Senate Approves Wage Increase

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to boost the federal minimum wage by $2.10 to $7.25 an hour over two years but packaged the increase with small business tax cuts and limits on corporate pay that could complicate its path to become law.

The increase in the minimum wage, the first in a decade, was approved 94–3, capping a nine-day debate over how to balance the wage hike with the needs of businesses that employ low-wage workers.

A top priority of Democrats, the wage hike has both real and symbolic consequences. It would be one of the first major legislative successes of the new Democratic-controlled Congress.

"Passing this wage hike represents a small but necessary step to help lift America's working poor out of the ditches of poverty and onto the road toward economic prosperity," Senator Kennedy, who is a Democrat of Massachusetts, said.