The newly elected Democratic Congress has made raising the federal minimum wage a top priority. If the bill passes early next year, it will raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour and would mark the first increase since 1997. Raising the minimum wage is long overdue and would ease the financial burdens more than 15 million Americans – including many students – face each day. This focus on easing the lives of people across the country is a positive step for Congress, which has been accused of losing touch with the average American as a result of recent scandals. “America has spoken, and the new Congress will listen,” Sen. Edward Kennedy said in a news release. “If there’s one message from this election that emerged loud and clear on a domestic issue, it’s minimum wage. No one who works for a living should have to live in poverty.” Though Congress has had no problem ushering through legislation that raises the salaries senators and representatives receive, increases to the minimum wage have stumbled in gaining approval with critics often citing the added pressure it would place on smaller businesses. But a recent Gallup poll found that 86 percent of small business owners do not think increasing minimum wage would affect their businesses, and three of four small businesses said that a 10 percent increase in minimum wage would have no effect on their company. Congress has set the increase to take place over a period of two years to give small businesses time to readjust their pay scales. Minimum wage increases have been accused of increasing unemployment, but similar state-level increases in Oregon, Washington and Alaska have had little effect on unemployment rates within these states. Pursuing an increase to the federal minimum wage represents an upswing in how the government views working-class citizens, and it could eventually jumpstart the economy when people have more money to spend. While some businesses may have to cut back for a short amount of time, easing the financial woes of millions of Americans can only be a positive thing in the long run.
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