Sen. Bill Frist to the Working Class: I Won't Give You a Tiny Raise in Pay Unless You Give Millionaires and Billionaires a BIGGER Tax Break

[Ed. note: Update: The International Herald Tribune has a good op/ed on the behind-the-scenes chicanery by Frist to wed "welfare" for the richest to a measly bump in the minimum wage for workers.]

I don't see how Bill Frist could ever claim to be a heart surgeon when it's clear he wouldn't know what a heart is if he tripped over it on his way to the executive dining room.

WASHINGTON - The only opportunity this year to increase the minimum wage and renew popular tax breaks will be linked to a reduction in the estate tax, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Tuesday.

The Republican leader said he would schedule a Friday vote to see whether a bill combining the three items, already passed by the House, can win the support of 60 senators. Without that backing, the bill slides off the Senate's agenda.

"It's now or never," Frist said.