House Passes Minimum Wage Hike
This is hardly a surprise, but late this afternoon, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $ 7.25 per hour:
The House today approved Democratic-written legislation that would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, the first such hike in 10 years.
In one of the Democrats’ first victories since taking control of Congress last week, House members voted 315 to 116 to raise the federal wage floor by $2.10 over two years.
The bill calls for the current $5.15 minimum wage to move to $5.85 an hour 60 days after President Bush signs it into law, to $6.55 an hour a year later and to $7.25 an hour a year later.
Like I said, not a surprise at all. Heck, when 82 Republicans join in and vote for this, I start wondering if there’s anyone left in Washington with an ounce of economic sense. The bill now goes to the Senate where it will slow down a bit as Republicans try to tack on tax breaks for small businesses to “offset” the effects of the increased minimum wage, which is, incidentally, another bad idea. In the end, though, it will pass there too and go on to President Bush who apparently has forgotten what the word veto even means.
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