Will Tom DeLay Support Indexation of the Minimum Wage?

Alas, the news is not about the House Republican leadership doing an about face and supporting an increase in the nominal minimum wage:

WASHINGTON – The House on Tuesday agreed to a $3,100 pay raise for Congress next year to $165,200 after defeating an effort to roll it back. In a 263-152 vote, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to force an up-or-down vote on the pay raise. Instead, lawmakers will automatically receive the raise officially a cost of living adjustment as provided for in a 1989 law that barred them from pocketing big speaking fees in exchange for an annual COLA. Matheson was the only one of 434 House members to speak out against the 1.9 percent COLA, which will raise members’ salaries in January. “Now is not the time for members of Congress to be voting themselves a pay raise. We need to be willing to make sacrifices,” he said. The vote came as the House debated a spending bill containing a provision to guarantee a 3.1 percent pay increase for federal civilian workers. The bill, which funds transportation and housing programs and Treasury Department agencies, was scheduled for a final vote later Wednesday.

Not that I’m opposed to allowing Congressional salaries to be indexed this way. In fact, I agree with Tom DeLay:

“It’s not a pay raise,” said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. “It’s an adjustment so that they’re not losing their purchasing power.”

Now if he would only use this same logic to the minimum wage! More from Steve Benen who is doing a very nice job of filling in for Kevin Drum.