Senate Vote on Minimum Wage Increase Tonight or Tomorrow

My new op-ed on the minimum wage increase going through congress is up:

Democrats are lacking in new ideas, so maybe that’s why Republicans are stealing their old ones. With some Republicans' poll numbers looking grim, early last Saturday morning House Republicans rushed through legislation raising the minimum wage. The Senate votes before shutting down for August recess, and will perhaps finish what is supposedly the process of stealing — or at least neutralizing — the centerpiece of the Democrats’ fall election agenda.

Chances for Senate passage are too close to call. Despite Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's support, many senators on both sides are unhappy. Democrats don't want to give up a campaign issue for the fall and complain that the bill also eliminates the inheritance tax for individual estates under $5 million; Republicans, meanwhile, take unseemly glee in getting Democrats to vote against a minimum-wage increase. But with control of Congress on the line, what is lost in the debate is how increasing the minimum wage harms the most vulnerable workers. . . . .

UPDATE: While the bill got a majority of 56-42, it failed to get the 60 votes required for cloture.