Labor Celebrates Increase in Minimum Wage

July 25, 2007

Hundreds of union members participated in an afternoon rally on Capitol Hill yesterday to celebrate a long-awaited boost in the federal minimum wage.

As scheduled by Congress earlier this year, the federal minimum wage jumps from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour - the first of three increases over the next two years. It is estimated that the wage increase will lift the income of 13 million low-income workers.

"It took 10 long years because of Republican obstructionism," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was joined on stage by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House and Senate Democrats and labor leaders. "This is a day that signals change. Because people who went to work this morning, who go to work every day to provide for their families today will have their work rewarded more fully. It's not enough, but it's a great start."

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), the bill's main sponsor, announced at the rally that he plans to introduce legislation to increase the wage further, to $9.50 an hour by 2011.

In the last Congress, Republicans prevented consideration of the minimum wage coming to the House floor 11 times. Senate Republicans also tried to tie the measure to an $800 billion inheritance tax giveaway for the wealthy. "This was a transparent attempt to dangle a minimum wage increase for families struggling to make ends meet to secure yet another Texas-size tax handout for the wealthiest among us," said President Gerald McEntee in a statement issued during the Senate debate. "Congress owes it to all low-wage workers to raise the minimum wage with no strings attached."