Minimum Wage Increase About To Happen

WASHINGTON (AP) - After a decade-long wait, America's lowest-paid workers saw Congress poised Thursday to increase the federal minimum wage by $2.10.

For years, the idea of increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour has been stalled by partisan bickering between Republicans and Democrats.

That almost became the fate of this year's proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 over two years. Democratic leaders attached the provision to the $120 billion Iraq war spending bill, which was vetoed by the GOP-controlled White House on May 1 because of Democrats insisting on a pullout date for American troops.

But with the House and Senate ready to pass a rewritten bill, and President Bush signaling his approval at a White House news conference, it seems likely that the end is near for the longest stretch without the federal pay floor rising since the minimum wage was established in 1938.

"We're very hopeful we're going to see finally that increase in the next couple of days," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and chair of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee.

This would be the first change since the minimum wage went from $4.75 to $5.15 on September 1, 1997 under former President Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress.

The minimum wage provisions were one part of the Iraq war spending bill that did not change: the minimum wage goes up to $5.85 two months after Bush signs the bill, then to $6.55 one year later and to $7.25 the next year.

What does the MW have to do with Iraq is above me.