Issue Position: Economic Issues

Issue Position

Issue Position: Economic Issues

I supported the increase in the minimum wage to $7.25. The old minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, unchanged since 1997, left the typical family of three around $3,000 below the poverty level - even if a parent worked full-time, year-round. More than 60 percent of minimum wage workers are women, and 20 percent of those are single mothers. Almost 40 percent of minimum wage earners are their family's sole breadwinner. Almost every additional cent minimum wage workers earn is recycled back into the economy.
I support free and fair trade agreements that benefit all parties involved. I also support vigorous enforcement of our domestic trade laws that would limit illegal and unfair importation of commodities like agricultural products and steel from countries that dump those products on U.S. shores. I have insisted that so-called Fast Track authority, which would allow the Executive Branch of the federal government to negotiate trade agreements without Congressional input, be subject to meaningful protections of workers' rights and the environment.

Trade and business exchange can open the doors of repression. That's one of the reasons I voted for China's accession to the World Trade Organization. China's progress toward political and economic reform will not occur overnight, but strengthening China's economic ties with both the United States and the global community is perhaps our most powerful tool to promote this goal, while also expanding our access to one of the largest markets in the world. However, China also has a responsibility not to undervalue its currency, which places American workers at a disadvantage in the global marketplace.

I think we should return to fiscal discipline that protects the Social Security Trust Fund as soon as possible, in a manner that does not undermine economic recovery and homeland security. Therefore, I am open to modifications to President Bush's tax cuts. For example, instead of waiting nearly 10 years to address the estate tax and then totally eliminating it for the wealthiest estates, we should eliminate estate taxes immediately for small business owners, farmers and 99 percent of all estates, while continuing to call on the wealthiest people in our society - who often have successfully avoided taxes on much of their income while they are alive - to pay their fair share in estate taxes.

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