Three more years
The House today approved a measure to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 over the next three years. Over 80 Republicans joined the Democratic caucus in favor of the measure, a certain victory for Democratic Congressional control.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. $7.25 over three years means that when the wage is finally adopted — in the year 2010 — inflation will have grown to eat most of the buying power of the new wage. In three years time, the $2.10 increase may very well be the equivalent of up to $1 less.
There was a victory today — of this certain. But let’s not overblow it. This raise is long overdue, and by the time it is implemented, we will need to be discussing the next wage increase.
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Daniel Ross-Jones serves as Minister for Youth & Young Adults at First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, United Church of Christ. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area for a time still measured in months, he is frequently getting lost and discovering treasures of a landscape very different from his Upper Midwestern roots. Green Jello Hotdish is a blog exploring the intersections of his days. 
