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President Bush Signs Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ( H.R. 493 )

On May 21, 2008, President Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ( GINA ) of 2008 which prohibits discrimination by employers and health insurance companies on the basis of genetic information.  The employment provisions of GINA will take effect in November 2009, and will be enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  

GINA also includes a provision that increases the penalties under the Fair Labor and Standards Act (FLSA) for child labor violations that result in the death of or serious injury of a child.  The maximum penalty for each violation was raised from $11,000 to $50,000 – and can also be as much as $100,000 for repeated or willful violations.

May 25, 2007 - Minimum Wage Increase
President Bush signed legislation increasing the federal minimum wage. Minimum wage will increase to $5.85 an hour in two months, then to $6.55 next year and to $7.25 the following year. The $2.10 increase in the federal minimum wage is the first increase in 10 years.

May 24, 2007 - Congress Approves Minimum-Wage Increase 

WASHINGTON, DC - America's lowest-paid workers won a $2.10 raise Thursday, with Congress approving the first increase in the federal minimum wage in almost a decade. President Bush was expected to sign the bill quickly, and workers who now make $5.15 an hour will see their paychecks go up by 70 cents per hour before the end of the summer. Another 70 cents will be added next year, and by summer 2009, all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 an hour

May 6, 2007 - Bush veto of Iraq bill nixes minimum wage increase

WASHINGTON, DC - President George W. Bush vetoed an increase in the federal minimum wage when he rejected the latest Congressional legislation regarding Iraq.

The minimum wage hike, in three stages over two years and two months, was in the $124 billion Iraq and Afghanistan military spending bill Bush rejected. He bounced the bill because it included a timetable, crafted by the Democratic-run Congress, for withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.

April 30, 2007  -  War Bill Delays Minimum Wage Hike

WASHINGTON — Increasing the minimum wage should be easy for a Congress controlled by Democrats, especially with President Bush's pledge of support.

But a $2.10 boost for America's lowest-paid workers is again being delayed, this time in a tussle over whether to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.

But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., decided to attach the minimum wage provisions to the Iraq war spending bill. Normally that's must-pass legislation. Now it's certain to be the subject of Bush's second veto after Democrats loaded it up with a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops.

"That's just a temporary detour," said Alan Viard, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He said Democrats will find a way to quickly move the minimum wage legislation back to the White House.

Republicans say Democrats could have had a minimum wage bill passed and signed by now if they hadn't added it to the Iraq war bill. "This isn't about getting a minimum wage increase done, it's another political stunt that only further delays action," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

Democrats declined to say how they plan to get the bill back to the White House: as a separate bill or, more likely, as an attachment to the next Iraq war spending bill they intend to get to Bush by Memorial Day. The latter, they maintain, would give them a little more leverage by forcing Republicans to vote against money for American troops to block the minimum wage package.

"We will take whatever steps are necessary to get a minimum wage increase enacted into law as quickly as possible," said Tom Kiley, spokesman for Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chair of the House Education and Labor Committee.

April 20, 2007 - WASHINGTON — Democratic efforts to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour got a big boost Friday evening as House-Senate negotiators reached a deal on a package of business tax incentives accompanying the wage increase.

March 29, 2007 - Minimum wage bill, hung up by tax-break differences between House and Senate, gets nudge from Iraq war vote.

The Senate Thursday passed the Iraq war spending bill that included language that will increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years.

The raise in the wage, however, is unlikely to pass with this legislation since President Bush has vowed to veto it because the bill calls for a March 2008 pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The spending bill passed on a 51-47 vote Thursday morning.

The tax breaks are needed to win Republican support for the minimum wage hike, including President Bush's.

Once a compromise on the size of the tax breaks is hammered out, a new minimum wage bill can be brought forward later and possibly passed, either as stand alone legislation or as part of a less controversial budget package.

Bill Samuel, of the AFL-CIO, said "This is a step forward but not a final one." Samuel predicts another minimum wage bill could be produced by mid-to-late April. By then, the tax-breaks would presumably be worked out between the House and Senate.

"Millions of hardworking Americans have waited long enough for a raise and unfortunately, Senate Republicans have thrown up roadblocks on an issue that is a matter of equity and fairness," said spokesman Drew Hammill of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have pledged to stay on the issue.

Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), in response to a reporter's question Wednesday, said Memorial day could be considered a deadline for the passage of a minimum wage bill.

"Make no doubt about it, we're going to pass a minimum wage increase. It's a promise to the American people and we're going to get that done," said Emanuel.

The last time lawmakers increased the federal minimum wage was in 1997.

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House Approves New Minimum Wage 1 / 10 / 2007 - Eighty-two Republicans joined with Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to approve legislation that would boost the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three steps over a period of 26 months.

The legislation passed on a vote of 315 to 116 yesterday and now moves to the Senate.

Under the legislation, the minimum wage would increase to $5.85 an hour effective on the 60th day after the date of enactment of the bill. The minimum wage would increase to $6.55 an hour 12 months after the first increase became effective. In the third step, the minimum wage would rise to $7.25 per hour beginning 24 months after the first increase became effective.

The bill, H.R. 2, will move to the United States Senate for a vote. The Senate has not yet announced when it will vote on H.R. 2. If H.R.2 is passed by the Senate, it will move on for the President's signature. If the Senate amends or rejects the bill, it will be sent back down to the House of Representatives and the voting process will begin again.

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The Bill:

Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House)

HR 2 EH

110th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2

AN ACT

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an increase in the Federal minimum wage.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007'.

SEC. 2. MINIMUM WAGE.

(a) In General- Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 

(1) except as otherwise provided in this section, not less than... 

(A) $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after the date of enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007;

 (B) $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and 

(C) $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day;

 (b) Effective Date- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. APPLICABILITY OF MINIMUM WAGE TO THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.

(a) In General- Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) shall apply to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

 (b) Transition- Notwithstanding subsection (a), the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands under section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) shall be 

(1) $3.55 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after the date of enactment of this Act;  

(2) increased by $0.50 an hour (or such lesser amount as may be necessary to equal the minimum wage under section 6(a)(1) of such Act), beginning 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act and every 6 months thereafter until the minimum wage applicable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands under this subsection is equal to the minimum wage set forth in such section.

Passed the House of Representatives January 10, 2007.