US Senate approves first hike in minimum wage in a decade
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The US Senate voted overwhelmingly to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade, fulfilling a major vow of the new Democratic-led Congress.
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The US Senate late Tuesday passed a half-trillion dollar budget bill for 2008 that includes 70 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, dealing a major victory to President George W. Bush.
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The national minimum wage is to rise by 17p - about 3% - from Â£5.35 to Â£5.52 an hour from October 2007.
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A $1.3 billion small-business tax  cut package aimed at winning the first minimum wage increase in  more than a decade advanced in the U.S. House of  Representatives on Monday.
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The House Ways and Means Committee yesterday approved a modest package of tax breaks for restaurants and small businesses that would be affected by an increase in the federal minimum wage, breaking a logjam with the Senate that has delayed passage of one of the Democrats' top legislative priorities.
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The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a compromise measure to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade -- and provide billions of dollars in tax breaks to help businesses pay for it.
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The US Senate adopted sweeping reforms of immigration law that would allow millions of undocumented workers to seek legal status in the United States.
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The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Friday to adopt legislation that would slash government subsidies to student loan firms and use the money saved to boost student aid by $20 billion and to reduce the federal deficit.
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Republicans are warning Democrats not to tamper with Senate-passed minimum wage legislation, saying the bill offers the right economic and political balance
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The US Senate on Tuesday by a vote of 60 to 38 approved a sweeping homeland security bill meant to shore up US defenses against future terror attack.
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The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade, but added tax breaks for small businesses that are unacceptable to House leaders, preventing Democrats from claiming a quick victory on one of their top legislative priorities.
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Union leaders and advocates for the poor are uniting behind an effort to raise the state's $6.75-an-hour minimum wage for the first time since 2001 and to tie future increases to the inflation rate, a move that would make Massachusetts only the fourth state in the nation to establish that link.
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The Republican-controlled Senate smothered a proposed election-year increase in the minimum wage Wednesday, rejecting Democratic claims that it was past time to boost the &#36;5.15 hourly pay floor that has been in effect for nearly a decade.
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The Senate voted 94-3 Thursday to increase the federal minimum wage in three steps from $5.15 to $7.25 in a bill that also gives $8 billion worth of tax cuts to small business.
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The first minimum wage increase in 10 years takes effect Tuesday, to $5.85 from $5.15 an hour, with two more steps over the next two years taking base pay for millions of workers to $7.25.
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The increase in the wage was a victory for Democrats, who had made it a key plank in their midterm campaign.
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Congress won't give you one--the federal minimum wage is still $5.15. Although 22 states require employers to pay more (and six more may do so in November), activists in Chicago and elsewhere are pressing for a "living wage" to help the working poor.