WASHINGTON - December 20 - ACORN President Maude Hurd:

“ACORN is happy to see that President Bush is listening to the will of the voters, who overwhelmingly said in November that they want an increase in the minimum wage. However, ACORN believes that the federal increase should not have any strings attached. The American people need a clean bill that increases the minimum wage and is free of any baggage.’’

ACORN, the AFL-CIO and other coalition partners led successful ballot initiatives to raise the minimum raise in four states on Nov. 7: Arizona, Ohio, Missouri, and Colorado.

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