Washington, D.C. - On Tuesday, June 13th, 2006, the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment offered by House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer to raise the minimum wage. Rep. David Price (NC-04), who serves on the committee, supported the amendment, which would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. Price also has cosponsored stand alone legislation to raise the minimum wage (H.R. 2429) and has signed a discharge petition to force floor consideration of that bill. He has voted to raise the minimum wage every time there has been a vote on the issue. Price issued the following statement regarding yesterday's action on the minimum wage:

"I was proud to join my fellow Democrats and a handful of Republicans on the Appropriations Committee yesterday in passing an amendment to raise the federal minimum wage. As the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill proceeds to the full House for consideration, I hope my Republican colleagues on the Rules Committee will have the courage to protect this important measure from being ruled out of order on the House floor.

"It has been nine years since we last raised the minimum hourly wage to the current $5.15, which provides a full-time worker a paltry $10,712 a year in income. This is nearly 50 percent lower than the current $20,000 poverty threshold for a family of four, and it is clearly not a living wage.

"It is high time that Congress give working Americans a raise. House Democrats have set the stage by inserting the wage increase into this must-pass spending bill. It's now up to our Republican friends to fend off attacks from their more conservative colleagues and allow this critical legislation to get the up or down vote that it deserves."

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