By Scott Jenkins Salisbury Post The retired Salisbury doctor challenging U.S. Rep. Mel Watt for his 12th Congressional District seat bashed the incumbent this week for voting against a bill that would have expanded estate tax exemptions and increased the federal minimum wage. Republican Dr. Ada Fisher issued a statement calling it "ironic" that members of Congress got a $3,300 pay raise this year to $168,500 while the federal minimum wage remained at $5.15 per hour. "In other words, Congress pays itself more per hour than citizens in minimum wage jobs earn a month and Congress makes more in a month than minimum wage jobs pay per year," Fisher said. Fisher said that Congress "recently voted" to give itself the pay hike. Actually, since 1989, annual cost-of-living increases have been automatic for members of Congress as with other federal employees, unless legislators vote to not accept their raise in a given year. An attempt to bring the pay raise to a separate vote in the House in June failed. Watt, a Democrat from Charlotte who represents part of Rowan County, is out of the country. Christopher Johnson, Watt's communications director, referred questions about Fisher's criticisms to Campaign Manager Kevin Monroe, who did not respond to a request for comment. The estate tax legislation passed in the House on July 29 on a 230-180 vote. Democrats voted 158-34 against the bill. Twenty-one Republicans and one independent also opposed the measure. Rep. Robin Hayes, a Republican from Concord who represents Cabarrus County, voted in favor of the bill. Rep. Howard Coble, a Republican whose 6th District includes part of Rowan County, did not cast a vote on the legislation. Last week, the bill failed to gain enough support in the Senate to be considered on the floor, though it could come up again when legislators return to Washington in September. Sen. Elizabeth Dole of Salisbury and Sen. Richard Burr, both Republicans, voted to consider the bill. Some analysts say the $2.10 minimum wage increase -- which would have raised the hourly rate to $7.25 by 2009 -- would be worth only half that amount by then, accounting for inflation and other factors. And opponents said the legislation, which by 2015 would have exempted from inheritance taxes individual estates up to $5 million and cut tax rates for larger estates, would cost the nation billions in a time or war and spiraling budget deficits. Still, Fisher called it "sheer hypocrisy for Watt to oppose this legislation and try to seek shelter in the estate tax provisions" that she contends "have been a factor in the loss of black farmland." Fisher also criticized Watt for voting against the Pension Protection Act, which has passed in the House and Senate and which she says would help employer-funded pension plans remain solvent. It would require employers with underfunded pension plans to make up the difference within seven years. Airlines, some of them now in bankruptcy, would be given more time. Opponents argued the bill would overburden employers and could cause many to drop pension benefits. In the House, Hayes voted in favor of the act and Coble did not cast a vote. In the Senate, Dole voted in favor of the pension bill. Burr voted against it. Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com.
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