WASHINGTON – The House’s Democratic majority, exercising its new political clout, on Wednesday approved the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade – from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years.
The measure heads to the Senate, where it is likely to be coupled with tax breaks for small businesses to win Republican votes in the narrowly divided chamber and to secure President Bush’s signature.
The minimum wage has been unchanged since 1997, the longest period without a raise since the first minimum wage was enacted in 1938.
Washington state – where the minimum wage is $7.93 an hour – is among 28 states with minimum wages that exceed the existing federal rate.
An increase in the minimum wage was among the initiatives House Democrats pledged to pass during their first 100 hours in power.
It was approved 315-116, with 82 Republicans joining 233 Democrats in voting for it. All the no votes were cast by Republicans.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said workers relying on $5.15 an hour were “essentially living in poverty.”
The White House said in a statement that an increase in the minimum wage should be tied to tax and regulatory relief “to help small businesses stay competitive and to help keep the economy growing.”
Under the measure approved by the House and introduced in the Senate, the wage would climb to $5.85 an hour 60 days after the legislation is enacted, $6.55 one year later, and $7.25 another year later.
The restaurant industry and other employers were already at work lobbying the Senate for tax breaks for small businesses.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, predicted a wage increase would be accompanied by tax breaks for small businesses in the Senate bill.
“Small-business tax packages have traveled with minimum-wage increases before,” he said. “The Senate will probably vote to attach such a package to this year’s minimum-wage increase as well.”
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