The Maine House voted 86-58 on a bill to raise the state minimum wages to $9 by 2016.

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Bill LD611 proposed to increase the minimum wage by 50-cent increments starting July 2014. After discussing it for an hour, legislators took a vote. All democrats, but one supported the bill, on the other hand all republicans opposed it.

'As each year passes, minimum wage workers are falling further and further behind as their wages are not keeping up with the costs of gas, food and heating,' said Rep. Paul Gilbert, D-Jay. 'Raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation will give these workers some help. These people won’t take another 50 cents and invest it in the stock market. They will probably put another quart of milk on the table.'

The Republican party representatives said that they oppose the bill because higher minimum wages will make businesses hire fewer workers.

‘If you owned a company and were looking to come to Maine or New Hampshire, which one would you pick? I don’t think it would be Maine,’ said  Rep. Wayne Parry, R-Arundel.

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