“At a time when millions of families are living paycheck to paycheck and there is overwhelming public demand to increase the federal minimum wage, the Senate’s failure today to invoke cloture on a modest proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour is simply inexcusable. Working families will suffer if Congress fails to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act. Lawmakers, especially those who claim to care about America’s working families and our economy, should reconsider their priorities and pass this bill.

A minimum wage increase would provide badly needed economic security to millions of families, and especially women. Women’s wages are critical to their families and our economy. And, according to a recent White House report, women account for more than half of all the workers – and more than 80 percent of the 2.8 million employed single parents – who would directly benefit from increasing the minimum wage. Women also account for 72 percent of tipped workers who haven’t seen an increase in the tipped minimum wage rate of $2.13 in more than 20 years – an astonishing lapse by lawmakers.

It is deeply disappointing that Congress has failed to ensure that women – and all workers – are paid enough to put food on the table and lift their families out of poverty. The vast majority of Americans support a minimum wage increase, and states and cities are increasingly taking action to promote living wages. Evidence shows that local economies benefit from minimum wage increases, and hundreds of economists agree that raising the minimum wage would have little or no impact on employment rates for minimum wage workers. It is past time for Congress to bring federal minimum wage rates in line with the rising cost of living, and give workers and our economy the boost they urgently need.”