

•  In 2003, Nussle voted against an amendment blocking Office of Management and Budget rules designed to gut regulations designed to create a level playing field between private contractors seeking government work and the agencies and workers performing the work.  The OMB rules were designed to implement Bush administration plans to privatize more than 850,000 federal jobs.

PAYCHECK DECEPTION

• In 1998, Nussle voted for legislation designed to silence working families’ voice in politics by placing incredible burdens on unions before they could spend their funds representing working families through political or legislative activity.  The bill applied only to unions—not to corporations, which in 1998 outspent unions 11-1.

HEALTH CARE

• In 2004 Nussle voted to allow small businesses to offer health insurance to their employees through “Association Health Plans” that would be exempt from state insurance regulations and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would lead to premium increases for four in five already insured workers.

• In 2003, Nussle voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Act that moved Medicare toward privatization, steered seniors to private HMOs, forced 32.5 current beneficiaries to pay higher premiums, increased profits for the pharmaceutical industry, prevented the government from negotiating lower drug prices and threatened the employer-provided drug coverage of millions of retirees.

• In 2002, Nussle voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug Act that moved Medicare toward privatization, steered seniors to private HMOs, forced 32.5 current beneficiaries to pay higher premiums, increased profits for the pharmaceutical industry, prevented the government from negotiating lower drug prices and threatened the employer-provided drug coverage of millions of retirees.

•  In 2000, Nussle voted for a sham prescription drug plan that would not give seniors a guaranteed benefit in Medicare, but instead would give private insurers big subsidies to offer drug-only policies.

• In 1999, Nussle voted against the Patients’ Bill of Rights.

• In 1998, Nussle voted against the Patients’ Bill of Rights.

• In 1996, Nussle vote for  Medical Savings Accounts that would be primarily used by the wealthy to avoid taxes.

• In 1995, Nussle voted for cuts in Medicare to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.

“THE DEFICIT THAT WE HAVE TODAY WAS DELIBERATELY CAUSED AS A RESULT OF WHAT HAPPENED SEPTEMBER 11 TO OUR COUNTRY, TO PROMOTE HOMELAND SECURITY, TO PAY FOR A WAR.”  Jim Nussle on the January 20, 2006 IPT Iowa Press television show.

Individual bullets outlining Jim Nussle’s record on deficit spending are  unnecessary.  Since George W. Bush became president, Congressman Jim Nussle has served as Chair of the House Budget Committee.  In that position of power and leadership Nussle has not only voted for every action that has created the nation’s record deficits and record debt, but he also bears responsibility, as a member of leadership, for the legislation itself and for garnering the  votes to make the policy become law.  The federal budget mess was created by George W. Bush in the Executive Branch and Jim Nussle in the Congress.

 “Tax cuts don’t need to be paid for [with offsets] — they pay for themselves.”

House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle Quoted in BNA Daily Tax Report, March 17, 2004

• In 2005, Nussle voted for a budget reconciliation bill that ultimately provided investors with a $56 billion tax cut.  Three-quarters of the benefits went to investors making over $100,000 per year.

• In 2004, Nussle voted for a budget resolution that made permanent the Bush tax cuts on dividends and capital gains and that accelerated the repeal of the estate tax.

• In 2003 Nussle voted for the 2003 Bush tax cuts that flowed mainly to corporations and the wealthy.

•  In 2002, Nussle voted to make the 2001 Bush tax cuts permanent.

• In 2001, Nussle voted for the $1.35 trillion Bush tax cuts benefiting mainly the wealthy.

• In 1993, Nussle and every other Republican voted against President Bill Clinton’s budget reconciliation plan that included tax increases for the wealthy.  The plan ultimately turned the budget deficit into a budget surplus—a surplus that George W. Bush, with Nussle’s help, squandered.

UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

• In 2004, Nussle voted against the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation program that expired, denying unemployed workers who had exhausted their state benefits an extra 13 weeks of federal unemployment benefits.

• In 1993, Nussle voted against the extension of unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks beyond basic state benefits as the Bush recession continued to take a toll on the U.S. economy and its workers.

• In 1992, Nussle voted against the extension of unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks beyond basic state benefits.

• In 1991, Nussle, under intense political pressure, voted for extended unemployment compensation benefits.

PENSION PROTECTION

• In 2005, Nussle voted against an amendment to prohibit the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) from spending money to implement it’s agree with United Airlines to terminate four United pension plans.

Minimum Wage Press Conference Exposes Nussle Hypocrisy

Jim Nussle’ hypocrisy on the issue of raising the minimum wage    became evident after a press conference on the issue called by the Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO on August 7.

At the press conference, Chet Culver called for an increase in the minimum wage and labeled the bill Nussle supported in Congress on July 29th, “A phony, sham bill crafted by the Republican leadership in Washington, D.C. that included more huge tax giveaways to the wealthiest among us.”  Culver said, “It seems pretty clear that he’s (Nussle) gone Washington on us.”

Nussle, who was invited but did not attend the press conference, responded with a written statement saying, “An increase in the minimum wage is overdue.”  Culver disputed Nussle’s claim to be supportive of the minimum wage by pointing out that the only time Nussle voted in Congress to increase the minimum wage was the July 29th vote that coupled a minimum wage increase with repeal of the estate tax, a giveaway to the wealthiest families in America.

Perhaps the most damning evidence of Nussle’s hypocrisy came when Culver revealed Nussle’s comments given in a recent radio interview.  Referring to the July 29th vote, Nussle said, “If you just put the minimum wage out there as a single vote, yeah I have voted against that.”

Nussle’s radio interview remarks confirmed Federation President Smith’s statement, “Our representatives in Congress, including Jim Nussle, are playing us for suckers.” Smith called the bill coupling the minimum wage increase with the estate tax, “Nothing but a transparent attempt to provide political cover for Republicans, like Nussle, who have voting records documenting longstanding opposition to increasing the minimum wage.”

Nussle’s own wages as a member of Congress have increased by $31,600 since the minimum wage was last raised.

Chet Culver, Democratic Candidate for Governor, and Mark Smith, Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO President, speak to the press in Des Moines on August 7, 2006.

Citing an increase to $7.25 per hour in the minimum wage as one of his top priorities, Culver said he wanted the bill, “on my desk in the first 100 days of my administration.”