Contacts:

WASHINGTON
Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) today voted to increase the federal minimum wage to give millions of hard working Americans the pay raise they deserve. The Senator was a co-sponsor of the
Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (S. 2), which would increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour and passed in the Senate this evening by a vote of: 94-3.

An increase in the federal minimum wage is long overdue, said Sen. Cardin. It will help millions of American families make ends meet.

Here in the richest nation in the world, millions of hard-working Americans still live in poverty and are unable to provide for their families. I believe that is wrong and we as a nation must do better. The minimum wage doesnt just affect high school students. It disproportionately affects women and minority workers. The American dream must be a reality for all American families.

At the current rate of $5.15 an hour, minimum wage employees working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earn $10,700 a year. That is $5,000 below the poverty line for a family of three. Seven and a half million Americans will directly benefit from an increase of the minimum wage.

As a Member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Cardin consistently voted to increase the minimum wage for working Americans. In 1996, he voted for the last successful increase in the minimum wage, when Congress increased it from $4.25 per hour to $5.15 per hour. (H.R. 3448).