Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said yesterday that he would block any pay raise for the Senate until the federal minimum wage is raised.

CNN:

In arguing for the minimum-wage increase, Democrats are emphasizing that salaries for members of Congress have risen $31,600 during the time the minimum wage has been frozen.

They complain that rising costs for gasoline, utilities, education and food have taken a chunk out of minimum-wage paychecks, which sometimes have to support entire families.

Republicans in Congress have blocked numerous attempts to raise the minimum wage, saying it would backfire by causing small businesses to hire fewer entry-level workers.

Although the Senate defeated two minimum wage increase proposals last week, Democrats in the House are working to bring their minimum wage hike to a floor vote. Their resolve is grounded in a simple principal neatly summarized by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD):

"We want people to work hard and play by the rules. And when they do, they should not be relegated to poverty."

On June 13, Rep. Hoyer and Rep. David Obey (D-WI) added a minimum wage increase amendment to Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill. Much to the chagrin of the Republican House leadership, the House Appropriations Committee adopted the amendment 32-27. As a reward for their good deed (or out of fear of possible passage), House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has blocked the committee’s Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill from a floor vote.

The Senate voted yesterday (twice) to keep low-wage workers in poverty.* The first vote was on a Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) plan to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over two years. The measure was an amendment to the FY2007 Defense appropriations bill. The second vote to keep the minimum wage at the 1949 level** was on a Republican bill, introduced by Sen. Mike Enzi’s (R-WY), and would have increased the minimum wage to $6.25 per hour.

The federal minimum wage has been unchanged since 1997. But, while the lowest-paid workers have seen their wages steadily eroded by inflation, American CEOs have been enjoying massive pay raises. EPI’s Economic Snapshot this week brings this fact into stark relief:

In 2005, the average CEO in the United States earned 262 times the pay of the average worker, the second-highest level of this ratio in the 40 years for which there are data. In 2005, a CEO earned more in one workday (there are 260 in a year) than an average worker earned in 52 weeks.

And it’s not just American CEOs enjoying an ever-widening income gap. Congress voted last week to give themselves a $3,300 per year pay raise, increasing their salaries to $168, 500. This $3,300 is a 2% cost-of-living adjustment that automatically kicks in every year unless Congress votes against it. A minimum-wage worker has to work about 16 weeks to earn $3,300.

*At $5.15 per hour, a worker working fulltime, year-round earns $10,712. The poverty line for a family of three is $16,600 ($13,200 for a family of two).

**"Today, the minimum wage is 33% of the average hourly wage of American workers, the lowest level since 1949."