“I am proud to have been part of a new Congress that passed into law the first minimum wage increase in a decade. This increase was long overdue and will help millions of workers, especially the 60 percent of minimum wage workers who are women and those who are struggling to raise children. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, the old minimum wage of $5.15 an hour covered only 40 percent of the cost of raising a child.
“Enactment of the minimum wage increase is a first step in returning attention in Washington to helping working families instead of the focus in recent years on helping the special interests. I also hope that we can swiftly pass the State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill to expand access to health care for more children.”
The increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour will be phased in over two years. The increase today brings the minimum wage to $5.85 an hour. The minimum wage will increase by seventy cents an hour in 2008 and in 2009 to bring the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.
