Congress Votes To Raise The Minimum Wage

Yesterday, Congress voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over the course of the next couple years.

America’s lowest-paid workers won a $2.10 raise Thursday, with Congress approving the first increase in the federal minimum wage in almost a decade.

President Bush was expected to sign the bill quickly, and workers who now make $5.15 an hour will see their paychecks go up by 70 cents per hour before the end of the summer. Another 70 cents will be added next year, and by summer 2009, all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 an hour.

America's lowest paid workers should rejoice!!! But then again…

The liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, estimates that 5.6 million workers — or 4 percent of the work force — earn less than $7.25.

Did you catch that? Only 4 percent of the work force makes less than $7.25 as it is. Don't fret. That fact was not enough to dampen the spirits of some politicians.

“This is a great day for America’s middle class,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “America’s workers have been waiting for a raise for a long time.”

Ummm. Yeah. The entire middle class salutes you, Rep. Miller. Really. They do.