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After five years without an increase in the federal minimum wage, even Mary Poppins can't make enough to stay working for those adorable kids.

By Gabrielle Levy
UPI (United Press International), July 24, 2014

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) --Five years to the day since the last increase in the federal minimum wage, Democrats are renewing a call to bring the minimum up to $10.10 an hour. In a speech in Los Angeles Thursday, President Obama drew attention to the anniversary, and in Washington, Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Al Franken of Minnesota, and Rep. George Miller of California urged reconsideration of the measure that failed in April. ...

House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., presented an anti-poverty plan Thursday which outlines ideological opposition to raising the minimum wage. ...

But Harkin, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said more than 60 percent of small-business owners in the country polled said they support raising the minimum wage. Business owners understand that the people who would benefit are their customers, he said, and putting more money in their hands means better sales and more jobs.

Chris Sommers, co-owner of Pi Pizzeria in St. Louis and D.C., said his restaurants raised their entry wages to $10.10 an hour several months ago, and have sense found they saved money from needing to train fewer employees and by wasting less food because of errors from inexperienced workers.

"A sense of right and wrong may have sparked our decision, but it was old-fashioned number crunching that showed us we could afford it," Sommers said, adding that he plans to open two new restaurants, in Cincinnati and Miami, creating at least 100 new jobs.

In his speech in LA Thursday, Obama promised to make the increase in the minimum wage one of his priorities for the remainder of his term. While he was there, some of his famous friends at Funny or Die helped him out with a new viral video.

Frozen star Kristen Bell, steped into the shoes of beloved nanny Mary Poppins, "practically perfect in every way... except she's grossly underpaid." In the video, Mary Poppins quits her job because she's only paid $7.25 an hour, when "just a $3 increase makes a living wage." ...

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