Bubbling Up

Great news here in an email I got from Since Sliced Bread:

Big news... Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just introduced a bill that would link Congressional pay increases to increases in the federal minimum wage. It would require that the federal minimum wage be increased by the same percentage amount as Congressional salaries every year.

What gave the Senator this idea? You guessed it: SinceSlicedBread.com. We told Senator Clinton how important the minimum wage is to SinceSlicedBread community members, and she decided to take action, modeling her bill on an idea from three of you.

Senator Clinton's bill will immediately raise minimum wage to more than $7 an hour, and provide automatic raises, just as Congress receives.

You can ask your Senator to cosponsor the bill at this link.

This is an insanely good idea for so many reasons.

1) the federal minimum wage is currently at $5.15/hour and it hasn't been raised in 8 years. That's a joke.
2) By tying it to Congressional pay it forces those voting against it to essentially be saying "We're not changing our lifestyle for a bunch of poor people."
3) Hillary used the netroots the right way: letting the good ideas bubble up, rather than trying to filter ideas down. The Right has done this through legislative think tanks like ALEC for years. Democrats in Congress should be agnostic about from where they get their ideas (even us rabble on the Internet).
4) SinceSlicedBread is a union initiative (the SEIU) and anyone with aspirations for an emerging Democratic majority should be thankful for anything that strengthens the union brand.

I hope for more good news like this.