WASHINGTON -- Republican leaders were confident late last night that they could push through the House the first minimum wage increase in a decade, along with a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates.
But combining the two volatile issues was sure to cause problems in the Senate, where the minimum wage initiative was likely to die.
Still, Republicans saw combining the wage and tax issues as their best chance for getting permanent cuts to the estate tax .
``This is the best shot we've got; we're going to take it," said House majority leader John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio. He predicted a comfortable victory.
Before the early-morning vote on the minimum wage, the House approved an overhaul of the nation's pension laws. The bill seeks to prolong the traditional employer-based pension plans relied upon by millions while also promoting new savings options and protecting the government from future taxpayer bailouts.
The provisions sought by the bill ``represent the most sweeping changes to America's pension laws in more than 30 years," Boehner said .
He said the bill ``will ensure that workers and retirees can continue to count on their hard-earned pension benefits."
The bill, passed 279 to 131, now moves to the Senate, which is expected to take it up next week before it departs for its August recess.
Opponents, mainly Democrats, said the bill did too little to prevent employers from eliminating defined-benefit plans and favored some industries over others.
Many Democrats also opposed the wage and tax bill. Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, pledged to kill the hybrid bill and its $300 billion-plus cost if it got to the Senate.
``The Senate has rejected fiscally irresponsible estate tax giveaways before and will reject them again," Reid said. ``Blackmailing working families will not change that outcome."
The move also put Democrats in the uncomfortable position of voting against the minimum wage increase and the estate tax cut -- and an accompanying bipartisan package of popular tax breaks, including a research and development credit for businesses and deductions for college tuition and state sales taxes.
But there was GOP discontent, too. Some conservatives in the House were unhappy about the minimum wage vote, while moderates were restive about its being tied to cuts in the estate tax.