Legislative Background on Fair Labor Standards
Recent Action by Congress on the Federal Minimum Wage
Congress last voted to raise the Federal minimum wage in 2007. Before that, it has been stuck at $5.15 per hour for 10 years. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which passed with broad bipartisan support, gradually raised the Federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three increments over a three-year period. The wage hike, which was passed as a rider to an appropriations measure providing funds to the troops in the Iraq War, was conditioned on the inclusion of $5 billion in business tax breaks. President George W. Bush signed it into law. …
