NCJW Applauds House Passage of Minimum Wage and Stem Cell Legislation
January 11, 2007, Washington, DC -- The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) today applauded passage in the US House of Representatives of long-delayed legislation to raise the minimum wage and provide for federal funding of stem cell research. NCJW President Phyllis Snyder released the following statement:
"NCJW has worked long and hard to help achieve a raise in the federal minimum wage for America's poorest workers. We are gratified to see this legislation -- which will help up to 13 million Americans and their families -- pass the House without further delay. The bill increases the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over the next two years -- the first such raise in nearly a decade.
"The stem cell legislation passed by the House this week has also been high on NCJW's agenda. The bill will expand federal dollars to support stem cell research using embryos from in-vitro fertilization that would otherwise be discarded.
"Now both of these bills require speedy action by the Senate. We urge the Senate to pass the clean minimum wage bill produced by the House without crippling amendments and to renew its support of embryonic stem cell research. Passage of these two bills would be an auspicious beginning to a new era of what we hope will be progress on a variety of important domestic issues."
NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms for all through its network of 90,000 members, supporters, and volunteers nationwide.
Contact:
Vanessa Schnaidt
212 645 4048 x179; vschnaidt@ncjw.org