I hope I can overcome the taint of how they achieved this enough to enjoy it.

What a wonderful Democratic Party?

I think it’s great that the minimum wage is going up to $7.25, but so is gas.

For the Americans that work for minimum wage, the rate will have no effect. To make this pay raise effective, gas prices have to be lowered. Gas runs the economy therefore, everything will cost more. Minimum wage families will not realize the $4,000.00 per year increase, because the cost of living will again override their pay check.

Congress needs to start getting aggressive with the oil company thieves. It would be shameful that the few things Congress is doing right where wiped out by the items Congress is ignoring.

And BTW we wrote yet another blank check to the war-monger in chief. 5 years ago Howard Dean proclaimed himself to be the from the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party and had nothing good to say about the Republican-lite Democrats (cockroaches) in Washington. Now the only straight talk we hear consistently is from Kucinich, Edwards,and Feingold...too bad they get no support from mainstream Wimpocrats or even from many who call themselves progressives.

America was hoping but still waiting for Democrats to actually lead rather than perpetually criicize but take no action....at least none if they somehow imagine even the slightest risk to their election potential no matter how importan or righteous the cause.

I am a small business owner, and I'm an independent. It's funny how the Democrats worry about the "American workers," when most small business owners are workers too. Does the impact of what the Democrats want ever register with them? Now, I have to spend more money OUT OF MY OWN POCKET, because this piece of legislation. THANKS A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!

This wee raise doesn't soften the Bush DEM s1348 sell out of the majority of the US CITIZEN working men and women.77% of US Citizens do not have a college degree.The S 1348 "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation has condemned the working US CITIZEN to crushing tax burden and ensures we'll never earn a fair living wage.Business gets its least expensive unskilled labor pool from the 12-20 million Z visaed unskilled,minimally educated laborers( formerly known as foreign nationals illegally living and working in the USA) and business gets another boon,keep de wages low,low with the annual importation of 200-400,000 temporary alien workers! The working US CITIZEN gets the shaft. New Jersey is the ONLY state with established P&P to RECALL a sitting US senator. Have to wait till 08 to vote out the rest of s1348's bicameral supporters.I've been a LEGAL resident alien,shame on Bush/DEM for s1348's flawed legislation that broke faith with the working US CITIZEN.

Ladybell: I do think that the Democrats take into account that small business owners are workers too. And, they want to help you out by assisting you in paying the higher wages that they want the workers to have. They also want to give small businesses tax breaks, and help out with your paying of employee's medical insurance.

Mama2: I think that if it is true that about 77% of Americans do not have a college degree, that that may be part of the problem. People have to get themselves educated. Which is why I believe in education for adults as well as for children. Because a lot of the jobs out there today require at least a 2-year college degree. And, after a while, it will probably take at least a 4-year degree to really have a good chance at a decent living in the future.

That said, I do agree with the Democrats (and Republicans who voted for it also) raising the minimum wage.

I can't believe that you don't have the guts to mention that this was bundled in with a blank check for Bush to continue the war in Iraq! The public is clearly against this war. We voted for democrats to end the war in Iraq. How cowardly can you people be to allow this to continue when you have a clear mandate from the american people to stop it? I am truly disappointed and embarrassed. And then you wonder why it's hard to mobilize people to vote?

a political deal pure and simple.

bush gets a blank check and the demos get to raise the minimum wage. the big winner is bush. he'll upstage the demos as he signs and takes credit for both funding the troops and raising the minimum wage. rove couldn't have planned this better...maybe he didn't? instead the demos are a house of cards with more than four jokers minus the aces?

Have you no shame?! You have the nerve to post this minimum wage thing in the face of the Democrats caving in to George W Bush's Iraq spending bill?? All you Democratic congressman who went along with this bogus benchmark bill (which btw Bush will make a mockery of comes Sept.) you will hear from us. We will not forget your cowardice.

I registered just to post a response to this.

SHAME. SHAME. SHAME.

That $2.20/hr is payed for in BLOOD. You are cowards. COWARDS.

How insulting. Do you think we're all stupid? You cave on an issue where most of the people agree with you. You cave to a war criminal's insane war policy while he has only a 30% approval rating. And then you put a cherry on top of this turd sundae by telling us this was a great victory?

This independent is done with both you and the republicans. Both parties are completely worthless.

The raise of minimum wage it is a joke you try to stimulate the working class with a raise that do not compensate the cost of living. Instead to go ahead with the war bill the democrats should have signed a bill that raise the minumum wage so working class level with the cost of living.

Great work Wimpocrats.

You traded a blank check for Bush's illegal and immoral war in Iraq for a $2.21 an hour raise!

Someone remind me again why we voted you into power in Congress.

Hey, this is great! Now when all the veterans with no legs, no arms, brain damage, post-traumatic stress and brain injuries get home, they can get a job and earn $7.25. Every hour!

