It looks like full steam ahead for a significant boost to the federal minimum wage when Democrats assume control of Congress in January. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said Thursday that increasing the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 would be his top priority as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. On the House side, incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi already has listed an increase in the minimum wage as one of the issues that would be taken up during the first 100 hours of the next Congress.
See "Democrats Prepare to Raise Minimum Wage", Kevin Freking, San Francisco Chronicle, November 15, 2006