Sens. Shelby, Sessions vote against job-killing bill

Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions joined the majority in voting against a bill to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.25 an hour over the next year and a half.

I say, good for them...and no, that isn't because I'm a heartless Republican. Quite the opposite. The minimum wage often ends up hurting the very people it is intended to help by pricing them out of the marketplace. To businesses, labor costs represent an expense - and a rather large one at that. If businesses who employ minimum wage workers don't think that those jobs are worth the minimum wage, then they will simply eliminate the jobs.

The vast majority of minimum-wage earners are young, unskilled, and/or inexperienced. That is the very group that needs jobs the most - in order to get valuable experience, develop a positive work ethic, and gain entry into the work force. They are also the ones who are hurt the most when the government forbids them from accepting jobs that pay below such-and-such an hour.

For many of these workers, the most important step they can take is to merely get a job in order to develop the discipline it takes to keep a job. One of the best things government can do to help them out is to stop creating new barriers to employment; the minimum wage is one such barrier. If politicians want a serious job-training program that actually works, then they should consider eliminating the minimum wage.