The spineless pricks we were so hopeful about have sold out our troops for a domestic issue that, if they had held fast on the war, they could have attained enough power to push through later.

Hit 'em where it hurts, kids. No more donations until we see the troops come home.

For all of you dissing this bill, you might want to consider how this will help so many. This has nothing to do with Iraq. There are so many domestic problems facing this country, poverty and healthcare just to name a couple.

Homeless children left longing for school days

The children pass the time playing in the trash that litters their makeshift sandbox.

Their shovels are discarded super-sized cups from the corner gas station. Their sand, a lumpy mix of rocks, twigs, wrappers and red clay.

This is how some of the children of Norcross Extended Stay Hotel will be spending their summer. While kids on summer break traditionally get whisked away for family vacations or camp field trips, some children in extended stay hotels will be making dirt forts near a fire hydrant, waiting for a pick-up game of ball to begin.

And missing the security of school.....

And don't get me wrong, I want our troops home out of harms way as soon as possible, and with increased public awareness and pressure, this will happen (maybe not as quickly as we'd like, but it will happen)

For the small business owners blogging haveing a hissyfit. Also contained within this bill are tax cuts for small business to compensate them for the min wage hike. Please understand what the hell's going on before you post. It makes you look ridiculous.

I am so disappointed. First that you had to wrap a much needed min wage increase into a war bill. Second, that you knew exactly what we put you there to do, and yet you did the opposite. I am sick. I had a military wife tell me yesterday, that her husband and his unit are so disgusted right now. They know that nothing will be done to get them out until an election is closer, and until then they are sitting ducks to be picked off one by one. They know their position is hopeless, and that there is nothing to win. Democrats just proved that the people have no power. You are in your offices for one reason, and you blew it. You just blew it.

Face it, it was the only way they could get Bush to sign off on minimum wage. Even an oxygen thief like Bush could figure out that he couldn't use the veto on the funding for the "war" twice without looking as phony as a $7 bill.
Not that a lousy $2.20 is all that great, but it's the only way to get tax money out of big corporations. Make them pay the working stiffs more per hour, so the working stiffs can pay more taxes. It's convoluted enough that a sociopath like Bush could appreciate it.
When are we going to start taxing the rich, like they deserve, anyway?

My question is what effect does this increase have on "tipped" employees like waiters and waitresses. When the minimum was 4.25, the tipped wage was set at 50% of the minimum, thus it was 2.13. When it was raised to 5.15 an hour, the law was changed that employers could use a "tip credit" of 3.02 an hour for those making more than 20 dollars a month in tips, thus it continued at 2.13 but now at 41% of the minimum. Did the tip credit increase and when the minimum wage is 7.25 will waitresses will be making 29% of the minimum wage and still only make 2.13/hr?

I understand that tipped employees should be paid less an hour because their main wage is from tips, but I think that the former of 50% is much fairer than 29% I am afraid of. Does anyone here know what the effects will be?

It IS wonderful. I propose this: EVERY TIME Congress passes a wage hike for themselves, it gets TIED TO THE MINIMUM WAGE.
Whatever percentage increase they get--minimum wage gets the SAME percent.
ANYBODY WITH ME ON THIS?!
'Middle Class' is a bit of a misnomer, I think,
but at least there will be more people eating.
(til gas hits $5 a gallon, anyway...:P

BEFORE YOU GET TOOOO HAPPY....:P
1 Minimum wage workers haven’t gotten a raise in ten years.

2 Yes, in America you CAN work full-time and still be poor.

3 Nine big, fat raises. That’s what congressional leaders have given themselves while blocking attempts to raise the minimum wage.

4 Those congressional pay raises add up to $31,600 per member per year—three times a minimum wage worker’s total annual salary.

5 In 2003, workers paid an average of $2,283 for employment-based family health insurance. That's 20 percent of a minimum wage worker's $10,712 full-time, full-year earnings.

6 At the current federal minimum wage rate of $5.15, a minimum wage worker has to work 11.2 hours to pay for one tank of gas.

7 The chair of the Arizona anti-increase group Jobs First actually said most minimum wage workers who are not high school students or first-jobbers are “people who are retired and say, ‘Hey, we want to do this more as a way of biding our time.’” Ask the grandma taking your order at a local fast-food place if she’s doing it for fun. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, seven of every 10 workers who would benefit from a $2.10 increase in the minimum wage are adults.

8 Even greedy Wal-Mart supports a minimum wage increase so its low-wage customers can afford to buy more stuff.

9 Many of the people we pay the least take care of the people we love the most. Home health aides caring for our elderly parents and child care workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase.

