Congressional Quarterly is reporting that Senator Rick Santorum is going to be pushing for a hike in the minimum wage. Pennsylvania conservatives were terribly disappointed by Senator Santorum's strong support of liberal Senator Arlen Specter in his 2004 primary fight against conservative Pat Toomey.

Hiking the minimum wage is, of course, bad economics. The only question about Santorum's proposal is whether politically, this will be "the straw that breaks the back" of conservatives' support for Santorum. I've already heard from one Pennsylvania conservative who says it is.

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Congressional Quarterly
February 22, 2005

SANTORUM SAYS TIME IS RIGHT TO BOOST MINIMUM WAGE

Sen. Rick Santorum said today he plans to introduce a bill next week to increase the minimum wage by $1.10 over the next two years. "My sense is this is probably a good time [to increase the wage] with the economy growing the way it has," Santorum, R-Pa., said during a question and answer session at a forum on Social Security at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Republicans last year blocked Democratic attempts to increase the minimum wage, which has remained at $5.15 an hour since 1997, to $7 an hour over two years. Santorum's proposal is similar to an alternative Republican plan discussed last Congress to raise the minimum wage to a lesser amount -- Democratic aides put the figure at $6.25. But that Republican alternative was never offered as stand-alone legislation or as an amendment.