"I am gratified to see that the U.S. Congress has finally come to the rescue of the nation's working poor after nearly half of the states have already acted on their own. But better late than never," Morial said."Raising the minimum wage is an incremental yet necessary step to narrow the economic divide between the haves and have-nots in this nation."

To earn enough votes to bring the measure to a vote, Senate leaders agreed to include $8.3 billion in tax breaks over 10 years targeted to the businesses most likely to be impacted by the wage hike. In January, the House passed by a vote of 315 to 116 a "clean" bill that provides simply for a minimum-wage increase without tax cuts.

The Senate's move to include tax breaks is expected to touch off a contentious battle between congressional negotiators when they hammer out differences between the Senate and House versions later this year.

The current federal wage of $5.15 an hour has been in place since 1997. When adjusted for inflation, it is at its lowest level since 1955. Americans currently working full time at minimum wage can expect to see their earning rise nearly 47 percent to $15,070 a year, nearly $5,500 above the poverty line for individuals.

Morial urged House leaders to reject the Senate's efforts to sweeten the legislation with business concessions and to add a provision indexing the wage to inflation to afford minimum-wage workers the same cost-of-living increases to which lawmakers are entitled.

"Is it too much to ask for the nation's working poor to be cut a break once a decade without kowtowing to business interests? Hasn't the U.S. Congress done enough for the corporate sector in the past decade?" he noted.

The Fiscal Policy Institute has found that from 1998 to 2003 - small business growth in states with minimum wages above the federal level actually rose at a faster rate than in states below the federal minimum - 5.4 percent compared to 4.2 percent. The institute found similar increases in number of employees and payroll spent per worker.

"The U.S Congress must bring our nation's lowest-wage earners out of the days of 'Ozzie and Harriet' and into the 21st Century. If we fail to acknowledge their hard work, we risk exhausting their will to improve their own financial situations," he said.

For more information call Ricky Clemons at 212-558-5371.