The Senate has approved a boost to the minimum wage, a short time ago. It will be the first increase approved in a decade. The measure was approved by a 94-3 vote. As soon as the roll call information is available, I’ll post the names of the skin flints who voted against the American people. Update: The Skin Flint Three… Coburn (R-OK); DeMint (R-SC); Kyl (R-AZ).

It’s simply astounding to me that this fight has gone on for so long. Bush, in office for 6 years, finally admitted yesterday, that “income inequality is real — it’s been rising for more than 25 years.” Hello! And in the news today, we find that personal savings have dropped to an all time “74-yr. low.” The minimum wage hike can’t come soon enough for the struggling Americans that fall far below the income inequality gap.

Ted Kennedy, who has been a tireless champion for this issue for 12 long years, gave yet another moving speech on the Senate Floor today before the final vote. His floor statement, as prepared for delivery, is as follows:

A decade ago, I stood here and asked the Senate to vote to raise the minimum wage. At that moment, I had no idea it would take us so long to do so again. Ten long years have now passed with no increase. Countless minimum wage workers have been working hard all that time, performing some of the most difficult and important jobs in our society. They work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, year in and year out. Yet, they have had no raise in pay all that time, not a single additional penny in their paychecks. Never in the long history of the minimum wage has Congress been so hard-hearted toward these hard-working men and women.

Yesterday, we heard from the President that the economy is thriving. He said that growth is increasing – that investors are optimistic, consumers are spending, inflation is low.

It is no surprise that the forum he chose for those words was Federal Hall, on Wall Street. The view from there of the economy looks encouraging. But if you look at the economy from another perspective – if you stand in the shoes of the middle class and the lowest paid employees in our society – you see an entirely different picture. We have an economy that works for Wall Street, but not for Main Street.

Prices for everyday needs – from gasoline to healthcare to milk – are rising dramatically. Americans are saving less than ever, and falling deeper and deeper into debt. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is greater than at any time since the Depression.

In fact, we are experiencing a time not unlike the days immediately before we passed the first minimum wage back in 1938. As our nation emerged from the Depression, the recovery was not trickling down the economic ladder. Those at the top thought the hard times were over, while those on the bottom rungs were still struggling to get by.

When President Roosevelt signed the first minimum wage law, he said, “the overwhelming majority of this Nation has little patience with that small minority which [says] today that prosperity has returned, that wages are good . . . and that government should take a holiday.”

We’ve seen that same hostility far too often in this Administration. Many of our colleagues are all too ready to ignore the plight of working families, sit back, do nothing, and declare that happy days are here again.

Fortunately, an overwhelming majority of our people have no patience with that attitude. Americans see their loved ones, friends and neighbors struggling to survive on poverty wages, and they’ve raised their voices to demand change.

The minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for a decade. A minimum wage worker who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year still makes just $10,700 a year— more than $6,000 below the poverty line for a family of three.

Americans understand fairness, and they know that this is unfair. After years of delay and inexcusable inaction by Congress, the American people finally declared enough is enough. They took the battle into their own hands, and launched a grassroots movement that spread across the nation like wildfire. They pounded their pavements. They prayed in their pews. And they went to the ballot box and held their elected officials accountable for failing to raise the minimum wage.

We are here today because of their efforts. Today’s vote will not be a victory for a bill – it will be a victory for the American people.

The minimum wage is one of the great achievements of our democracy. It’s a clear reflection of our values, and a solid cornerstone of the American dream. It’s about the kind of country we want to be.

Americans want a country where everyone has an opportunity to succeed. Where anyone who works hard and plays by the rules can build a better life for their children. Where there is no permanent underclass, and everyone has hope for a brighter future.

When President Kennedy was debating the minimum wage during his years in the Senate, he said “the test of our belief in human dignity is the manner in which we treat those at the bottom of the economic ladder.” Martin Luther King said, “Dignity demands a job, and a paycheck that lasts through the week.”

If we pass this bill, we will add dignity to the lives of millions of working families. 13 million Americans will see more in their paychecks for the first time in a decade. They will have more dollars to spend on the essentials of life, and more hours to spend with their families. Six million children will have better food, better health, and better opportunities for the future.

After 10 years of stalling and 9 days of debate, the time has finally come to vote on an increase in the minimum wage. We will finally have the opportunity to take one step closer to the kind of country we want to be – where no one who works for a living has to live in poverty.

I hope that each and every one of my colleagues will heed their conscience, do the right thing, and join in voting now at long last to raise the minimum wage.

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