The House approved an increase in the federal minimum wage on Saturday, but its future was clouded because Republicans tied the pay change to an estate tax cut that had been blocked in the Senate.

The maneuver to couple the minimum wage increase long sought by Democrats and moderate Republicans and the estate tax change backed by conservatives left some Republicans uneasy and Democrats fuming. Opponents of the bill said the estate tax change and other tax breaks included in the $310 billion bill could kill it. They accused Republicans of a cynical ploy to make it look as though they were pushing an increase in the minimum wage when their real intent was to block it.

How evil does a political party have to be to allow a wage increase for the poorest working Americans after 9 years only if Paris Hilton gets a big tax break?

“If the Republicans were serious about raising the minimum wage for the first time in nearly 10 years and extending tax relief for working Americans,” Mr. Reid said, “they would not hold them hostage in their effort to give the wealthiest Americans hundreds of billions more in additional tax giveaways.”

Tell ‘em, Harry.