Fifty-two senators endorsed an increase in the US federal minimum wage on Wednesday, ratcheting up pressure on Republican leaders to permit a House vote on the issue.

The 52-46 Senate roll call fell short of the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster, but for the first time a clear majority of senators are on record backing a proposed $2.10-an-hour increase over three years.

Eight Republicans joined in support of the measure, and even among those who opposed the specific amendment, there is support for adjusting the wage, frozen at $5.15 an hour since September 1997. The comparable Irish rate is $9.18 (€7.25) and it is expected to be increased from January 2007.

"It's time, it's time. There's no question about it," said Sen. Ted Stevens (R., Alaska).

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.) said it was "obscene" that senators had continued to increase their pay over the past nine years while failing to make any adjustment for millions of low-paid workers. "Nine years they've waited, but not the members of the United States Senate," Kennedy said. "Thirty-thousand dollars we've increased our salaries, and nine years, we've refused to provide an increase to the men and women who are working on the lowest rung of the economic ladder."

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