US House votes Federal minimum wage increase
{{date|January 11, 2007}}
{{Wikinews Today infobox}}
The [[US]] [[US House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] voted today to increase the {{w|Minimum wage in the United States|Federal minimum wage}} from {{w|United States dollar|US$}}5.15 per hour to US$7.25 per hour as [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] moved to fulfill their promise to pass legislation on a host of issues within the first 100 legislative hours of the newly elected congress.

The final vote in the House was 315&ndash;116, with 82 [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] joining Democrats to vote the bill into law. The bill will now go to the [[US Senate|Senate]], where a debate on whether it should be bundled with tax cuts for small businesses is expected. 

The last increase was in 1997 when [[Bill Clinton|President Clinton]] encouraged the Republican controlled Congress to vote in favor of the bill.

== Sources ==
*{{source
|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/10/minimum.wage.ap/index.html
|title='100 hours': House passes minimum wage increase
|author=Associated Press
|pub=CNN
|date=January 10, 2007}}
*{{source|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/11/AR2007011101480.html
|title=Democratic-led House votes to raise minimum wage
|author=Thomas Ferraro, Reuters
|pub=Washington Post
|date=January 10, 2007}}

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[[Category:Economy and business]]
[[Category:United States]]
[[Category:North America]]
[[Category:US Congress]]
[[Category:US House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party (United States)]]
[[Category:Republican Party (United States)]]
The US House of Representatives voted today to increase the Federal minimum wage from US$5.15 per hour to US$7.25 per hour as Democrats moved to fulfill their promise to pass legislation on a host of issues within the first 100 legislative hours of the newly elected congress.

The final vote in the House was 315–116, with 82 Republicans joining Democrats to vote the bill into law. The bill will now go to the Senate, where a debate on whether it should be bundled with tax cuts for small businesses is expected. 

The last increase was in 1997 when President Clinton encouraged the Republican controlled Congress to vote in favor of the bill.
Economy and business United States North America US Congress US House of Representatives Democratic Party (United States) Republican Party (United States)