This afternoon, after almost two weeks of floor debate and 200 filed amendments, the Senate passed S.2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, by a vote of 94-3. The bill comprises:

• a set of increases in the federal minimum wage to be phased in in three stages, rising to $5.85 an hour 60 days after enactment, then to $6.55 an hour one year after that, and $7.25 an hour two years later
• an expansion of several existing small business tax breaks totaling $8.3 billion over ten years, including the work opportunity tax credit, faster depreciation for building improvements, mostly targeted at restaurants, and the deduction of business expenses for equipment under Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, with offsetting revenue raisers aimed mostly at large corporations

All eyes now are on House-Senate negotiations, which will focus on whether the Senate's tax breaks are scaled back or stripped out in a conference with the House, which doesn't want them. "The minimum wage will be increased. The question is do we need all these business pieces of sugar or not," said Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate Majority Leader.