Senate defeats Democrats minimum wage increase

Today the Senate voted against raising the minimum wage to $7.15.

Congress gets an automatic pay increase unless there is a direct vote. Last week the House agreed to increase their pay for the seventh straight year by refusing to vote on the issue. The Senate will be taking up the issue of their own pay raise in the coming week. Sen. Russ Feingold plans on attempting to block the Senators pay hike.

Check out Blog for Iowa for a good story on history of the minimum wage in terms of current dollars.