Minimum Wage Increase Passes

Both the House and Senate approved the first increase in the minimum wage in over a decade Thursday night, reported Stephen Labaton in Friday’s New York Times. The measure raises the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 but through “three stages over two years,” Labaton reported. The increase ran into opposition when Senate Republicans “killed the bill January 24 and set off a 134-day minimum wage" filibuster but Senate Republicans finally allowed the measure to pass as a part of the supplemental Iraq war spending bill, says Mike Hall of the AFL-CIO Now Blog. The 134-day delay cost each minimum wage worker a wage increase totaling $750 over the filibuster period, Hall reports.