Senate Rejects Estate, Minimum Wage Bill

Aug 4, 2:42 AM (ET)

By MARY DALRYMPLE

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican election-year effort to fuse a cut in inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates with the first minimum wage increase in nearly a decade was rejected by the Senate late Thursday.

Republicans needed 60 votes to advance their bill, which links a $2.10 increase in the $5.15 federal minimum wage over three years to reductions an estate taxes next decade. The bill got a 56-42 vote, four votes short of succeeding. The House passed it last Saturday.