U.S. Senate
Republicans on Wednesday blocked a top White House legislative priority, a bill
to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in five years.
On
a largely party-line vote of 54-42, backers fell short of the 60 needed to
advance the legislation, which would boost the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour
from its current $7.25.
The bill
would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour during the next three
years, and then index it in the future to inflation. Adjusted for inflation,
the current minimum wage is a third of what it was in 1950.
The non-partisan Congressional
Budget Office estimates that the bill would lift 900,000 Americans out of
poverty, but cost another 500,000 Americans their jobs.
Click
here
for the full article from Reuters.