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Minimum Wage Vote This Week

Senate minimum wage vote expected Wednesday. AP: "...Republicans seem likely to block the Democratic measure, which would gradually raise today's $7.25 hourly minimum, reaching $10.10 as soon as 2016 ... Key constituencies oppose compromising on a lower figure, including the AFL-CIO, which backs an increase, and the National Federation of Independent Business, which opposes one. That makes a bipartisan deal even less likely, at least before the elections ... The pressure for congressional action is further reduced by the states — 21 have minimum wages above $7.25. Five have enacted increases so far in 2014, and 29 others are considering boosts."

"Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones" reports NYT: "Higher-wage industries — like accounting and legal work — shed 3.6 million positions during the recession and have added only 2.6 million positions during the recovery. But lower-wage industries lost two million jobs, then added 3.8 million ... [There is] about a million fewer jobs in middle-wage industries ... The swelling of the low-wage work force has led to a push for policies to raise the living standards of the poor, including through job training, expansion of health care coverage and a higher minimum wage."

Obamacare Gaining Steam in GOP Districts

"Obamacare's Poll Numbers Improve In Republican Districts" reports HuffPost: "...43 percent of respondents in districts held by a Republican member of Congress now say they oppose the health care law because it 'goes too far.' That number was 48 percent in December. Opponents still outnumber the 41 percent who say they favor the law. However, Democracy Corps also registers 9 percent of respondents in Republican districts who say they oppose the law because it does not go far enough, a group that ostensibly includes a chunk of voters who wanted a more liberal piece of legislation..."

Push to revamp Medicare to help doctors that serve poor. NYT: "Federal policies to reward high-quality health care are unfairly penalizing doctors and hospitals that treat large numbers of poor people, according to a new report commissioned by the Obama administration that recommends sweeping changes in payment policy. Medicare and private insurers are increasingly paying health care providers according to their performance as measured by the quality of the care they provide. But, the draft report by an expert panel says, the measures of quality are fundamentally flawed because they do not recognize that it is often harder to achieve success when treating people who do not have much income or education."

The Dem Strategy For 2014

Dems trying to master the art of midterm election turnout, with science, says TNR's Sasha Issenberg: "There are about 127 million people [who vote in presidential elections] ... But only 78 million of those people, or about 40 percent of the country’s voting-age population, belong to the group that goes to the polls every two years ... the Republican coalition is stacked with the electorate’s most habitual poll-goers—or 'Reflex' voters ... The Democratic Party claims the lion’s share of drop-off voters, or 'Unreliables.' ... Accordingly, field operations have been transformed from busywork for volunteers into the most rigorously scientized corner of the trade ... [And the] real reason Democrats have embraced a progressive agenda has not been to energize their own base but to lure Reflex voters from the other side..."

If Jeb Bush doesn't run, Wall Street may back Hillary in 2016, reports Politico: "The darkest secret in the big money world of the Republican coastal elite is that the most palatable alternative to a nominee such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky would be Clinton, a familiar face on Wall Street following her tenure as a New York senator with relatively moderate views on taxation and financial regulation."

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