U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole voted for two other minimum wage increases.
In February of 2007, the Senate voted on a House bill which would have increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years. The hike was coupled with small business tax cuts opposed by some Democrats, who preferred a clean vote.
That bill passed 94-3, with Dole voting for it. It was never signed into law, however.
In May of that same year, the minimum wage increase was included in an emergency supplemental appropriations bill that included almost $100 billion in spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That time, some Republicans complained that it was paired with war funding.
The first hike in a decade, it raised the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour in three stages over the following two years.
The approprations bill passed 80-14, with Dole voting for it.
