The Senate appears less eager than the House did to pass the minimum wage hike. Its deliberations on S.2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, continued after this afternoon's votes on numerous amendments and a cloture vote. Two things are now clear: 1) S. 2 will not survive in the Senate without Finance chair Max Baucus' $8.3 billion small business tax cut package attached to it. A 54-43 cloture vote,six votes short of the needed 60, on the minimum wage on a stand-alone basis means it can't pass as is, despite the support of all Democratic Senators and Republicans Coleman (MN), Collins (ME), Snowe (ME), Specter (PA), and Warner (VA). This may present problems down the road, since the House leadership continues to insist on its own "clean" minimum wage bill. However, Baucus could hold the amended S.2 at the Senate desk pending a House resolution, which would prevent Ways and Means chair Charlie Rangel from using the "blue slip" process to block the appointment of conferees on the bill. 2) The Gregg Amendment will rear its head again, as the Senate also rejected, 49-48, a cloture motion on his line-item veto amendment. Democratic Sens. Lieberman (CT) and Bayh (IN) and Republican Shelby (AL) were the only defectors in an otherwise party-line vote. As mentioned here, Gregg sought to have the amendment attached to the Senate's ethics and lobbying bill last week and, in a press conference after the vote, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) indicated that the amendment would come up again at least once more later in the session, perhaps to make the GOP out like vanguards of fiscal responsibility -- now that they don't control Congress.