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Answers: Mikulski vs. Pipkin 1.Should the national minimum hourly wage be raised from $5.15 to $7, as proposed by Sen Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.? Mikulski: One of the most important things the government can do is to make work worthwhile, Mikulski wrote. Studies by the Economic Policy Institute found that there is no significant, systematic job loss related to minimum wage increases, she noted. Increases can even help businesses, Mikulski wrote, because “more people are working and more people are buying products.” In 1999, Mikulski voted against killing an amendment that would have increased the minimum wage by $1 an hour over two years. Pipkin: Pipkin wrote that the hike would have a negative effect on encouraging job
growth. Increasing the minimum wage would force even more businesses –
especially small businesses - to outsource to other countries, he wrote. “We
must provide incentives to businesses to keep the jobs here, instead of
exporting them abroad,” he wrote. Federal and state governments already have laws regarding same-sex marriages, and Mikulski said we should follow them rather than impose a constitutional amendment. Mikulski voted in favor of The Defense of Marriage Act, which passed in 1996. It defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and provided that no state is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. A constitutional amendment would prohibit states from allowing same-sex marriages. “The proposed constitutional amendment is a diversionary political tactic; I don’t believe that we should tamper with our Constitution for political reasons when laws are already in place that address the fundamental issue,” Mikulski wrote. Pipkin: Pipkin’s campaign manager, Steven Crim, said the senator believes same-sex
unions should be dealt with on an “as-you-go” basis. However, if given the
opportunity, Pipkin would vote for a constitutional amendment to ban gay
marriage, Crim said. Mikulski has supported bills that help close business tax loopholes. “I recently led the fight to amend the tax bill to close the loopholes that actually let companies get tax credits and deductions for moving American jobs overseas,” she wrote. Pipkin: Pipkin prefers companies to take advantage of corporate subsidies and tax benefits, as long as they encourage businesses to grow and create more jobs. “If a company hires more employees and invests in infrastructure because they are paying less in taxes, it means more jobs for working families,” he wrote. “When companies pay that money in taxes, they are unable to create new jobs.”
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