10 Most Americans—by a big margin—want the minimum wage increased. Congressional leaders are NOT blocking the increase to please their constituents.

slightly out of dayr (but this year)
courtesy AFL-CIO

BEFORE YOU GET TOOOO HAPPY....:P

1 Minimum wage workers haven’t gotten a raise in ten years.

2 Yes, in America you CAN work full-time and still be poor.

3 Nine big, fat raises. That’s what congressional leaders have given themselves while blocking attempts to raise the minimum wage.

4 Those congressional pay raises add up to $31,600 per member per year—three times a minimum wage worker’s total annual salary.

5 In 2003, workers paid an average of $2,283 for employment-based family health insurance. That's 20 percent of a minimum wage worker's $10,712 full-time, full-year earnings.

6 At the current federal minimum wage rate of $5.15, a minimum wage worker has to work 11.2 hours to pay for one tank of gas.

7 The chair of the Arizona anti-increase group Jobs First actually said most minimum wage workers who are not high school students or first-jobbers are “people who are retired and say, ‘Hey, we want to do this more as a way of biding our time.’” Ask the grandma taking your order at a local fast-food place if she’s doing it for fun. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, seven of every 10 workers who would benefit from a $2.10 increase in the minimum wage are adults.

8 Even greedy Wal-Mart supports a minimum wage increase so its low-wage customers can afford to buy more stuff.

9 Many of the people we pay the least take care of the people we love the most. Home health aides caring for our elderly parents and child care workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase.

10 Most Americans—by a big margin—want the minimum wage increased. Congressional leaders are NOT blocking the increase to please their constituents.

slightly out of date (but this year)
courtesy AFL-CIO

Grandma isn't having fun. Her back aches, and her feet hurt.
As for biding time, it's a lot easier to bide time, when you know you can buy medicine AND groceries in the same month.
I'd like to see some of these Beltway airheads live on the AVERAGE Social Security income.

Ladybell, you should be paying them more than that to begin with. I'd be quite embarrased frankly. I smell greed.

To: Weareallamerican, the tax breaks that are contained in the bill increasing the minimum wage does not apply to EVERY small business owner, so you can't say that the tax breaks compensate every small business owner. I HAVE read the bill as passed, and if you can find language to the contrary, please inform me.

To: qscott86, until you walk a mile in someone's shoes, or know a person's situation, I'd be reticent to cast stones. You don't know what line of business that I'm in, how many employees that I have, etc. To infer that I'm greedy is totally uncalled for.

I watched in horror as all the Democrats seemed to lose their minds and turn tail to cower in the corner from the big bad Dubya. Even Jimmy Carter's spine turned to jelly and he could not back up his own words.
I am resigning as a Democrat and will back Dr Ron Paul this election. He appears to be the only one who is honest, concerned more for the people he represents then his pockets, and has even read the Constitution. In 10 terms he has never voted for a raise in his pay and refuses to be part of the congressional pension plan.
As for the rest of our Political Leaders, and I use the term loosely, I think we need to remind them that they are Temporary Part Time Government Employees who work for us. They should be entitled to no pension plan outside of SSI, and raises should be limited to yearly COLA. They should also be subject to an annual review, and have their careers hinge on the results of the reviews from their employers.

I watched in horror as all the Democrats seemed to lose their minds and turn tail to cower in the corner from the big bad Dubya. Even Jimmy Carter's spine turned to jelly and he could not back up his own words.
I am resigning as a Democrat and will back Dr Ron Paul this election. He appears to be the only one who is honest, concerned more for the people he represents then his pockets, and has even read the Constitution. In 10 terms he has never voted for a raise in his pay and refuses to be part of the congressional pension plan.
As for the rest of our Political Leaders, and I use the term loosely, I think we need to remind them that they are Temporary Part Time Government Employees who work for us. They should be entitled to no pension plan outside of SSI, and raises should be limited to yearly COLA. They should also be subject to an annual review, and have their careers hinge on the results of the reviews from their employers.

It is still not sufficient.

$7.25 an hour,you will see that at the pumps within a year(87 octane)there will be an uprising one day against this impeailristic wannabe democracy govertment it will be the olny way to show the rest of the world that we are not a pittiful giant that has to accept whatever just cause this gov't. says so.

In 1920 1 gram of gold would by 6 gallons of gas. In 2007 1 gram of gold will buy 6.2 gallons of gas. It is not the price of gas that has gone up. It is the value of our money that has gone down.

In 1920 the average 3 bedroom house cost $2600 or 125 oz. gold. In 2007 the average 3 bedroom house cost $367,000 or 545 oz. gold. This is 4.38 times the cost of housing in the 20’s.

The average wage between the 20’s and 50’s was $2400 per year (116 oz. gold) or almost enough to buy a house in one year. The average wage in 2005 was $36,952.94 (54 oz. gold) or enough to buy a house in 10 years.

Gold does not change in value

Gasoline has actually gone down in price, housing has gone ridiculous and wages really stink. But that’s my opinion.

Minimum wage in today’s economy should be over $18.00 per hour.

See: http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm