By Jesse Russell

Hundreds of thousands of minimum wage workers have been waiting for nearly a decade for a minimum wage increase. 30 states have taken the issue into their own hands. Democrats in the U.S. House made a push earlier this year to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour from $5.15 per hour, but Republicans in the Senate managed to block it and attach tax breaks for small business. The bill has now been attached to the already contentious emergency war spending bill that also calls for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. The Senate is scheduled to vote today.